Drain the Oceans - Season 2

Using the latest sonar technology, a unique expedition to map sunken Allied vessels off the Normandy Coast reveals stunning images from beneath the waves. There are over a hundred shipwrecks in the English Channel of the landing craft and ships that took part in the greatest amphibious Invasion Fleet ever assembled. As the water drains away, we reveal extraordinary, secret technology deployed by both the Allies and the Nazis in the battle for western Europe. The outcome of that conflict changes our world forever.

The latest sonar technology reveals shipwrecks as never seen before. As water and land drain away: a secret beneath Manhattan's skyline, an earth-shattering feat of engineering, a record-breaking icon and a casualty of WWI stealth warfare. Examining these hidden giants can explain New York City's meteoric rise to bustling world metropolis. A city that can't be kept down, forever pushing forward, with true grit and determination.

Using the latest sonar technology, hundreds of shipwrecks around the British Isles are uncovered as victims of World War II's German U-Boats, one of the world's first stealth weapons. Draining the oceans sheds light on this historical event as the secret technology deployed by Germany to sink ships and nearly bring the Allies to their knees is uncovered.

The Hidden Ships of the Gold Rush drains the streets of San Francisco, the Sacramento River and the icy wastes of the Klondike, northern Canada, to tell the true story of nineteenth-century gold mania. In the race to be first to the gold fields hundreds of thousands of people from across the world head West. Risks are run, countless men, women and children die, fortunes are made and lost - and amid it all, the modern-day United States is born.

The land battles of the American Civil War are well known, but it's the war on the seas that shaped the outcome of the war. Maritime archaeologists and historians go in search of Civil War secrets, hidden deep underwater. Scientific data combines with computer graphics to drain the oceans to investigate the lost wrecks of the war.

For over fifty years the world's two greatest superpowers, the United States and Soviet Union, pour their resources into a terrifying array of doomsday weapons and military machines. The Cold War is the world's first nuclear armed confrontation. Remarkably, it's also the greatest clandestine war in the history of mankind - conducted in secret beneath the waves. Now, with access to daring expeditions, precision data and classified information, we use ground-breaking computer-generated-images to drain the ocean and reveal the shocking secrets of the nuclear-armed Cold War.

Draining the ocean near Newfoundland reveals a preserved Basque galleon trading in lucrative whale oil. The Spanish empire relies on powerful ships like this to bring back valuable cargo, like silver and tobacco, from the New World. But when emerging rival England wants a share of this wealth, the Spanish attack. Draining an Armada wreck off the coast of Ireland reveals an extraordinary battle for control.

A high-tech expedition searches for the iconic wrecks of the Battle of the Pacific, including the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, and the ship that delivered the Hiroshima bomb, the USS Indianapolis. Funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the expedition's discoveries reveal new evidence that helps explain some of the greatest mysteries of World War II at sea

The rescue of 12 boys trapped in the Tham Luang cave in Thailand was the most dangerous cave-diving rescue mission of all time. With unique access, Drain the Oceans conducts the first accurate 3D survey inside the cave. The data, combined with computer graphics, offers the first accurate visualization of how the boys were trapped and how they were saved.

London's secret history is revealed. Visit the remains of the Roman port in Londinium on the River Thames along with the first bridge spanning it. Explore shipwrecks in the Thames Estuary: the 16th-century armed English Merchantman the Cherabin, the 17th-century warship the London, and the WWII Liberty Ship the SS Richard Montgomery.

Drain the Oceans solves one of the world's great mysteries — the identity of the Loch Ness monster. Using comparisons with the deepest lake on Earth — Lake Baikal in Russian Siberia — combined with military-grade scanning technology and a sonar curtain drawn across its entire surface, the plug is pulled on Scotland's famous loch. As the waters drain away, much more than a monster is revealed.

Adolf Hitler's plans to dominate the oceans slowly unravel in a series of disastrous battles in World War II. Now it is revealed how the Third Reich's mighty fleet finally sank beneath the waves. Explored are: the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee under the Atlantic off Uruguay; the German cruiser Blücher at the bottom of Oslofjord, Norway; the British battlecruiser HMS Hood, sunk by the German battleship Bismarck in the Battle of the Denmark Strait; the sunken Bismarck itself; and the German battleship Tirpitz, sunk by British Tallboy bombs off Håkøya Island in northern Norway. All shed new light on Hitler's reign of terror and ultimate demise.

Maritime archaeologists and historians go in search of the biggest wrecks ever sunk beneath the seas. New scientific data combines with cutting-edge computer graphics to drain the oceans to investigate the world's most awe-inspiring wrecks. Explored are: HMHS Britannic, sunk in 1916 by a WWI German naval mine near the Greek island of Kea; Amoco Cadiz, a supertanker that ran aground/broke up during a gale off Brittany, France in 1978 (worst oil spill in history); MV Derbyshire, a bulk carrier of iron ore overwhelmed during Typhoon Orchid, south of Japan in 1980; and SS El Faro, a container ship lost with all hands off the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin in 2015.

How Japan dominated the Pacific early in World War II, crushing the Allies. Explored are: the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales (Force Z) sunk in the South China Sea by a Japanese Type 91 aerial torpedo on December 10, 1941; the Japanese submarine I-124 (minelayer) sunk in the Timor Sea by Australian Navy depth charges on January 21, 1942; the Bombing of Darwin (Australia) by 200 Japanese Zeros on February 19, 1942; and the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth sunk during the Battle of Sunda Strait by Japanese Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedos on March 1, 1942.

We unlock the secrets of how the Roman Empire controlled the seas of the ancient world and harnessed the power of volcanoes to defy nature itself. We reveal the extraordinary secrets of one of the oldest shipwrecks in the world and unearth a port lost for centuries under Italian soil.