Britannic made her maiden voyage on December 23, 1915, with Mudros as her destination. She arrived on December 31, and took on her first load of wounded soldiers. By the spring of 1916, however, the war was calming down, and she, as well as the Mauretania and Aquitania, was laid up until she was needed again. However, the financial situation of the British war effort deteriorated somewhat, and as a result, the Britannic was decommissioned, and it was determined that she would now commence commercial service for White Star, as originally intended. She returned to Belfast in May of that year, and was officially decommissioned in June. It looked as if the Olympic would once again have a sister ship on the waves with her. However, this is not what ended up happening. The war worsened again by September, and thus the Britannic went from RMS Britannic to HMHS Britannic once again, as she was fitted out as a hospital ship again. She completed her next voyage, starting on October 20, and ending November 6. However, she had to go back out almost immediately, due to problems with the Aquitania. However, no one knew that this voyage would be her last.
The Britannic should never have sunk, except for two things. While only four compartments were damaged (remember that the Britannic could float with any six flooded), one of the watertight doors didn't close, and thus water could travel deeper into the ship. Furthermore, in order to air out the ship for the patients, the crew opened the portholes. This was a serious breach of protocol in a war zone. However, with the portholes open, as the list worsened, water began to come into the ship through these open portholes. Captain Bartlett decided that in order to save Britannic, she would have to be intentionally grounded, on the island of Kea. While this was not the best thing to happen to a ship, it was certainly better than the alternative. However, if the ship remained underway, water would come in faster than otherwise, and so he ordered the engines stopped. Now, the complete evacuation of the Britannic was the priority. All went smoothly, except that of the 35 lifeboats launched, two were launched while the ship was still underway, and were sucked into the propellers. Thirty people died as a result of this, and a further forty people received serious injuries. As water started coming over the bow, the official order to abandon ship came, and the engine room crew was finally able to make their escape, through the fourth funnel. Fifty-five minutes after the Britannic hit the mine, she was on the bottom of the Aegean Sea, lying on her starboard side. The Britannic was first discovered by Jacques Cousteau in 1975. However, due to the crude equipment he used in diving to her, he could not get a good idea of what state she was in. It was not until summer 1995, when Dr. Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic and the Bismarck (the famed World War II battleship - not the Hamburg-America liner that later became White Star's Majestic), used modern diving technology to thoroughly document the Britannic. Britannic lies in 350 feet of water on her starboard side. Except for her bow, which sustained the lion's share of the damage, she is quite well-preserved. She was shorn of her funnels on the way down, but they can be found around her today, though they are now collapsed. Britannic is the largest liner on the ocean floor today. While she has lost that title from time to time, as mishaps such as what happened to the Liberté and Seawise University (ex-Queen Elizabeth) occurred, these were rectified or removed, and she remains the largest liner on the ocean floor today. Britannic Vital Statistics: Gross tonnage: 48,158 Length: 903 feet Width: 94 feet Draft: 34 feet Machinery: Steam triple-expansion engines geared to triple screw Speed: 21 knots Capacity: 3069 patients Built: Harland and Wolff Limited, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1914 Demise: Sunk in the Aegean Sea, November 21, 1916 The Classic Liners of Long Ago © 2000-2007 Nick Works, Inc. |
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The
Britannic was the third Olympic-Class sister that World War
I captured before her prime. Britannic started out in 1911,
after Olympic's maiden voyage, under the name Gigantic, in
order to work out any kinks in the design and whatnot. Once the Olympic
made her maiden voyage, and the Olympic's old slip was vacated by
another ship, construction on the Gigantic began. Elements of
the design that were worked out or changed on Gigantic included
enclosing the aft well deck (this was open on both Olympic and Titanic),
as well as enclosing the forward promenade deck (as was done on the Titanic).
However,
before the Gigantic was even launched, the Titanic hit the
iceberg and sank. As a result, work was halted, while the inquiry
took place. When work was resumed, there were many changes
made. First off, she was renamed, from Gigantic to Britannic.
Furthermore, her bulkheads were made higher, stronger, and unlike her two
sisters, who could have any two adjoining watertight compartments flooded
and still survive, she could survive with any six compartments flooded
(this was one more than the number of compartments breached on the Titanic).
Furthermore, she had special lifeboat davits, which could launch up to six
boats over either side of the ship, regardless of listing. As a
result of these modifications, the Britannic was larger, at 48,000
tons.
The
Britannic was launched on February 26, 1914. She was intended
by White Star to look similar to the Titanic. However, before
she was completed, the war that had broken out changed all
this. On November 13, 1915, Britannic was seized by the
British government for use as a hospital ship, and was painted in
the internationally recognized colors of a hospital ship. She can be
seen in her hospital ship livery in the illustration at right.
However, there is one correction that needs to be made to the picture at
right. While this picture depicts the funnels in White Star's
buff-and-black coloring, in fact her funnels as a hospital ship were
completely buff, with no black tops.
On
November 21, 1916, at 8:12 AM, Britannic struck a mine.
Captain Charles Bartlett ordered the watertight doors closed, and began
sending distress signals, as he tried to determine how to save his ship.
