HMHS Britannic

HMHS Britannic was the last of White Star Line’s three Olympic-class liners, and the second White Star ship named Britannic. The younger sister of RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, she was built for transatlantic passenger service but instead served as a hospital ship from 1915 until she sank near the Greek island of Kea in the Aegean Sea in November 1916. At the time of her loss, Britannic was the largest hospital ship in the world and the biggest vessel ever constructed in Britain.

Launched on 26 February 1914, just months before the First World War broke out, Britannic was designed to be the safest of the three sisters. Lessons from the Titanic disaster led to design changes while she was still under construction. After her launch, she was laid up at Harland & Wolff in Belfast for many months before the British government requisitioned her as a hospital ship. During 1915 and 1916, she sailed between the United Kingdom and the Dardanelles.

On the morning of 21 November 1916, Britannic struck an Imperial German naval mine near Kea and sank 55 minutes later. Of the 1,066 people on board, 30 died; the remaining 1,036 were rescued from the water and lifeboats. Britannic was the largest ship lost in the First World War. After the war, White Star Line received the SS Bismarck as compensation for Britannic’s loss, and that vessel entered service as RMS Majestic. The wreck was located and explored by Jacques Cousteau in 1975. It remains the largest intact passenger ship on the seabed, and since 1996 it has been owned by maritime historian Simon Mills.

**Characteristics**

Britannic’s original dimensions matched those of her older sisters, but they were altered while she was still on the building stocks after the Titanic sank. Her gross tonnage of 48,158 exceeded that of Olympic and Titanic, though she was not the largest passenger ship in service at the time—the German SS Vaterland held that title with a significantly higher tonnage. The Olympic-class ships used a combined propulsion system: two triple-expansion steam engines drove the three-bladed outboard wing propellers, while a low-pressure steam turbine, powered by exhaust from the reciprocating engines, drove the central four-bladed propeller. This setup gave a maximum speed of 23 knots.

**Post-Titanic design changes**

Britannic’s layout was similar to her sisters’, but several changes were made after the Titanic disaster and the subsequent inquiries. Before launch, the ship’s beam was increased to 94 feet (29 metres) to allow for a double hull along the engine and boiler rooms, and six of the 15 watertight bulkheads were raised to B Deck. A larger 18,000-horsepower (13,000 kW) turbine replaced the 16,000-horsepower (12,000 kW) units used on the earlier vessels, to match the wider hull. The central watertight compartments were improved so the ship could stay afloat with six compartments flooded.

The most obvious external change was the fitting of large, crane-like gantry davits, each powered by an electric motor and able to launch six lifeboats stored on gantries. The ship was designed for eight sets of these davits, but only five were installed before Britannic entered war service; the gap was filled with manually operated Welin-type davits like those on Titanic and Olympic. Additional lifeboats could be stored on the deckhouse roof within reach of the davits, and the gantry davits could reach boats on the opposite side of the ship, provided no funnel blocked the way. This design allowed all lifeboats to be launched even if the ship developed a list that would normally prevent launching from the high side. However, several davits were placed abreast of funnels, defeating that purpose. The elevators, which previously stopped at A deck, were extended to the boat deck. In total, Britannic carried 48 lifeboats, enough for at least 3,600 people—well above the ship’s maximum capacity of 3,309.

**History**

**Conception**

In 1907, White Star Line’s director general J. Bruce Ismay and Harland & Wolff chairman Lord Pirrie decided to build three ocean liners of unmatched size to compete with Cunard’s Lusitania and Mauretania—not on speed, but on luxury and safety. The names were chosen later and reflected the designers’ ambitions: Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic. Construction of Olympic and Titanic began in 1908 and 1909. The ships were so large that the Arrol Gantry was built to shelter them, spanning two new building slips so two vessels could be constructed at once. All three were designed to be 270 metres long with a gross tonnage over 45,000. Their intended speed was about 22 knots, slower than the Cunard rivals but still fast enough for a transatlantic crossing in under a week.

**Rumoured name-change**

Though White Star Line and Harland & Wolff always denied it, some sources claim Britannic was originally to be named Gigantic, but the name was changed to avoid comparisons with Titanic. Evidence includes a poster showing the name Gigantic, and November 1911 American newspapers reporting that White Star had placed an order for a ship called Gigantic. Similar reports appeared in newspapers worldwide both during construction and immediately after the Titanic sank.