Since mankind built its first boats and began to conquer the seas and oceans, many centuries have passed. All this time people were accompanied by shipwrecks. Over time, the size of ships increased, as did the number of victims in disasters.
All records on shipwrecks broke the 20th century, when, it would seem, they had already learned how to build reliable and strong liners, cruisers and steamboats, and not just sailing wooden vessels subject to all winds. The Britanic liner is one of the victims of the shipwreck.
The story of three brothers ships
The accelerated pace of life at the beginning of the 20th century required faster movements in space than before. The rapidly developing trade between countries and mass emigration to the USA from Europe and other parts of the world created the need for powerful and high-speed transatlantic ships.
In 1902, the implementation of the Lusitania project began, within the framework of which two ships of unprecedented size and speed were created in America. The sister ships Lusitania and Mauritania took over transatlantic transport, which jeopardized the prosperity of the British merchant fleet.
In response to the US challenge at Harland & Wolf shipyards in Belfast, it was decided to build 3 liners that are superior in strength and reliability to American ones. The customer was one of the directors of the ship company White Star Line.
So in 1907, the British Admiralty launched a project, thanks to which the world saw the appearance of three brothers ships - the Olympic, the Titanic, and the British. Thus, the passenger ship as a category of ships has transformed, has become much faster than the military battleships existing at that time, thanks to the latest equipment.
Characteristics "Britannica"
What is curious about the three identical twin liners of the British company is that each subsequent ship was built taking into account the shortcomings of the previous ones, but the first ship was still the best, the Olympic. Unlike his “younger brothers, ” he crossed the Atlantic more than 500 times, while the Titanic had only 1 flight, and the British had 5.
After the death of the Titanic, shipbuilders took into account all the shortcomings that led to the collapse of this vessel during the construction of the Britanic. The ship was outwardly very similar to its "brothers", but turned out to be much more powerful and perfect. It was better equipped with boats, and the partitions between the bulkheads should have prevented the flooding of the ship in the event of an accident. This detail has become a significant advantage of the Britannica. The ship had 17 waterproof partitions, which made it unsinkable when filling 6 open water compartments.
The characteristics of the boat deck have also been changed. Alteration of the davits and their installation not only on the sides, but also at the stern, made it possible to evacuate passengers with any roll of the liner.
Vessel characteristics:
- hull length - 269 m;
- width - more than 28 m;
- the height from the waterline to the boat deck was 18.4 m;
- 29 steam boilers for two four-cylinder steam engines connected with external screws (16, 000 hp each) were used to operate the engine;
- total engine power was 50, 000 liters. with.;
- ship speed was up to 25 knots.
In February 1914, the Britannic was launched. The ship, whose photo was in the newspapers of all countries, was striking in its size and grandeur.
Launching
The day of February 26, 1914 was significant for the builders of the shipyard "Harland and Wolf" (Belfast). The descent of the ship took place without the usual breaking of a bottle of champagne on board, since there was no such tradition at the shipyard.
For that time, the size of the Britannic and its equipment were unparalleled - it accommodated 790 passengers of the 1st class, the second - 835, the third - 950. There were also a lot of crew members - 950 people.
All plans associated with the owners of the transport company with transatlantic flights of the ship were violated in August 1914. The outbreak of World War I prepared for the "Britannica" the fate of the floating hospital. On board were 437 medical staff members, 675 people from the ship’s crew and 3, 300 wounded patients.
The restructuring of "Britannica" in the hospital
To transfer the passenger airliner to the hospital category, it was necessary to slightly change the external and internal appearance of the Britannica. The ship was “decorated” with a green stripe and six red crosses - identification marks indicating that it was a peaceful hospital and not a military ship.
Internal alterations were more significant. The cabins were converted into operating rooms, wards with severely wounded and a dormitory for staff. The liner accommodated 2034 simple and 1035 folding beds. The walking deck was converted into a compartment for soldiers with minor injuries.
The commander of the updated ship was Charles A. Bartlett.
