A film on the development of air power in the United States. Scenes depicting travel by ocean going ships, preceding air travel. Animation of a small ship moving away from the east coast of the U.S. Actual footage of a large sailing vessel of the early clipper ship variety sailing in the ocean. Animation of a small ship sailing to the Great Britain. Real footage of a four-stack ocean liner, which appears to be the RMS Aquitania, sailing in the Atlantic Ocean. Animated map of the Atlantic Ocean and the coasts of the U.S. and England. An R-34 dirigible airship in flight. The R-34 moored to the ground with a large craft around the gondola. A British Bristol fighter aircraft in flight. Animation of the maps of the U.S. and the Great Britain coming closer together, figuratively, through the speed of air travel.
Sequence 1; The launching of the USS V-1 (later Barracuda SS-163) on July 17, 1924 from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Sequence 2; Two surrendered German U-Boats, most likely the U-117 (L) and the UB-148 (R) circa 1918/19. Sequence 3; The USS S-19 circa 1925 either looking to moor or pulling away to sea. Sequence 4; U.S. "L" class submarines ay Bantry Bay, Queenstown, Ireland circa 1918 World War 1, American submarines had to place an "A" before there name to avoid confusion with the British "L" class submarines. L to R are L-11 (bow), L-1, L-10, L-4 and L-9.