Real Picture of Britannic Sinking
HMHS Britannic was the third and final vessel of the White Star Line's Olympic class of steamships and the second White Star ship to bear the name Britannic. She was the youngest sister of the RMS Olympic and the RMS Titanic and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner. She was operated as a hospital ship from 1915 until her sinking near the Greek island of Kea, in the Aegean Sea, in November 1916. At the time she was the largest hospital ship in the world.
Britannic was launched just before the start of the First World War. She was designed to be the safest of the three ships with design changes made during construction due to lessons learned from the sinking of the Titanic. She was laid up at her builders, Harland and Wolff, in Belfast for many months before being requisitioned as a hospital ship. In 1915 and 1916 she served between the United Kingdom and the Dardanelles. On the morning of 21 November 1916 she was shaken by an explosion caused by a naval mine of the Imperial German Navy near the Greek island of Kea and sank 55 minutes later, killing 30 people.
There were 1,066 people on board; the 1,036 survivors were rescued from the water and lifeboats. Britannic was the largest ship lost in the First World War.
After the First World War the White Star Line was compensated for the loss of Britannic by the award of SS Bismarck as part of postwar reparations; she entered service as RMS Majestic.
The wreck was located and explored by Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1975. The vessel is the largest intact passenger ship on the seabed in the world.
Sinking[]
At 08:12 on 21 November 1916, a loud explosion shook the ship. The cause, whether it was a torpedo from an enemy submarine or a mine, was not apparent. It was later revealed that the mines were planted in the Kea Channel on 21 October 1916 by SM U-73 under the command of Gustav Sieß.
The reaction in the dining room was immediate; doctors and nurses left instantly for their posts but not everybody reacted the same way, as further aft, the power of the explosion was less felt and many thought the ship had hit a smaller boat. Captain Bartlett and Chief Officer Hume were on the bridge at the time and the gravity of the situation was soon evident. The explosion was on the starboard side, between holds two and three. The force of the explosion damaged the watertight bulkhead between hold one and the forepeak. The first four watertight compartments were filling rapidly with water, the boiler-man's tunnel connecting the firemen's quarters in the bow with boiler room six was 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. An SOS signal was immediately sent out and was received by several other ships in the area, among them HMS Scourge and HMS Heroic, but Britannic heard nothing in reply. Unknown to either Bartlett or the ship's wireless operator, the force of the first explosion had caused the antenna wires slung between the ship's masts to snap. This meant that although the ship could still send out transmissions by radio, she could no longer receive them.
Along with the damaged watertight door of the firemen's tunnel, the watertight door between boiler rooms six and five failed to close properly. Water was flowing further aft into boiler room five. Britannic had reached her flooding limit. She could stay afloat (motionless) with her first six watertight compartments flooded. There were five watertight bulkheads rising all the way up to B Deck. Those measures had been taken after the Titanic disaster (Titanic could float with only her first four compartments flooded).
The next crucial bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four and its door were undamaged and should have guaranteed the ship's survival. However, there were open portholes along the front lower decks, which tilted underwater within minutes of the explosion. The nurses had opened most of those portholes to ventilate the wards, against standing orders. As the ship's angle of list increased, water reached this level and began entering aft from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. With more than six compartments flooded, Britannic could not stay afloat.
Aftermath[]
Britannic Survivors aboard the ship HMS Scourge
After the ship foundered. The ship HMS Scourge came to rescue and pick up 339 Britannic survivors. 2 lifeboats followed the HMS Scourge after Sanjeev Pinjala a survivor of the Titanic, Lusitania, and Britannic, raised his arms in the air. HMS Foxhound came to the rescue 10 minutes later after HMS Scourge. Later, HMS Heroic and HMS Goliath came to the accident location at the same time to pick up the rest of the survivors. 2 people (one of Heroic and one of Goliath) died from their injuries. HMS Foxhound later went back to search the dead. only 29 bodies were found and 1 went missing.
The last living normal survivor of the HMHS Britannic was George Perman who was a passenger and a boy scout aboard Britannic. The last living time traveler survivor of the Britannic is Sanjeev Pinjala who also survived the Titanic, Lusitania, and Britannic and leaves behind a mystery.
Facts[]
Britannic was trying to beach land so the ship could be repaired. Unfortunately, the ship failed to beach and just foundered at 9:07 AM.
Violet Jessop a survivor of the Olympic (when it had a collision with HMS Hawke in 1911), Titanic (when it collided with a iceberg and sank in 1912), and Britannic, had hit her head against the propeller on the starboard side when she jumped overboard from her lifeboat.
Sanjeev Pinjala a survivor of the Titanic (when it collided with an iceberg in 1912), Lusitania (when it struck a bomb known to be a torpedo and sank in 1915), and Britannic, Sanjeev was under the command of Violet Jessop onboard Britannic and was also crushed against the propeller. A huge scar formed on his chest. He was later hospitalized during the Britannic ship disaster as well.
Archie Jewell is a survivor of both Titanic and Britannic, but died during the sinking of the SS Donegal on April 17, 1917. Archie boarded a lifeboat during Britannic's sinking.
Arthur Priest: Arthur was a survivor of 6 shipwrecks RMS Asturias (when it ran aground on her maiden voyage in 1908), RMS Olympic (when it had a collision with HMS Hawke in 1911), RMS Titanic (when it had a collision with an iceberg in 1912), RMS Alcantara (when it sank in a combat with SMS Grief in 1916), HMHS Britannic, and SS Donegal (when it sank after striking a bomb known to be a torpedo in 1917).
John Cropper was one of the passengers that died during the sinking. He was one of the famous death's during Britannic's sinking.