HMHS Britannic

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General Characteristics
Image:Britannic hospital.jpg
Owner:	White Star Line
Builder:	Harland and Wolff yards in Belfast, Ireland
Laid down:	November 30, 1911
Launched:	February 26, 1914
Christened:	Not Christened
Maiden voyage:	December 23, 1915 (As hospital ship)
Fate:	Served as hospital ship for less than a year. Sank because of a mine hit on November 21, 1916
Tonnage:	50,000
Length:	882ft 9in
Length between perpendiculars	852ft 6in
Beam:	94 feet
Power:	29 boilers.Two four cylinder triple expansion reciprocating engines each producing 16000 hp for outer two propellers. One low pressure turbine producing 18000 hp for the center propeller. Total 50,000 hp
Propulsion:	Two bronze triple blade side propellers.One bronze quadruple blade central propeller.
Speed:	22 knots

HMHS Britannic was the third Olympic-class ship of the White Star Line, sister ship of RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic. Although the White Star Line has always denied what they call a "legend"Template:Ref, most sources say that it was originally intended to be named GiganticTemplate:Ref. In the aftermath of the Titanic disaster, and the patriotic feelings in the United Kingdom on the verge of the First World War, its name was changed to Britannic.

1 The last of the Olympic-class
- 1.1 Hospital ship
2 The disaster
3 The wreck
4 Note
5 External links

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The last of the Olympic-class

Britannic was launched on February 26, 1914 at the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast and fitting out began. Before Britannic could commence transatlantic service between New York and Southampton, in August 1914, the Triple Entente (United Kingdom, France and Russia) declared war on the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire). It had been thought that the war would be over by Christmas; however, it was soon apparent that this would not be so. Immediately, all shipyards with Admiralty contracts were given top priority to use available raw materials. All civil contracts (including the Britannic) were slowed down. The military authorities requisitioned a large number of ships as armed merchant cruisers or for troop transport. The Admiralty was paying the companies for the use of their vessels but the risk of losing a ship during military operations was high. However, the big ocean liners were not taken for military use as smaller vessels were much easier to operate. The White Star decided to withdraw RMS Olympic from service until the danger had passed. RMS Olympic returned to Belfast on November 3 1914 while work on its sister continued slowly. All this would change in 1915.

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Hospital ship

The need for increased tonnage became crucial as military operations extended to the eastern Mediterranean, where a new German ally entered the war, the Ottoman Empire. In May, the Britannic completed the mooring trials of its engines. In case of an emergency it could be ready to sail after four weeks. That same month came the first major loss. The Cunard liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed near the Irish coast by a German submarine while returning from New York. No warning was given before the torpedo's launch, as declared by war conventions. The ship sank in only eighteen minutes because of a secondary explosion of coal dust present in the empty holds. 1,200 civilians lost their lives in the Atlantic waters. Cunard and White Star remained with two giant liners each.

In June, the Admiralty finally decided to use the large ocean liners for the Gallipoli campaign (also called the Dardanelles service). The first to go were the RMS Mauretania and the RMS Aquitania. Soon everyone realised that the Gallipoli landings would be a failure. The number of casualties reached appalling numbers and now the need was for larger hospital ships. So RMS Aquitania was diverted to hospital ship duties in August (its place as a troop transport was taken by the RMS Olympic in September). The casualties continued to mount and it was clear that Britannic couldn't rest useless in Belfast anymore. On November 13th, 1915 the Britannic was requisitioned as a hospital ship and the ship was repainted for that service. It was renamed HMHS (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Britannic and placed under the command of Captain Charles A. Bartlett.

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The disaster

After completing five successful voyages to the Middle Eastern theatre and back to the United Kingdom transporting the sick and wounded, then Britannic departed from Southampton for Lemnos at 14.23 on November 12, 1916. This would be its sixth voyage in the Mediterranean Sea. The Britannic passed Gibraltar around 00:00 on November 15th and arrived at Naples on the morning of the November 17th for its usual coaling and water refueling stop, completing the first stage of its mission.