The first trip "Britannica"
The story of Britannic as a naval hospital began on December 23, 1915, when he left Liverpool, ready to take out wounded soldiers, and headed for Naples and the Greek port of Mudros on the island of Lemnos.
Together with two other converted liners - Aquitaine and Mauritania, he cruised in the Dardanelles.
The captain of "Britannica" introduced a strict regime, which obeyed not only the staff, but also the patients:
- rise at 6.00 + cleaning the bed;
- breakfast at 7.30, followed by cleaning the dining room;
- captain's bypass at 11.00;
- lunch at 12.30 with the cleaning of the dining room;
- tea at 16.30;
- dinner at 20.30;
- bypass of the captain at 21.00.
Strict discipline made it possible to keep the hospital in order. To refuel the vessel it was necessary to go to Naples, which on December 28, 1915 was made by the Britannic. The ship, whose photo in its new appearance became recognizable in the vast expanses of the Mediterranean, got coal and water and went to Mudros, where the wounded were waiting for him.
The loading lasted 4 days, and on 01/09/1916 the ship unloaded patients in Southampton. Having made 2 more “walks” for the wounded soldiers, “Britanic” returned to the commercial fleet due to the lull in the Mediterranean Sea.
The return of "Britannic" to the war
In September 1916, military operations again intensified in the Mediterranean Sea, which required the presence of a large airliner to transport the injured to the battlefield.
German submarines cruising in those waters set traps from rows of floating mines in a narrow part of the Mediterranean Sea to destroy the enemy. On the outskirts of the military base on Lemnos, Allied ships often fell into these traps.
On November 21, 1916, the Britannica crashed in the strait between the islands of Kei and Kitnos when it ran into one of the underwater mines. The explosion occurred at 8 hours 7 minutes, in the morning, when some patients and staff were still in the dining room for breakfast.
The last minutes of Britannica
The captain, evaluating the situation, decided that he would be able to bring the ship to a nearby shore and land aground. This maneuver only increased the flooding of the ship, since the partitions between the compartments were open.
Witnesses of the shipwreck were able to describe how the Britannic was drowning. Two explosions - the first on the starboard side and a few minutes later the second on the port side, banked the ship. Water quickly began to fill the holds and cabins, in which portholes were open for ventilation.
The evacuation in the boats was carried out in strict order, since everyone remembered well what the panic with the Titanic passengers had done. The first 2 lifeboats launched into the water before the order of the assistant captain were given the order, fell with people there under the Britannic propellers that had risen from the water but were still working.
After 55 minutes, the nose of the liner reached the bottom, and from the impact the ship shuddered and capsized. Thanks to the discipline and clear leadership of the captain and his assistants, 30 people died on board 1066 passengers.
Expedition cousteau
The death of "Britannica" has generated a lot of rumors and accusations. Some said that the British government itself flooded the ship, while others blamed the torpedoes fired from a German submarine at an unarmed hospital.
Created as a transatlantic passenger airliner, the Britanic did not make a single crossing across the Atlantic or transported a single passenger. He went down in history as the largest ship that took part in the First World War.
To understand what exactly this liner sank, in 1975 a team led by the famous Jacques Yves Cousteau sailed to the Aegean Sea on the Calypso ship. Based on the data indicated on the maps by the British Admiralty, the team did not find the vessel and began to search for it using the radar. After a three-day search, the crew of the Calypso discovered the place of the liner's death under completely different coordinates.
The purpose of the expedition of Cousteau was to determine the causes of the crash and a description of how the "Britannic" drowned. At the bottom, the researchers found almost the entire hull of the ship, in which only one fault was clearly visible from a bow blow to the bottom. More serious studies were not conducted due to the limited equipment of the time. It was a superficial inspection, thanks to which on the front page in all newspapers appeared "Britannic" lying on the right side. The photo at the bottom also generated a lot of rumors, given that the ship was found almost 7 nautical miles further from the place indicated by the map.
