THE OTHER TITANIC-THE LOSS OF THE BRITANNIC, 100 YEARS AGO

On November 21st, 1916, a vast white passenger ship cut smartly through the sparkling hue of the wartime Aegean. Painted in bridal white, with three gigantic red crosses emblazoned on her hull, the hospital ship Britannic was crowned with a quartet of gigantic, buff coloured funnels that made her heritage unmistakable. For this was no ordinary vessel- Britannic was the sister ship of the ill fated Titanic of 1912.

As the third of the giant Olympic class of ocean liners,construction commenced on Britannic in Belfast at the end of November 1911, even as the nearby Titanic was in the last stages of fitting out. The sinking of Titanic in April 1912 threw all of these plans to the wind. Work on the Britannic came screeching to a halt as enquiries in both Britain and America were launched into the most stunning disaster in maritme history.

When work finally resumed, major changes were inevitably in store. Britannic was some twenty foot longer than her unlucky sister. She boasted an extra watertight compartment, and had watertight bulkheads that were raised right to the top deck. She also featured a full, second, inner skin. A new type of lifeboat launch gear would also be partially installed. With all of these improvements, Britannic was considered as safe as any ship could be.

By the time she was finally launched in February of 1914, a world war was just months away. The incomplete Britannic was taken over as a hospital ship by the Admiralty, and sent out to evacuate wounded soldiers from the ill fated Gallipoli campaign.

Her normal route was from Southampton to Mudros, in the Aegean, with a coaling stop at Naples en route. Once at Mudros, she would embark anything up to 3,000 wounded at a time. It was nothing unusual for twenty or more trains to meet her at Southampton to evacuate casualties.

While approaching Mudros once more on November 21st 1916, the Britannic hit a mine newly laid by a German U-boat. As the work watches were about to change, all the watertight doors were open to allow the men to move freely. Against regulations, hundreds of portholes had been left open. At a stroke,every fail safe device was rendered useless.

Just fifty five minutes later, the Britannic capsized, her huge funnels broke off one at a time, and she sank just eight miles off the coast of Kea. Loss of life was limited to just twenty nine souls. Had she been loaded with wounded, the result would have been far more horrific..