A storm kept the ship at Naples until Sunday afternoon. Then Captain Bartlett decided to take advantage of a brief break in the weather and decided to continue on. The seas rose once again just as Britannic left the port but by next morning the storms died and the ship passed the Strait of Messina without problems. Cape Matapan was rounded during the first hours of Tuesday November 21st. By the morning Britannic was steaming at full speed (around 21 knots) into the Kea Channel, between Cape Sounion (the southernmost point of Attica, the province which includes Athens) and the island of Kea.

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Mine strike

At 08:12 on Tuesday, November 21 1916, a loud explosion shook the ship. The reaction in the dining room was immediate. Doctors and nurses left instantly for their posts. However, not everybody reacted the same way. Further aft the power of the explosion was less felt and many thought the ship had hit a smaller boat. On the bridge at the time of the explosion, were Captain Bartlett and Chief Officer Hume. The gravity of the situation was soon evident. The first reports were frightening. The explosion had taken place on the starboard side between holds two and three, but the force of the explosion had also damaged the watertight bulkhead between hold one and the forepeak. That meant that the first four watertight compartments were filling rapidly with water. To make things worse, the firemen's tunnel connecting the firemen's quarters in the bow with boiler room six had also been seriously damaged and water was flowing into that boiler room.

Bartlett ordered the watertight doors closed, sent a distress signal and ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats. Unfortunately, another surprise was waiting. Along with the damaged watertight door of the firemen's tunnel, the watertight door between boiler rooms six and five also failed to close properly for an unknown reason. Now water was flowing further aft into boiler room five. The Britannic had reached its flooding limit. It could stay afloat (motionless) with its first six watertight compartments flooded and had five watertight bulkheads raised up to the B-deck. Those measures were taken after the Titanic disaster (Titanic could float with its first four compartments flooded and the bulkheads only went as high as E-deck). Luckily, the next crucial bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four and its door were undamaged and should have guaranteed the survival of the ship. However, there was something else that probably sealed Britannic's fate: the open portholes of the lower decks. Most of those portholes had been opened by the nurses in order to ventilate the wards. As the ship's list increased, water reached this level and water began to enter aft from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. With more than six compartments flooded, the Britannic could not stay afloat.

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Evacuation

On the bridge, Captain Bartlett was trying to choose the best action in order to save his vessel. Only two minutes after the blast boiler rooms five and six had to be evacuated. In other words, in about ten minutes the Britannic was roughly in the same condition the Titanic was one hour after the collision with the iceberg. Fifteen minutes after the ship was struck the open portholes on E-deck were underwater. That fact probably compromised the Britannic. Water entered the ship's aft from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. The Britannic quickly developed a serious list to starboard. To his right Bartlett saw the shores of Kea, about three miles away. He decided to make a last desperate effort by trying to beach the ship. This was not an easy task because of the combined effect of the list and the weight of the rudder. The steering gear was unable to respond properly but by using the propeller (giving more power to the left one) Britannic slowly started to turn right.

Simultaneously, on the boat deck the crew members were preparing the lifeboats. Some of the boats were immediately rushed by a group of stewards and some sailors, who had started to panic. An unknown officer kept his nerve and persuaded his sailors to get out and stand by their positions near the boat stations. He decided to leave the stewards on the lifeboats as they were responsible for starting the panic and he didn't want them in his way during the evacuation. However, he left one of the crew with them in order to take charge of the lifeboat after leaving the ship. After this episode all the sailors under his command remained at their posts until the last moment. As no RAMC personnel were near this boat station at that time, the Officer started to lower the boats, but, when he saw that the ship's engines were still running, he stopped them within 6ft from the water and waited for orders from the bridge. The occupants of the lifeboats didn't take this decision very well and started cursing. Shortly after this, orders finally arrived: no lifeboats should be launched, as the Captain had decided to beach the Britannic.

