HMHS Britannic as a hospital ship
Career (UK)
Name:	HMHS Britannic
Owner:	White Star Line
Builder:	Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Laid down:	30 November 1911
Launched:	26 February 1914
Christened:	Not christened
In service:	23 December 1915   as a hospital ship
Fate:	Sunk by mine on 21 November 1916 four miles off the Greek island of Kea in the Kea Channel. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British Shipping Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a diversified heavy industrial company specialising in Shipbuilding, Ship breaking, Offshore construction Belfast ( is the capital city of Northern Ireland and the seat of government in Northern Ireland. Events 1700 - Battle of Narva — A Swedish army of 8500 men under Charles XII defeats Year 1911 ( MCMXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 747 BC - Epoch (origin of Ptolemy 's Nabonassar Era 364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city Year 1915 ( MCMXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year A naval mine is a self-contained Explosive device placed in water to destroy Ships or Submarines Unlike Depth charges mines are deposited Events 164 BC - Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family restores the Temple in Jerusalem. Year 1916 ( MCMXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year The Kea Channel is a passage of water in the Aegean Sea, lying between the islands of Makrotissi and Kea, just off Cape Sounion on the mainland of
Status:	Sunk
General characteristics
Tonnage:	48,158 gross tonnes
Displacement:	53,000 tons
Length:	882 ft 9 in (269. Units of mass There are three similar units of Mass called the ton: Long ton (simply ton in countries such as the United 1 m)
Beam:	94 ft (29 m)
Draught:	34 ft 7 in (10. 5 m)
Installed power:	29 boilers. Two four-cylinder triple expansion reciprocating engines each producing 16000 hp for outboard wing propellers. One low pressure turbine producing 18000 hp for the centre propeller. Total 50,000 hp.
Propulsion:	Two bronze triple blade outboard wing propellers. One bronze quadruple blade central propeller.
Speed:	Service: 21 knots (25 mph) Maximum: 23 knots

HMHS Britannic (1914), the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liner of the White Star Line, sister ship of RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, sank in 1916 after hitting a mine with the loss of 30 lives. A ship prefix is a combination of letters usually abbreviations used in front of the name of a civilian or naval Ship. Fatalities An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one Seaport to another along regular long-distance Maritime routes according to a schedule The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British Shipping History J Bruce Ismay, the chairman of White Star Line, and William Pirrie, the chairman of Harland and Wolff Shipyard Construction The Titanic was a White Star Line ocean liner built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland A naval mine is a self-contained Explosive device placed in water to destroy Ships or Submarines Unlike Depth charges mines are deposited Although the White Star Line always denied what it called a "legend",^[1] most sources say that the ship was originally intended to be named Gigantic^[2] (this is supported by a White Star pamphlet that advertised "The Gigantic"). In the aftermath of the Titanic disaster, the name was changed to Britannic, making it the second of three ships to be so named (see SS Britannic (1874) and RMS Britannic (1929)). Britannicjpg|right|thumb| Britannic and Germanic 2x4 carte de visite circa 1870 MV Britannic was the third White Star Line ship to bear the name

Contents 1 History 1.1 Post-Titanic design changes 1.2 Construction 1.3 Requisitioning 2 Last voyage 2.1 Explosion 2.2 Evacuation 2.3 Final moments 2.4 Rescue 3 Wreck 4 Pipe organ 5 See also 6 References 7 Notes 8 External links

History

Post-Titanic design changes

Following the loss of the Titanic and the subsequent enquiries, several design changes were made to the remaining Olympic-class liners. With Britannic, these changes were made before launching (Olympic was refitted on her return to Harland and Wolff). Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a diversified heavy industrial company specialising in Shipbuilding, Ship breaking, Offshore construction The main changes included raising the level of the internal watertight bulkheads to 'D' Deck, and making this deck a continuous watertight deck in itself, thus sealing each compartment from its neighbours. This prevented water in any flooded compartments from spilling over the bulkhead into adjacent compartments as the flooded ship sank into the water (as happened on the Titanic). A more obvious external change was the fitting of large crane-like davits, each capable of holding six lifeboats. A crane is a lifting machine equipped with a Winder, Wire ropes or Chains and sheaves that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to For the name of a person see David. A davit (dāv'ĭt dā'vĭt is a structure usually made of steel which is used to lower things over an edge of a long A lifeboat is a small craft carried on a ship to provide a means of emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard the ship Additional lifeboats could be stored within reach of the davits on the deckhouse roof, and in an emergency the davits could even reach lifeboats on the other side of the vessel. The aim of this design was to enable all the lifeboats to be launched, even if the ship developed a list that would normally prevent lifeboats being launched on the side opposite to the list. These davits were not fitted to Olympic.

