In 1906 a dinner party took place between two men. The first was William Pirrie, Pirrie was the chairman of the famous Belfast shipyard; Harland and Wolff and the second was a man named Joseph Bruce Ismay, the owner of the White Star Line. At this dinner it was Ismay who’d asked Pirrie to design and construct three new ocean liners double the size and speed of any other ship to date. It was from this meeting that paved the way for the most famous maritime story in history. RMS Olympic had been the first of the fleet to be built, her younger sister RMS Titanic had been constructed simultaneously with Olympic and after Titanic came the future HMHS Britannic.
RMS Britannic originally named RMS Gigantic was constructed at Harland and Wolff in Belfast. The construction had originally begun on November 30th, 1911 and continued all the way to April 1912. Construction had been temporarily blocked due to the Titanic disaster. This was a sensible move on the yard’s part as Britannic’s older sister Olympic had to be recalled to fit more lifeboats on. It only made sense then to alter the Britannic whilst she was still in the early stages of construction. Britannic’s overall design wasn’t too different from her sister Titanic. Britannic was estimated to 882 ft (269 meters) which was exactly the same length as Titanic and Olympic. Her tonnage weighed out to be 46,000 tonnes, both Olympic and Titanic carried the same gross tonnage and measured at 175ft.
Name change
During the construction process Britannic also had a name change. Originally, Britannic had been named RMS Gigantic, this most likely was to fit in with the names Olympic and Titanic as all three liners were somewhat giants of the sea. However the name had Gigantic had to go considering the fate of her sister named after the Titans, derived from Greek mythology. Gigantic seemed somewhat boastful and perhaps the White Star Line didn’t want to tempt fate again, by naming a destructible ship after something indestructible and unsinkable.
Britannic’s story
Britannic was never actually used as a passenger liner. HMHS Britannic was launched on the 26th February, 1914 and wasn’t fully ready for sailing until late 1915. As mentioned earlier Britannic was never used as a passenger ship. Her maiden voyage had coincided with the start of World War One, so she was called to be used as a hospital ship, thus giving her the title HMHS (Her Majesty’s Hospital Ship) looking around for pictures of Britannic it’s practically impossible to find any pictures without the hospital paint.
Britannic’s maiden voyage took place on December 23rd 1915. She was taking the route from Liverpool, to Lemnos via Naples. On this journey Britannic collected some 3,330 casualties from the war before leaving for Southampton.
The Interior
One thing that’s worth mentioning is Britannic’s interior design. The design and layout of Britannic is virtually identical to the Titanic’s,bar a few minor things. Britannic even had an organ placed at the entrance to A Deck (what would have been the first class entrance) the organ however was very rarely used. What should have been the saloon and smoking lounge were converted to rows of hospital beds for wounded soldiers as were the promenade decks.
21st November 1916
On the morning of November 21st 1916, Britannic was sailing through the Kea Channel in the Aegean Sea. At 8:12 am Britannic was shaken by an explosion by a near naval mine. Violet Jessop, a survivor of both the Titanic and the Britannic recalled “there was a dull deafening roar. Britannic gave a shiver a long drawn out shudder… we all knew she’d been struck.” Britannic’s Captain, Charles Bartlett also said “at 8:12 a tremendous but muffled explosion occurred. The ship was trembling and vibrating most violently.” Britannic was hit on her lowest deck on the port side, just in front of her boiler rooms. After Bartlett realised the seriousness of the ship. He had an idea to try and beach the vessel 3 miles ahead which was Kea Beach. “Steering gear seemed to have failed so I turned the ship to port to shore… the forward hold began to sink rapidly.” But he soon realised that the further he pushed the Britannic to quicker it began to sink.
The issue of the watertight compartments
Like Titanic, Britannic also possessed watertight compartments. These are essentially doors that when triggered by an on rush of water should close automatically and prevent water from spreading in the boiler rooms. Britannic had two more compartments than the Titanic did. But how was water managing to seep into the boiler rooms after the doors had been shut? This could be put down to the Captain. As previously discussed Bartlett was trying to steer the ship into land. However this just sped up the sinking process allowing more water to enter. A Britannic dive leader Richie Kohler suggested “As Captain Bartlett is steaming full speed in effect he’s ramming more water in the boiler rooms.” Kohler also theorised that perhaps the wired that allowed the doors to be closed were broken and therefore could not allow the doors to shut properly.
With the watertight doors now being burst open by the on flow of water Britannic began to plummet. Titanic had sunk in 2 hours and 30 minutes, but as the Britannic had no way of staying afloat she sank in 55 minutes. Another aspect of the Britannic tragedy that sets her apart from other sea disasters was the propellers. Britannic’s propellers were identical to Titanic’s both stood at around 23 ft high and weighed around 38 tons. But unlike the Titanic’s propeller’s when she foundered. Britannic’s were still working. One of Britannic’s crew members Archie Jewell (who had also served on Titanic) recalled “it was cutting the poor fellows to pieces there were legs and arms and bodies flying everywhere. What made it so bad were the blades they were half out of the water. They were coming right on top of the boats.”
Unlike the Titanic, the number of lost was significantly lower. Titanic had a total of around 1,500 dead whereas only 30 had been killed on the Britannic and 1,000 had been successfully rescued. But that isn’t to undermine the tragedy of the Britannic. When comparing the two disasters the night the Titanic sank seems comparatively calmer and quieter according to survivor’s testimonies. The Britannic’s sinking turned into a 55 minute blood bath. Panic was bound to be slightly worse on Britannic because she didn’t have as much time as Titanic. However, the scale of both disasters cannot be disputed and will be remembered as two of the worst White Star Line tragedies.
As always, I’ll leave a few external links on HMHS Britannic as well as a link to the documentary I based this article off. All the quotes used for this piece came from this documentary too. Feel free to leave any other ideas or theories likewise if you have any questions get in contact with titanictalksmillie@mail.com .
Have a titanic week, Millie.
Titanic’s Tragic Twin Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rDk451ufa4
Discover Northern Ireland, Titanic, Olympic and Britannic: https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/attractions/titanic/rms-brittanicolympic-and-titanic/
HMHS Britannic sinks in real time with narration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr5HmOJtgSI
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