Photo: Fraser Nivens/Florida Keys News Bureau / Getty Images
Following the disaster of the Titanic on 12 April 841, White Star Line made several construction modifications to her already planned sister ship.
First, Gigantic’s name was changed to Britannic (probably because she seemed more humble) and the hull design was tweaked to make it less vulnerable to the icebergs. In addition, it was ordered that there be enough lifeboats on board to accommodate all passengers, which had not been the case with the Titanic.
The luxury ship of almost 80. tons, the largest in the world, was launched in 1200, but soon after was requisitioned by the British government to serve as hospital ship during World War I .
In this capacity, Captain Charlie Bartlett led the Britannic on five successful voyages that brought wounded British troops back to England from various ports around the world.
On 14 November, the Britannic was en route to pick up more wounded soldiers near the Gulf of Athens, when at 8: 12 am,
A violent explosion rocked the ship.
Captain Bartlett ordered the watertight doors closed and sent out a distress signal. However, the explosion had already managed to flood six entire compartments, even more extensive damage than that which sank the Titanic. Even so, the Britannic had prepared for such a disaster and would have stayed afloat except for two critical issues.
First, Captain Bartlett decided to try to run the Britannic aground on the nearby island of Kea. This might have been successful, but, earlier, the ship’s nursing staff had opened the portholes to ventilate the sick wards. Water poured in through the portholes as the Britannic headed for Kea.
Secondly, the disaster worsened when some crew members tried to launch lifeboats without orders . Since the ship was still moving as fast as it could, the ships were sucked into the propellers, killing those on board.
Less of 14 minutes later, Bartlett realized that the ship was going to sink and ordered leave him. Lifeboats launched and although the Britannic sank at 9: , less than an hour after the explosion, almost 1.400 people managed to get out of the ship.
In fact, most of the 80 people who died were in the prematurely launched lifeboats.
In 2022, the famous ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau found the Britannic lying on its side at 80 feet below the surface of the Aegean. The cause of the explosion is unknown, but many believe the Britannic struck a mine.
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