Construction

Britannic was launched on 26 February 1914 at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast and fitting out began. Events 747 BC - Epoch (origin of Ptolemy 's Nabonassar Era 364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a diversified heavy industrial company specialising in Shipbuilding, Ship breaking, Offshore construction Belfast ( is the capital city of Northern Ireland and the seat of government in Northern Ireland. In August 1914, before Britannic could commence transatlantic service between New York and Southampton, World War I began. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Southampton ( IPA /ˌsaʊθˈhæmptən/ is the largest city in the county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Immediately, all shipyards with Admiralty contracts were given top priority to use available raw materials. The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. All civil contracts (including the Britannic) were slowed down. The military authorities requisitioned a large number of ships as armed merchant cruisers or for troop transport. Armed Merchantmen has come to mean merchant ships equipped with guns usually for defensive purposes either by design or after the fact The Admiralty was paying the companies for the use of their vessels but the risk of losing a ship during military operations was high. However, the big ocean liners were not taken for military use, as smaller vessels were much easier to operate. The White Star decided to withdraw RMS Olympic from service until the danger had passed. RMS Olympic returned to Belfast on 3 November 1914, while work on her sister continued slowly. Events 644 - Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim Caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina. Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year All this would change in 1915.

Requisitioning

The need for increased tonnage grew critical as military operations extended to the eastern Mediterranean. In May 1915 Britannic completed mooring trials of her engines, and was prepared for emergency entrance into service with as little as four weeks notice. The same month also saw the first major loss of a civilian ocean vessel when the Cunard liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed near the Irish coast by a German submarine. Cunard may refer to Nancy Cunard (1896–1965 English writer editor and publisher Samuel Cunard (1787–1865 British shipping Construction and trials Owned by the Cunard Steamship Company built by John Brown and Company Lusitania was named for the ancient Roman province of Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers

The following month, the British Admiralty decided to use recently requisitioned passenger liners as troop transports during the Gallipoli campaign (also called the Dardanelles service). Gallipoli peninsula (Gelibolu Yarımadası is located in Turkish Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles See also [[Hellespont]] The Dardanelles ( Turkish: Çanakkale Boğazı Greek: Δαρδανέλλια Dardanellia) formerly The first to sail were Cunard's RMS Mauretania and RMS Aquitania. Beginning In 1897 the German liner became the largest and fastest ship in the world Origin The origins of Aquitania lay in the rivalry between the White Star Line and Cunard, Britain 's two leading shipping companies As the Gallipoli landings proved to be disastrous and the casualties mounted, the need for large hospital ships for treatment and evacuation of wounded became evident. A hospital ship is a Ship designated for primary function as a medical treatment facility or Hospital; most are operated by the Military RMS Aquitania was diverted to hospital ship duties in August (her place as a troop transport would be taken by the RMS Olympic in September) and on 13 November 1915, Britannic was requisitioned as a hospital ship from her storage location at Belfast. Events 1002 - English king Ethelred orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St Year 1915 ( MCMXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Repainted white with large red crosses and a horizontal green stripe, she was renamed HMHS (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Britannic and placed under the command of Captain Charles A. Bartlett.

Last voyage

After completing five successful voyages to the Middle Eastern theatre and back to the United Kingdom transporting the sick and wounded, Britannic departed Southampton for Lemnos at 14:23 on 12 November 1916, her sixth voyage to the Mediterranean Sea. The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was fought between the Allied Powers, primarily the British and the Russians on the one hand and the Lemnos (Λήμνος is an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Events 764 - Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days Year 1916 ( MCMXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year The Britannic passed Gibraltar around midnight on 15 November and arrived at Naples on the morning of 17 November for her usual coaling and water refuelling stop, completing the first stage of her mission. Gibraltar (dʒɨˈbrɒltər is a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar Events 655 - Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria. Naples ( Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule) is a historic City in southern Italy, the Capital of the Events 284 - Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers

