THE QUEEN THAT NEVER WAS
This November marks the 108th anniversary of the His Majesty's Hospital Ship Britannic, the largest vessel to fly the British flag at the time to perish...
Laid down on Nov. 30, 1911 and launched on February 26, 1914; as described by the press the Britannic was "a twentieth Century ship in every sense of the word " and "the highest achievement of her day in the practice of ship building and marine engineering." Delayed and modified after the tragic sinking of her sister-ship Titanic, the Britannic was not only to be the most luxurious, but also the safest ship afloat. Her relatively low operational and maintenance costs as well as potential to dominate the Atlantic trade guaranteed a very successful and profitable career ahead of her. However, before she even had the chance to be completed, a war like never seen before had just begun, and as fate turned out to be, the Britannic would never enjoy this almost guaranteed success.
HIS MAJESTY'S HOSPITAL SHIP BRITANNIC - THE GREAT WHITE SWANIn August 1914 Britain, France and Russia declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. This would have a dramatic effect on the life of the Britannic.
On the 13th November 1915, the Britannic was requisitioned by the British government as a hospital ship. Orders were given to prepare her for sea going voyages to transport wounded soldiers back home. The fixtures and fittings that were to be placed on the Britannic were stored for after the war. Instead she was fitted out to resemble a hospital. The first class dining rooms were converted into operating theatres and main wards. B deck would house the medical officers and other staff. The ship was fitted to carry 3,309 people. When the Britannic entered service as a hospital ship, she was the largest British-built at the time, she was also the third in the world and had the second largest hospital capacity, only behind the slightly smaller Aquitania. She left the Irish Sea on route to Mudros on 23rd December 1915. THE SINKING
On November 21, 1916 the Britannic was on its way to pick up more wounded soldiers near the Gulf of Athens, when at 8:12 a.m., a violent explosion rocked the ship. Captain Bartlett ordered the closure of the watertight doors and sent out a distress signal. However, the blast had already managed to flood six whole compartments—even more extensive damage than that which had sunk the Titanic. Still, the Britannic had been prepared for such a disaster and would have stayed afloat except for two critical matters.
First, Captain Bartlett decided to try to run the Britannic aground on the nearby island of Kea. This might have been successful, but, earlier, the ship’s nursing staff had opened the portholes to air out the sick wards. Water poured in through the portholes as the Britannic headed toward Kea. Second, the disaster was compounded when some of the crew attempted to launch lifeboats without orders. Since the ship was still moving as fast as it could, the boats were sucked into the propellers, killing those on board. Less than 30 minutes later, Bartlett realized that the ship was going to sink and ordered it abandoned. The lifeboats were launched and even though the Britannic sank at 9:07, less than an hour after the explosion, nearly 1,100 people managed to make it off the ship. In fact, most of the 30 people who died were in the prematurely launched lifeboats. THE WRECK
The wreck of the Britannic is located at 37°42'05''N,24°17'02''E in about 400ft/120m. It was discovered by French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1975. This position is about 3 nautical miles northwest of Korissia (the main port of the island of Kea), about 6.75 nautical miles northwest of the official position given by the Admiralty in 1947 but very close to the position reported by Captain Bartlett in the distress signal. The giant liner lies on her starboard side with an inclination of about 85 degrees. The zone of the explosion remains hidden and most of the visible damage is located in the area of the forward cargo holds, where the entire section of the forecastle seems to be attached to the rest of the hull only by some deck plates of the B-deck. The tip of the bow (forepeak) is heavily deformed. According to Dr. Robert Ballard (who explored the wreck in 1995) this damage occurred when the bow reached the seabed before the 882ft/269m long liner was completely underwater. As the liner was about to roll-over to her starboard side the bow started rotating and massive forces were applied to the hull, producing extensive cracks to the steel plates at its weakest point, the area already damaged by the explosion. Due to this rotational movement the wrecked hull now points to a direction of 253 degrees, towards the direction the ship was sailing from before meeting her fate. Most of the wreck was found in remarkable condition, researchers observed that in the lower sections of the hull's surface the organisms have formed a very thick layer, which is quite likely that it will continue to exist even after the complete corrosion of the metal.
Sources - White Star Moments, History Channel, Hospital Ship Britannic, Ken Marshall, William B. Barney
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Did You Know?
Practically all of Britannic's first class cabins would have had private bathrooms which was not the case in other liners such as Aquitania, Imperator and Olympic; she would also have extra features which were not present on Olympic or Titanic such as hairdressing salon, passengers mail room, manicurist's room, children's playroom, a pipe organ, second class gymnasium, an extra elevator, a domed first class lounge, a more lavishly decorated swimming pool, among others. She had four expansion joints (Mauretania, Olympic and Imperator had two, and Aquitania three). Expansion joints helped the stress on the hull and superstructure to be more evenly distributed and also helped to eliminate vibration. Britannic's bridge equipment was also improved and is often described as being unusually good for a merchant vessel of her type.
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