Britannic

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Sep 3, 1999

The keel of hull number 433 was laid at the Harland & Wolff shipyard late in 1911. She was to be the third in the triad of the White Star Line's majestic liners plying the North Atlantic passenger trade. She was to be named "Gigantic," implying her divine origin just like her sisters, "Olympic" and "Titanic." Following the "Titanic's" sinking, however, White Star scrapped the pretentious name in favor of one more patriotic, one celebrating Britain's rich naval history, "Britannic."

To prevent a repeat of the "Titanic" experience, the "Britannic" was redesigned to incorporate lessons learned. First, a full double skin was added to the top of the watertight bulkheads, next the existing double bottom was increased from five to six feet in depth and subdivided by six bulkheads; designed to restrict flooding in case of an accident similar to "Titanic." The watertight bulkheads were extended also, five up to B deck (into first class) and the remaining twelve up E deck. With those modifications and new methods for closing watertight doors and pumping flooded compartments, it was calculated that the "Britannic" could survive with up to six compartments flooded, compared with four for the "Titanic."

The delay for the redesign meant that the "Britannic" was not launched until 26 Feb. 1914. The outbreak of World War I in August delayed the ship again as the shipyard concentrated on other naval work. In November, 1915, "Britannic" was requisitioned by the Royal Navy as a Hospital ship and her compartments were altered accordingly. When finished, she could accommodate 3300 casualties and a staff of 52 officers and doctors, 101 nurses, 336 orderlies and 675 ship's crew. After fitting out, she made the short trip, under heavy escort, to Belfast were she was commissioned and placed under command of White Star Captain Charles Bartlett. She was also painted in internationally recognized hospital ship colors; an all white hull and superstructure, buff colored funnels, a broad green stripe the whole length of the hull and three large red cross markings on each side. At night, two large crosses could be illuminated on the upper superstructure.

On December 1915, she sailed to the Mediterranean where she joined four other ships, her sister "Olympic," the Cunarders "Mauretania" and "Aquitania," and the Dutch liner Statendam. There the five ships serviced casualties from the Dardenelles and Gallipoli campaigns. In early 1916, she was laying offshore Mudros of the Greek Isle of Lemnos where she was loaded with 3300 sick and wounded over four days. She set sail for Southhampton, arriving there on 9 January. "Britannic's" second and third voyages took her to Naples where she collected casualties and returned to Southampton. There she was briefly released from hospital duties and returned to Belfast in June 1916 to be retrofitted back to passenger service. Sadly, this was not to be as the "Britannic" was again called back into military service. On 24 September she sailed for Malta with a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) on board after disembarking the VAD at Malta, "Britannic" sailed to Mudros again and took on a load of sick and wounded for the return trip to England in October. She quickly sailed back to Mudros via Naples. The route from Naples to Mudros leads through the Messina strait between the toe of Italy and Sicily then eastward around the southern tip of Greece then passing between the large Aegean Islands of Andros and Eubora east of Athens. To reach these islands the "Britannic" must pass close to Kea Island, some 20 miles off the Athenian shore. This route was well known to the German Navy. In October, U-73 was scouting the Kea channel, observing Royal Navy activities. The Captain of U-73 decided to lay 12 mines across the Kea channel in two lines of six directly across the main shipping lane.