A storm kept the ship at Naples until Sunday afternoon, when Captain Bartlett decided to take advantage of a brief break in the weather and continue on. The seas rose once again just as Britannic left the port but by next morning the storms died and the ship passed the Strait of Messina without problems. The Strait of Messina ( Strittu di Missina in Sicilian) is the narrow section of water between the eastern tip of Sicily and the southern Cape Matapan was rounded during the first hours of Tuesday 21 November. Cape Matapan, also known as Cape Tenaro or Tainaro (Ακρωτήριο Ταίναρο is situated at the end of the Mani, Laconia, Greece. Events 164 BC - Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family restores the Temple in Jerusalem. By the morning Britannic was steaming at full speed (around 21 knots) into the Kea Channel, between Cape Sounion (the southernmost point of Attica, the prefecture which includes Athens) and the island of Kea. Cape Sounion (Modern Greek Aκρωτήριο Σούνιο - Akrotírio Soúnio; Latin Sunium promonturium Attica (Αττική Attikí;) is a periphery (subdivision in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's

Explosion

At 08:12 on Tuesday, 21 November 1916, a loud explosion shook the ship. Events 164 BC - Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family restores the Temple in Jerusalem. Year 1916 ( MCMXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year The reaction in the dining room was immediate; doctors and nurses left instantly for their posts. 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. For the acronym see AFT. Aft, in naval Terminology, is an Adjective or Adverb meaning 'towards Captain Bartlett and Chief Officer Hume were on the bridge at the time, and the gravity of the situation was soon evident. The first reports were frightening. The explosion had taken place on the starboard side between holds two and three, but the force of the explosion had damaged the watertight bulkhead between hold one and the forepeak. Starboard is the nautical term that refers to the right side of a vessel as perceived by a person on board a vessel and facing the bow (front A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a Ship. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and Deckheads Etymology Forecastle, also spelled fo'c's'le (ˈfoʊksəl originally meant the upper deck of a Sailing ship, forward of the Foremast. That meant that the first four watertight compartments were filling rapidly with water. To make things worse, the firemen's tunnel connecting the firemen's quarters in the bow with boiler room six had also been seriously damaged and water was flowing into that boiler room. Fireman (US or Boilerman (UK is the designation for someone whose job it is to tend the fire for the running of a Steam engine, typically a Steam locomotive

Bartlett ordered the watertight doors closed, sent a distress signal and ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats. Unfortunately, another surprise was waiting. Along with the damaged watertight door of the firemen's tunnel, the watertight door between boiler rooms six and five also failed to close properly for an unknown reason. Now water was flowing further aft into boiler room five. The Britannic had reached her flooding limit. She could stay afloat (motionless) with her first six watertight compartments flooded and had five watertight bulkheads rise all the way up to the B-deck. Those measures were taken after the Titanic disaster (Titanic could float with her first four compartments flooded and the bulkheads only went as high as E-deck). Luckily, the next crucial bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four and its door were undamaged and should have guaranteed the survival of the ship. However, there was something else that probably sealed Britannic's fate: the open portholes of the lower decks. A porthole is a small generally circular Window used on the hull of Ships to admit light and air The nurses had opened most of those portholes in order to ventilate the wards. As the ship's list increased, water reached this level and water began to enter aft from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. With more than six compartments flooded, the Britannic could not stay afloat.

Evacuation

On the bridge, Captain Bartlett was trying to save his vessel. Only two minutes after the blast, boiler rooms five and six had to be evacuated. In other words, in about ten minutes the Britannic was roughly in the same condition the Titanic was one hour after the collision with the iceberg. Construction The Titanic was a White Star Line ocean liner built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater Ice that has broken off from a snow-formed Glacier or Ice shelf and is floating in open water Fifteen minutes after the ship was struck the open portholes on E-deck were underwater. Water also entered the ship's aft section from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. The Britannic quickly developed a serious list to starboard. The angle of list is a term used to describe the degree to which a vessel heels (leans or tilts to either port or starboard Starboard is the nautical term that refers to the right side of a vessel as perceived by a person on board a vessel and facing the bow (front To his right Bartlett saw the shores of Kea, about three miles away. He decided to make a last desperate effort by trying to beach the ship. This was not an easy task because of the combined effect of the list and the weight of the rudder. A rudder is a device used to steer a Ship, Boat, Submarine, Hovercraft, or other conveyance that move through a fluid (generally air or The steering gear was unable to respond properly but by using the propeller (giving more power to the left one) Britannic slowly started to turn right. A propeller is essentially a type of fan which transmits power by converting Rotational motion into Thrust for propulsion of a vehicle such as an

