Victory at Sea, a 26-episode series on World War II, premiered on the last Sunday of October 1952, and subsequent episodes played each Sunday afternoon (with two exceptions) through May 1953. Each half-hour installment dealt with some aspect of World War II naval warfare and highlighted each of the sea war's major campaigns: the Battle of the North Atlantic, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, antisubmarine patrol in the South Atlantic, the Leyte Gulf campaign, etc. Each episode was composed of archival footage originally accumulated by the U.S., British, Japanese or German navies. The footage was originally shot mostly in color but was carefully edited and organized to ameliorate the viciousness of war. The drama of the production was enhanced by the Leonard Graves driving voice-over narration and by Richard Rodgers's musical score.(score was arranged by Robert Russell Bennett who also was the conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra for this production)

Compiled from over 60 million feet of  combat and newsreel footage, Victory at Sea won instant praise and loyal viewers. Television critics greeted it as a breakthrough for the young television industry. An entertaining documentary series that still provided a vivid record of recent history. The New York Times praised the series for its "rare power"; The New Yorker pronounced the combat footage "beyond compare"; and Harper's proclaimed that "Victory at Sea created a new art form." It eventually garnered 13 industry awards, including a Peabody and a special Emmy. (the series has been criticized for some of it's historical accuracy and objectivity, but remembering that it is from the 50's, only seven years after the end of the war, you can give it a little leeway on that issue, Most of it still plays very well after all these years)

This release comes from my rip of the Embassy Home Entertainment VHS tapes, second release (1986 6 tape set. Very few people paid 20.00 per tape for the 1982 first 26 tape release). It is coded in x264 and AAC sound at 960x720p (4x3) resolution. It is duotone B&W just like the original TV broadcast back in 1952 and I have done no alteration to the video or sound except for removing the Embassy VHS headers and trailers and converting the Mono soundtrack to Stereo..



Episode 21: Full Fathom Five

Aired on March 29 1953

The Twenty-first volume of Victory at Sea explores how the U.S. Navy's submarines contributed to the Japanese empire's defeat, from training the crews to sinking thousands of tons of Japanese commercial shipping. Known as the "Silent Service" their missions were so secret that they never made the headlines or were even spoken about anywhere but within the service. But the ultimate price is paid for those whom the U.S. Navy classifies as "did not return".

Technical Specs (typical)

Video Codec:         : AVC
Video Bitrate:       : 3,192 kbps
Video Aspect Ratio:  : 1.33, (4x3)
Video Resolution:    : 960x720
Scan type            : Progressive
Audio Codec:         : AAC LC
Audio language:      : English
Audio Bitrate:       : 128 kbps
Audio Channels:      : 2 (stereo)
Run-Time:            : 26.5 mn
Framerate:           : 29.970 fps
Number of Parts:     : 26
Container            : MP4
Part Size:           : 630 MiB
Source:              : VHS-rip
Encoded date         : 2014-09-28
Encoded by:          : Egilman