Carrier (2005) PBS

Carrier, Ep. 8: True Believers

Episode 8: "True Believers"

This episode explores the many expressions of faith onboard the USS Nimitz: faith in self, faith in one’s shipmates, faith in the mission of the ship and the president’s call to arms. The major religious groups on board are Catholic and Protestant, but there also is a coven of Wiccans, as well as a Pentecostal group whose newest member is challenged by the duality of his beliefs and the temptations of liberty as the ship drops anchor in Perth, Australia.



Chapter 1: "So Help Me God" (10:16)

The crew is made up of different religions, most of which are observed aboard the Nimitz.

Chapter 2: "Knocking at Your Door" (14:16)

God and friendship play important roles on this six-month tour.

Chapter 3: "Evening Prayer" (12:21)

Is it possible to accommodate all religions on a diverse “Christian” boat?

Chapter 4: "Down Under" (11:25)

The crew spends time with fellow colleagues and takes in the sites during the long awaited stop in Perth, Australia.

Chapter 5: "Mighty Woman of God" (9:47)

A stop in Australia puts a crewmember and his morals to the ultimate test.

CARRIER, a 10-part series filmed aboard the USS Nimitz, is a character-driven immersion in the high- stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier. The episodes follow a core group of characters as they navigate their jobs, families, faith, patriotism, love, the rites of passage and the war on terror. An Emmy Award-winning the television series is about a six-month deployment of a United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in 2005 from the United States to the Middle East and back.

Making the film CARRIER required 17 filmmakers to take a six-month journey aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz during its deployment to the Gulf in support of the Iraq War. They disembarked from Coronado, California on May 7, 2005 and returned there November 8, 2005 with stops at Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong, Guam, Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain and Perth, Australia.



The trip proved an evolution for the film crew who spent the early weeks trying to find their place while the 5,000 sailors and Marines around them were too busy to take notice. Eventually, the film crew discerned the ebb and flow of life on a carrier, and began to feel more at home on board. The ship’s crew not only accepted them but also took a vested interest in the project, making suggestions on the best places to film and providing access to missions that helped capture the full experience of the deployment.



Jammed into their own staterooms, the crew that once felt apart now felt kinship as they shared both trepidation and jubliation awaiting the safe return of the carrier’s jet fighters. When the huge emotional surge of seeing home hit in November, the filmmakers knew how the Nimitz crew must feel. But back on land, their own mission of editing and production continued for nearly three more years before the film CARRIER docked at PBS on April 27, 2008.