Simultaneously, on the boat deck the crewmembers were preparing the lifeboats. Some of the boats were immediately rushed by a group of stewards and some sailors, who had started to panic. See also Seafarer's professions and ranks A Chief Steward is the senior unlicensed crew member working in the Steward's Department of a ship An unknown officer kept his nerve and persuaded his sailors to get out and stand by their positions near the boat stations. He decided to leave the stewards on the lifeboats as they were responsible for starting the panic and he did not want them in his way during the evacuation. However, he left one of the crew with them in order to take charge of the lifeboat after leaving the ship. After this episode, all the sailors under his command remained at their posts until the last moment. As no RAMC personnel were near this boat station at that time, the Officer started to lower the boats, but when he saw that the ship's engines were still running, he stopped them within six feet (2 m) from the water and waited for orders from the bridge. The Royal Army Medical Corps ( RAMC) is a specialist Corps in the British Army which provides Medical services to all British Army The occupants of the lifeboats did not take this decision very well and started cursing. Shortly after this, orders finally arrived: no lifeboats should be launched, as the Captain had decided to beach the Britannic.

Assistant Commander Harry William Dyke was making the arrangements for the lowering of the lifeboats from the aft davits of the starboard boat deck when he spotted a group of firemen who had taken a lifeboat from the poop deck without authority and had not filled it to maximum capacity. In Naval architecture, a poop deck is a deck that constitutes the Roof of a cabin built in the Aft (rear part of the superstructure of a Dyke ordered them to pick up some of the men who had already jumped into the water.

At 08:30, two lifeboats from the boat station assigned to Third Officer David Laws were lowered without his knowledge through the use of the automatic release gear. Those two lifeboats dropped some 6 feet into the water and hit the water violently. The two lifeboats soon drifted into the giant running propellers, which were almost out of the water by now. As the first one reached the turning blades, both lifeboats, together with their occupants, were torn to pieces. By then the word of the massacre arrived on the bridge. Captain Bartlett, seeing that water was entering more rapidly as Britannic was moving and that there was a risk of more victims, gave the order to stop the engines. The propellers stopped turning the moment a third lifeboat was about to be reduced to pieces. RAMC occupants of this boat pushed against the blades and got away from them safely.

Final moments

The Captain officially ordered the crew to lower the boats and at 08:35, he gave the order to abandon ship. The forward set of port side davits soon became useless. The unknown officer had already launched his two lifeboats and managed to launch rapidly one more boat from the after set of portside davits. He then started to prepare the motor launch when First officer Oliver came with orders from the Captain. Bartlett had ordered Oliver to get in the motor launch and use its speed to pick up survivors from the smashed lifeboats. Then he was to take charge of the small fleet of lifeboats formed around the dying Britannic. After launching the motor launch with Oliver, the unknown officer filled another lifeboat with seventy-five men and launched it with great difficulty because the port side was now very high from the surface due to the list to starboard. At 08:45, the list to starboard was so great that no davits were operable. The unknown officer with six sailors decided to move to mid-ship on the boat deck in order to throw overboard-collapsible rafts and deck chairs from the starboard side. About thirty RAMC personnel who were still left on the ship followed them. As he was about to order these men to jump and then give his final report to the Captain, the unknown officer spotted Sixth officer Welch and a few sailors near one of the smaller lifeboats on the starboard side. They were trying to lift the boat but they had not enough men. Quickly, the unknown officer ordered his group of forty men to assist the Sixth officer. Together they managed to lift it, load it with men and then launch it safely.

At 09:00, Bartlett sounded one last blast on the whistle and then just walked into the water, which had already reached the bridge. He swam to a collapsible boat and began to co-ordinate the rescue operations. The whistle blow was the final signal for the ship's engineers (commanded by Chief Engineer Robert Fleming) who, like their heroic colleagues on the Titanic, had remained at their posts until the last possible moment. They escaped via the staircase into funnel #4, which ventilated the engine room.

The Britannic rolled over onto her starboard side and the funnels began collapsing. Violet Jessop saw the last seconds: "She dipped her head a little, then a little lower and still lower. Violet Constance Jessop ( 2 October 1887 – 5 May 1971) was an Ocean liner stewardess and nurse who achieved fame by surviving All the deck machinery fell into the sea like a child's toys. Then she took a fearful plunge, her stern rearing hundreds of feet into the air until with a final roar, she disappeared into the depths, the noise of her going resounding though the water with undreamt-of violence. . . ” It was 09:07, only fifty-five minutes after the explosion. The Britannic then became a time capsule on the bottom of the Aegean. A time capsule is a historic cache of goods and/or information usually intended as a method of Communication with people in the future Etymology In ancient times there were various explanations for the name Aegean.

