HMHS Britannic - The "Forgotten Sister"

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BLACK HAWK MINES

• HMHS Britannic
•  "The forgotten Sister"

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The Olympic and Titanic have been built. The HMHS
(His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Britannic was the
third " wonder ship" to be built. Originally, the
ship was to be named " Gigantic ", but due to the
loss of the Titanic, her name was changed to
Britannic. The White Star Line knew if they were
to keep ahead in the race across the Atlantic the
new liner would have to be more magnificent than
her older sisters. Due to the sinking of the
Titanic, large scale alterations would have to be
made to her design. She could not sink in under 3
hours. She must carry enough lifeboats to
accommodate every passenger and crew
member. Britannic was being constructed in 1913.
Her structure ran 852 feet (longer than the
Olympic). She was fitted with a double skin hull.
It ran for the full length of the boiler and
engine room compartments. An extra bulkhead was
added to make 17 compartments and five of them
were extended to the Bridge deck some 40 foot
above the waterline. These modifications should
in theory prevent her from sinking in under three
hours. The boiler room and engine rooms were more
or less identical to the Olympic except that
Britannic turbine engines could generate18,000
horse power. The engines were not built by John
Brown Co as in the case for Olympic but were
built by Harland Wolff. Her stern would differ
from the Olympics because the aft shelter deck
was enclosed so that the third class passengers
could enjoy a covered area of exterior deck. The
third class smoking room was placed above their
general room giving the impression that the stern
was much bigger.
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• Another striking difference was the layout of the
  lifeboats. She was designed to carry 48 open
  lifeboats. Forty-six of them would be 34 foot
  long (making them the largest lifeboats ever
  placed on a ship before). Two of the 46 would be
  motor propelled and would carry wireless sets for
  communications. The other two were 26 foot
  cutters placed at both sides of the bridge.
• Essentially, the interior of the ship would not
  differ from the Olympic and Titanic. The builders
  added extra delights throughout the ship for
  every class. The second class were given a
  gymnasium and many of her private room were
  fitted with private bathrooms.

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• On the 26th February 1914 the Britannic was ready
  for launching. The weather was grim but the
  officials plodded on. At 11.10 a.m. a rocket
  signalled the commencement of the ceremony and
  the workforce removed the blocks keeping the hull
  from slipping into the water. At 11.15 with the
  help of 20 tonnes of tallow, train oil and soft
  soap she moved down the slipway. She took 81
  seconds to stand afloat in the water.
• Following the successful launch she was towed to
  the Abercon Basin to start her fitting. She was
  pulled by the tugs " Herculaneum ",
  " Huskisson ", " Hornby ", "Alexandra " and the
  " Hercules "

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• The British press were in favour of the ship and
  described her as " a twentieth Century ship in
  every sense of the word " and " the highest
  achievement of her day in the practise of ship
  building and marine engineering ".
• Hundreds of workmen commenced the task of fitting
  her out. Electricians, plumbers and carpenters
  all played a crucial part. To the White Star
  Line, progress was too slow and poor. On the 2nd
  July 1914 they announced that Britannic would not
  be ready for her maiden voyage until early spring
  1915. Amongst the reason for delay was finance.
  Harland and Wolff was owed 585,000 from the IMM
  which would have made all the difference to the
  progress if the money could have been used on the
  ship. The financial problem was so great that
  Britannic was not completed but left for nearly a
  whole year.

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WAR BREAKS OUT

• In 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.
• Both the Olympic and Britannic were placed
  together in secure holdings at Belfast. The
  owners knew that soon the ships would be called
  for government duty. Both ships remained in
  Belfast for ten months.
• 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.
• Because she had stood so long at Belfast major
  works had to be carried out to her. Her lifeboats
  had not totally been installed. Only five davits
  had been fitted and so 6 Welin type davits were
  installed each could load one open and one
  collapsible lifeboat.
• Also, her hull had to be repainted after standing
  in water for so long. It was painted in the
  internationally recognised colours of a hospital
  ship. A green band was painted on each side of
  the ship broken by three giant red crosses. This
  stood her out as a hospital ship providing her
  with safe passage to wherever she was going. She
  was given ship number 9618.
• The Britannic left the Irish Sea on route
  to Mudros on 23rd December 1915. It was her
  maiden voyage, quite a contrast from the maiden
  voyages of her sisters. Her trip was successful
  and indeed made several more trips until her luck
  ran out.

