The chaplain of the ship recovered his Bible. On December 23, 1915, the Britannic undertook its maiden voyage, sailing from Liverpool, England, to the Greek island of Lemnos, via Naples. [86], In September 1998, another team of divers made an expedition to the wreck. The reaction in the dining room was immediate; doctors and nurses left instantly for their posts but 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. Did a lifeboat get caught by the Britannic propeller? - Answers It has been suggested that this was because the mine strike coincided with the change of watches. "Titanic's sister ship Britannic could become a diving attraction in Greece", "24 Apr 1912 WHITE STAR'S NEXT GREAT LINER. At six o'clock, the patients were awakened and the premises were cleaned up. These facilities were installed but were soon removed because the ship was converted to a hospital ship and were never re-installed because the ship sank before she could enter transatlantic service, so the planned facilities were either cancelled, destroyed, reused on other vessels, like the Olympic or Majestic, or just never used. Despite those gory deaths, all other passengers reached safety, and the sinking did not gain the same press attention as that of the Titanic where 1,503 people lost their lives. Enough cabins were provided for passengers divided into three classes. Captain Bartlett and Chief Officer Hume were on the bridge at the time and the gravity of the situation was soon evident. The nurses had opened most of those portholes to ventilate the wards, against standing orders. June 14, 2019 by Kane Dane. Now, however, Ayrton hopes he can shed new light on the tragedy with his vivid photographs of the Britannic. You need to be prepared the dive is serious, he cautioned. [47] An SOS signal was immediately sent out and was received by several other ships in the area, among them HMSScourge and HMS Heroic, but Britannic heard nothing in reply. There is, however, an important difference. This box included a number of original documents relating to Titanic. Ayrton has some words of warning for those who are eager to inspect the ghostly wreck in person. //SS Britannic - Titanic-Titanic.com This design enabled all the lifeboats to be launched, even if the ship developed a list that would normally prevent lifeboats from being launched on the side opposite to the list. With a gross tonnage of 48,158, she surpassed her older sisters in terms of internal volume, but this did not make her the largest passenger ship in service at that time; the German SSVaterland held this title with a significantly higher tonnage. Despite the alterations to the central propeller specifications for these ships, the central propellers ultimately installed on both Britannic and Olympic had identical specifications to the original one fitted on Olympic in 1911. [91], In September 2003, an expedition led by Carl Spencer dived into the wreck. The four-bladed central propeller installed during her post-war refit is plainly visible. Aquitania was diverted to hospital ship duties in August (her place as a troop transport would be taken by Olympic in September). The number of blades on Olympics central propeller as fitted during this refit are confirmed by the photographic record, including photos of it in the foundry in September 1919 and in place from 1923-24 onwards.