Assistant Commander Harry William Dyke was making the arrangements for the lowering of the lifeboats from the aft davits of the starboard boat deck when he spotted a group of firemen who had taken a lifeboat from the poop deck without authority and hadn't filled it to its maximum capacity. Dyke ordered them to pick up some of the men who had already jumped into the water.

At 08:30 two lifeboats from the boat station assigned to Third Officer David Laws were lowered without his knowledge through the use of the automatic release gear. Those two lifeboats dropped some 6ft into the water and hit the water violently. The two lifeboats soon drifted into the giant running propellers, which were almost out of the water by now. As the first one reached the turning blades, the tragedy of the day took place: both lifeboats, together with their occupants, were torn to pieces. The spectacle was horrifying and beyond imagination. By then the word of the massacre arrived on the bridge. Captain Bartlett, seeing that water was entering more rapidly as Britannic was moving and that there was a risk of more victims, gave the order to stop the engines. The propellers stopped turning the moment a third lifeboat was about to be reduced to pieces. RAMC occupants of this boat pushed against the blades and got away from them safely.

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Final moments

The Captain officially ordered the crew to lower the boats and at 08:35 he gave the order to abandon ship. The forward set of port side davits soon became useless. The unknown officer had already launched his two lifeboats and also managed to launch rapidly one more boat from the after set of port side davits. He then started to prepare the motor launch when First officer Oliver came with orders from the Captain. Bartlett had ordered Oliver to get in the motor launch and use its speed to pick up survivors from the smashed lifeboats. Then he was to take charge of the small fleet of lifeboats formed around the dying Britannic. After launching the motor launch with Oliver, the unknown officer filled another lifeboat with seventy five men and launched it with great difficulty because the port side was now very high from the surface due to the list to starboard. At 08:45 the list to starboard was so great that no davits were operable. The unknown officer with six sailors decided to move to midship on the boat deck in order to throw overboard collapsible rafts and deck chairs from the starboard side. They were followed by about thirty RAMC personnel who were still left on the ship. As he was about to order these men to jump and then give his final report to the Captain, the unknown officer spotted Sixth officer Welch and a few sailors near one of the smaller lifeboats on the starboard side. They were trying to lift the boat but they hadn't enough men. Quickly, the unknown officer ordered his group of forty men to assist the Sixth officer. Together they managed to lift it, load it with men and then launch it safely.

At 09:00 Bartlett sounded one last blast on the whistle and then just walked into the water, which had already reached the bridge. He swam to a collapsible boat and began to co-ordinate the rescue operations. The whistle blow was the final signal for the ship's engineers (commanded by Chief Engineer Robert Fleming) who, like their heroic colleagues on the Titanic, had remained at their posts until the last possible moment. They escaped via the staircase into funnel #4 which was serving to ventilate the engine room.

The Britannic rolled over onto its starboard side and the funnels began collapsing. Violet Jessop saw the last seconds: "She dipped her head a little, then a little lower and still lower. All the deck machinery fell into the sea like a child's toys. Then she took a fearful plunge, her stern rearing hundreds of feet into the air until with a final roar, she disappeared into the depths, the noise of her going resounding though the water with undreamt-of violence...". It was 09:07, only fifty five minutes after the explosion. The Britannic then took up her position as a time capsule on the bottom of the Aegean.

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Rescue

The first to arrive on the scene were the Greek fishermen from Kea on their kaikia (small fishing boats), who picked up many men from the water. One of them, Francesco Psilas, was later paid £4 by the Admiralty for his services. At 10:00 HMS Scourge sighted the first lifeboats and ten minutes later stopped and picked up 339 survivors. HMS Heroic had arrived some minutes earlier and picked up 494. Some 150 had made it to Korissia (a community on Kea), where surviving doctors and nurses from the Britannic were trying to save the horribly mutilated men using aprons and pieces of lifebelts to make dressings. A little barren quayside served as their operating room. Although the motor launches were quick to transport the wounded to Korissia, the first lifeboat arrived there some two hours later due to the strong current and their heavy load. It was the lifeboat of Sixth Officer Welch and the unknown Officer. The latter was able to speak some French and managed to talk with one of the local villagers, obtaining some bottles of brandy and some bread for the injured.

