Victory at Sea (1952)

Action · Documentary · War

Victory at Sea is a documentary television series about naval warfare during World War II that was originally broadcast by NBC in the USA in 1952–1953. It was condensed into a film in 1954. Excerpts from the music soundtrack, by Richard Rodgers and Robert Russell Bennett, were re-recorded and sold as record albums. The original TV broadcasts comprised 26 half-hour segments—Sunday afternoons at 3pm in most markets—starting October 26, 1952 and ending May 3, 1953. The series, which won an Emmy award in 1954 as "best public affairs program", played an important part in establishing historic "compilation" documentaries as a viable television genre. Over 13,000 hours of footage gathered from US, British, German and Japanese navies during World War II were perused in the making of these compelling episodes.

IMDb rating: 8.5 (775 votes)
Episode average: 8.0 -0.5 vs IMDb
Seasons: 1
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 1 season indexed

Cast

Leonard Graves Narrator

Seasons

Season 1 (1952)

7.96 avg 26 episodes 8.0 → 7.7 28 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Design for War	8.0	100
2	The Pacific Boils Over	7.9	86
3	Sealing the Breach	8.1	83
4	Midway Is East	8.0	84
5	Mediterranean Mosaic	8.1	80
6	Guadalcanal	7.9	85
7	Rings Around Rabaul	7.9	80
8	Mare Nostrum	8.0	80
9	Sea and Sand	8.1	80
10	Beneath the Southern Cross	8.1	78
11	The Magnetic North	8.0	74
12	The Conquest of Micronesia	7.9	73
13	Melanesian Nightmare	7.8	72
14	Roman Renaissance	8.0	72
15	D-Day	8.5	75
16	Killers and the Kill	8.1	74
17	The Turkey Shoot	7.9	74
18	Two If by Sea	7.8	75
19	The Battle for Leyte Gulf	8.0	77
20	Return of the Allies	7.9	71
21	Full Fathom Five	7.9	70
22	The Fate of Europe	8.2	67
23	Target Suribachi	7.8	67
24	The Road to Mandalay	8.0	68
25	Suicide for Glory	7.4	69
26	Design for Peace	7.7	70