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THE SINKING OF THE HMHS BRITANNIC

• She left Southampton for her final voyage at 2.23
  p.m. on the 12th November 1916.Captain Charles
  Bartlett (also known as the Iceberg Charlie) was
  given command again with his assistant Captain
  Harry William Dyke .
• The ship steamed to Naples arriving on Friday
  morning (17th November). She took on board more
  coal and water as was the usual custom. Bad
  weather prevented an early departure. She was
  secured in Naples for two days until Sunday when
  Bartlett decided the weather was suitable for
  departure.
• The passage seemed quite normal. Church services
  were held as normal to pray for the wounded and
  for the end of war.
• At 8.00 a.m. on Tuesday 21st November, Bartlett
  changed course for the Kea Channel with Chief
  Officer Robert Hume and Fourth Officer D.
  McTowis on the Bridge. All seemed well.
• Suddenly at 8.12 a.m. a loud explosion echoed
  around the ship. Reverend John A. Fleming , the
  Presbyterian Chaplain, onboard described the
  blast as " if a score of plate glass windows had
  been smashed together ."

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• Bartlett knew had had to act fast. He realised
  what had happened - an explosion between cargo
  holds 2 and 3. He also knew that the ships water
  tight skin extended as far as boiler room no.6
  and that the blast had damaged the bulkhead
  between holds 2 and 3 and bulkhead hold number 1.
• Bartlett ordered the watertight doors closed but
  the doors between boiler room 5 and 6 failed to
  close properly. Water travelled further aft as a
  result which would prove fatal to the ship.
• It was a custom of the ship that during shift
  changes certain watertight door would remain open
  so that the crew could enter and leave the boiler
  rooms.
• Within minutes of the explosion, water was poring
  in so much that the ship developed a serious list
  to starboard. The situation was becoming more
  serious by the minute. Within 15 minutes after
  the explosion, the portholes on E deck were under
  water. Unfortunately, many of them were open
  because the nurses opened them to let fresh air
  circulate the wards for the benefit of the
  patients. Because they were open they were
  letting in water which added to the emergency.

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• Meanwhile, Bartlett thought he would have enough
  time to beach the ship on the nearby island of
  Kea. However, the list to starboard and the
  weight of the rudder hindered the ship's progress
  in the water. He realised that the ship would not
  make the coast and ordered the engines to be
  stopped and the lifeboats to be lowered.
• A distress signal had already been called giving
  Britannic's position. Help was on its way from
  the British destroyer " Scourge " and the French
  tugs " Goliath " and " Polyphemus ". The British
  auxiliary cruiser " Heroic " also replotted her
  course to join the rescue.
• The lifeboats had begun to be lowered. Captain
  Dyke arranged the lowering of the boats on the
  starboard boat deck. Fifth Officer G.
  Fielding swung out two boats on the portside but
  left them hanging six feet from the water. He
  realised if he dropped them the ships great
  propellers would suck the little boat into her
  wake and destroy all inside the boat. Two boats
  left without permission and were destroyed by the
  propellers.
• A remarkable story was told by Mrs. Violet
  Jessop , one of the stewardesses on board. She
  had infact been onboard the Olympic when she
  collided with the HMS Hawke and had also been
  onboard the Titanic. She seemed a very fortunate
  lady who had the same amount of lives as a cat.
  As she had seen the effect of the giant
  propellers twice before, she jumped from the
  lifeboat before it was sucked into the
  propellers. The suction was still to great and
  she was pulled in. However, for some reason she
  was not chopped to pieces but was thrown clear of
  danger and when she rose to the surface she hit
  her head on the lifeboat but was dragged to
  safety by survivors in another boat.

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• Like on the Titanic, the engineers remained at
  their posts until the last minute before escaping
  through the funnel casing of the fourth stack.
  Britannic had not long to live. She had already
  begun to keel over. Survivors in the boats could
  hear explosions coming from her inside.
• Britannic finally rolled over at 9.07 a.m. There
  were 35 lifeboats and hundreds of people
  frantically swimming in the water.
• In 55 minutes the 48.158 ton ship had sunk.
• Bartlett swam to a nearby ship and quickly began
  co-ordinating a rescue mission to save those in
  the water.
• At 10.00 a.m. the Scourge saw the lifeboats and
  started to pick up survivors. The Heroic was also
  on the scene and doing the same. She alone picked
  up 494 survivors. There was a total of 625 crew
  and 500 medical officers on board at the time of
  her sinking. A total of 21 crew and 9 Officers
  and men of the RAMC were killed in the disaster.
  A much lower ratio than her sisters in mortality
  rates.