The inhabitants of Korissia were deeply moved by the suffering of the wounded. They offered all possible assistance to the survivors and hosted many of them in their houses while waiting for the rescue ships. Violet Jessop approached one of the wounded. "An elderly man, in an RAMC uniform with a row of ribbons on his breast, lay motionless on the ground. Part of his thigh was gone and one foot missing; the gray green hue of his face contrasted with his fine physique. I took his hand and looked at him. After a long time, he opened his eyes and said: 'I'm dying'. There seemed nothing to disprove him yet I involuntarily replied: 'No, you are not going to die, because I've just been praying for you to live'. He gave me a beautiful smile[...]That man lived and sang jolly songs for us on Christmas Day.".

The Scourge and Heroic had no deck space for more survivors and they left for Pireaus signaling the presence of those left at Korissia. Luckily, HMS Foxhound arrived at 11:45 and, after sweeping the area, anchored in the small port at 13:00 to offer medical assistance and take onboard the remaining survivors. At 14:00 arrived the light cruiser HMS Foresight. The Foxhound departed for Pireaus at 14:15 while the Foresight remained to arrange the burial on Kea of Sergeant W. Sharpe, who had died of his injuries. Another two men died on the Heroic and one on the French tug Goliath. The three were buried with military honors in the British cemetery at Pireaus. The last fatality was G. Honeycott, who died at the Russian Hospital at Pireaus shortly after the funerals.

A total of 1,036 people were saved. Thirty men lost their lives in the disaster but only five were buried. The others were left in the water and their memory is honored in memorials in Thessaloniki and London. Another twenty four men were injured. Luckily, the ship had no patients. If that had been the case probably the death toll would have been much higher, perhaps even greater than the Titanic. The survivors were hosted in the warships that were anchored at the port of Pireaus. However, the nurses and the officers were hosted in separate hotels at Phaleron. Many Greek citizens and officials attended the funerals.

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The wreck

The wreck of HMHS Britannic is located at Template:Coor dms in about 400 ft (120 m) of water. It was first discovered and explored by Jacques Cousteau in 1975. The giant liner lies on her starboard side hiding the zone of impact with the mine (or torpedo). There is a huge hole just beneath the forward well deck. The bow is attached to the rest of the hull only by some pieces of the B-deck. This is the result of the massive explosion that destroyed completely the entire part of the keel between bulkheads 2 and 3 and of the force of impact with the seabed. The bow is bent and deformed in the front part because it reached the seabed before the 882ft 9in (269 m) long liner was completely sunk. Despite this, the crew's quarters in the forecastle were found to be in good shape with many details still visible. The holds were found empty. The forecastle machinery and the two cargo cranes in the forward well deck are still there and they are well-preserved. The foremast is bent and lies on the seafloor near the wreck with the crow's nest still attached on it. The bell was not found. Funnel #1 was found a few metres from the Boat Deck. The wreck lies in shallow enough water that scuba divers can explore it, but it is a British war grave and any expedition must be approved by both the British and Greek governments.

In 1996 Dr Robert Ballard relocated the wreck, using advanced side-scanning sonar. Images were obtained from remotely controlled vehicles, but the wreck was not penetrated. Ballard succeeded in locating all the ship's funnels, which proved to be in surprisingly good condition. Attempts to find mine anchors failed.

In 2003, an expedition led by Carl Spencer used advanced diving technology to send scuba divers into the wreck. Their most significant finding was that several watertight doors were open. It has been suggested that this was because the mine strike coincided with the change of watches. Alternatively, the explosion may have distorted the door frames.

A number of mine anchors were located, confirming German records of U-73. Britannic was sunk by a single mine and the damage was compounded by open portholes and open watertight doors.

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Note

Template:Note [1] Website viewed February 12, 2006.
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Template:Note The overall length of Britannic is frequently given as 903'. This is an incorrect figure taken from old magazines and newspapers. The correct dimensions are from Harland & Wolff records and from Lloyd's Register.

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