Rescue

The first to arrive on the scene were the Greek fishermen from Kea on their kaikia, who picked up many men from the water. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία One of them, Francesco Psilas, was later paid £4 by the Admiralty for his services. At 10:00 HMS Scourge sighted the first lifeboats and ten minutes later stopped and picked up 339 survivors. HMS Scourge (G01 was an S and T class destroyer. She was part of the Royal Navy force present during the Battle of North Cape in 1943 HMS Heroic had arrived some minutes earlier and picked up 494. Some 150 had made it to Korissia (a community on Kea), where surviving doctors and nurses from the Britannic were trying to save the horribly mutilated men, using aprons and pieces of lifebelts to make dressings. Municipal districts Argyrades Agios Georgios Argyradon Marathias Neochoraki A personal flotation device (also referred to as PFD, lifejacket, life preserver, Mae West, life vest, life saver, A little barren quayside served as their operating room. Although the motor launches were quick to transport the wounded to Korissia, the first lifeboat arrived there some two hours later due to the strong current and their heavy load. It was the lifeboat of Sixth Officer Welch and the unknown Officer. The latter was able to speak some French and managed to talk with one of the local villagers, obtaining some bottles of brandy and some bread for the injured. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Brandy (from brandywine, derived from Dutch brandewijn — “burnt wine” is a spirit produced by distilling Wine

The inhabitants of Korissia were deeply moved by the suffering of the wounded. They offered all possible assistance to the survivors and hosted many of them in their houses while waiting for the rescue ships. Violet Jessop approached one of the wounded. "An elderly man, in an RAMC uniform with a row of ribbons on his breast, lay motionless on the ground. Part of his thigh was gone and one foot missing; the grey-green hue of his face contrasted with his fine physique. I took his hand and looked at him. After a long time, he opened his eyes and said: 'I'm dying'. There seemed nothing to disprove him yet I involuntarily replied: 'No, you are not going to die, because I've just been praying for you to live'. He gave me a beautiful smile . . . That man lived and sang jolly songs for us on Christmas Day. ”

The Scourge and Heroic had no deck space for more survivors and they left for Pireaus signalling the presence of those left at Korissia. Piraeus (pɪˈræʊs Πειραιάς, piɾeˈas Πειραιεύς, piɾeˈefs is a city in the periphery of Attica, Greece, and a Luckily, HMS Foxhound arrived at 11:45 and, after sweeping the area, anchored in the small port at 13:00 to offer medical assistance and take onboard the remaining survivors. At 14:00 arrived the light cruiser HMS Foresight. The Foxhound departed for Pireaus at 14:15 while the Foresight remained to arrange the burial on Kea of Sergeant W. Sharpe, who had died of his injuries. Another two men died on the Heroic and one on the French tug Goliath. TUGboat (ISSN 0896-3207 is a journal published three times per year by the TeX Users Group. The three were buried with military honours in the British cemetery at Pireaus. The last fatality was G. Honeycott, who died at the Russian Hospital at Pireaus shortly after the funerals.

1,036 people were saved. Thirty men lost their lives in the disaster but only five were buried. The others were left in the water and their memory is honoured in memorials in Thessaloniki and London. Thessaloniki (Θεσσαλονίκη), Thessalonica, or Salonica is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of Macedonia London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Another twenty-four men were injured. The ship carried no patients. The survivors were hosted in the warships that were anchored at the port of Pireaus. However, the nurses and the officers were hosted in separate hotels at Phaleron. Faliro (Ancient Greek: Φάληρον Phálēron; Modern Greek: Φάληρο, Fáliro; Latin: Phaleron and Many Greek citizens and officials attended the funerals.

Wreck

The wreck of HMHS Britannic is at 37°42′05″N, 24°17′02″E in about 400 ft (120 m) of water. It was first discovered and explored by Jacques Cousteau in 1975. Jacques-Yves Cousteau ( 11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer explorer, Ecologist, The giant liner lies on her starboard side hiding the zone of impact with the mine. There is a huge hole just beneath the forward well deck. The bow is attached to the rest of the hull only by some pieces of the B-deck. The bow (pronounced &mdashrhymes with how) is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a Ship or Boat, This is the result of the massive explosion that destroyed the entire part of the keel between bulkheads two and three and of the force of impact with the seabed. The bow is bent and deformed in the front part because it reached the seabed before the 882 feet 9 inches (269 m) long liner was completely sunk. Despite this, the crew's quarters in the forecastle were found to be in good shape with many details still visible. The holds were found empty. The forecastle machinery and the two cargo cranes in the forward well deck are still there and they are well preserved. The foremast is bent and lies on the sea floor near the wreck with the crow's nest still attached on it. The bell was not found. Funnel #1 was found a few metres from the Boat Deck. The wreck lies in shallow enough water that scuba divers can explore it, but it is a British war grave and any expedition must be approved by both the British and Greek governments. A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the Breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during Scuba diving. A war grave is a place where War dead are buried It may contain either a combatant or a civilian

In the summer of 1995, during an expedition filmed by NOVA, Dr Robert Ballard relocated the wreck, using advanced side-scan sonar. Nova is a Popular science Television series from the US produced by WGBH Boston Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942 in Wichita Kansas) is an oceanographer most noted for his work in underwater Archaeology Images were obtained from remotely controlled vehicles, but the wreck was not penetrated. Ballard succeeded in locating all the ship's funnels, which proved to be in surprisingly good condition. Attempts to find mine anchors failed.

In August 1996 the wreck of the HMHS Britannic became available for sale and was bought by Mr Simon Mills, a maritime historian who has written two books about the ship: Britannic-The Last Titan, and Hostage To Fortune. When Simon Mills was asked: if he had all the money and support needed, what would his ideal vision be for the wreck of Britannic be, he replied: "That's simple—to leave it as it is!".

In 2003, an expedition led by Carl Spencer used advanced diving technology to send scuba divers into the wreck. Their most significant finding was that several watertight doors were open. It has been suggested that this was because the mine strike coincided with the change of watches. Alternatively, the explosion may have distorted the doorframes. A number of mine anchors were located, confirming the German records of U-73 that Britannic was sunk by a single mine and the damage was compounded by open portholes and watertight doors.

In 2006, an expedition funded and filmed by the History Channel, brought together thirteen of the world's best wreck divers to help determine what caused the quick sinking of the Britannic. History, formerly known as The History Channel, is a Satellite and Cable TV channel, with shows on historical events and persons&mdashoften Setting sail on 17 September in a diving boat, converted from a fishing boat for this mission, the crew dived and explored the sunken ship. Events 1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought 1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec After days of preparation, the wreck was explored by divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler. John Chatterton is one of the world’s most accomplished and well known wreck divers. Richie Kohler is an experienced technical wreck diver and Shipwreck Historian who has been diving and exploring shipwrecks since 1980 However, time was cut short when silt was kicked-up, causing zero visibility conditions, and the two divers narrowly escaped with their lives. One last dive was to be attempted on Britannic's boiler room, but it was discovered that photographing this far inside the wreck would lead to breaking the rules of a permit issued by the Euphorate of Underwater Antiquities, a department within the Greek Ministry of Culture. List of Ministers for Culture and Science 1971–1985 List of Ministers for Culture and Athletics 1985–present See also Due partly to a barrier in languages, a last minute plea was turned down by the department. The expedition was unable to determine the cause of the rapid sinking, but hours of footage were filmed and important data was documented. Underwater Antiquities later recognized the importance of this mission and has since extended an invitation to revisit the wreck under less stringent rules.

During this expedition, Chatterton and Kohler found a bulb shape in her expansion joint. This proved that her design was changed following the loss of Titanic.

Pipe organ

It was planned to install a Welte Philharmonic Organ onboard the Britannic. M Welte & Sons Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of Orchestrions organs and Reproducing pianos From 1832 until 1932 the firm produced mechanical Due to the outbreak of the First World War, the instrument never made its way to Belfast.

During the restoration of the Welte-Organ now in the Swiss National Museum in Seewen the restorers detected in April 2007 that the main parts of the instruments were signed by the German organ builders with "Britanik" ^[3]. Seewen is a municipality in the district of Dorneck in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. A photo of a drawing in a company prospectus, found in the Welte-legacy in the Augustinermuseum in Freiburg, proved that this was the organ for the Britannic. ^[4]

See also

• Britannic (film)

References

• Hostage to Fortune, by Simon Mills
• The Olympic-Class Ships, by Mark Chirnside
• Atlantic Liners: A Trio of Trios, by J. Kent Layton

Notes

External links

• Maritimequest HMHS Britannic Photo Gallery
• The Britannic Foundation
• Britannic Home at Atlantic Liners
• NOVA Online-Titanic's Lost Sister (Companion website to the PBS special Titanic's Lost Sister)
• Hospital Ship Britannic
• About the origins of the Britannic Organ
• [3]

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