Britannic - "The forgotten Sister"
The HMHS britannic was to become the largest of the three Olympic class vessels that were created. She had a double skin, giant sized lifeboat davits, and water tight bulkheads that extended as high as the B deck. Originally called the Gigantic, the britannic had a gross tonnage at 48,158 tonnes! Launched on February 26th, 1914, she was to begin her commercial life servicing the Southampton to New York route in the spring of 1915. However, she was requisitioned by the admiralty to be converted into a hospital ship in November 13th, 1915, because of the outbreak of World War I. She was officially ready for war service on December 12th, 1915 and was commisioned His Majesty's Hospital Ship Britannic.
Under the command of Captain Charles A. Bartlett, she took on a medical staff of 101 nurses, 336 orderlies, 52 officers, and a crew of 675 people in Liverpool on December 12th, 1915. She began her maiden voyage on December 23rd, 1915 where she teamed up with the Aquitania, Maurentania, and her sister ship Olympic in Mudros on the isle of Lemnos in what was called the Dardanelles Service. These four ships were later joined by the Statendam to form a team of ships that could transport 33,000 troops and 17,000 sick and wounded. Since these ships were so large, smaller ships were required to ferry wounded from the battlefront docks.
After a year of uneventful
service, she returned to Belfast on June 6th, 
1916, and was released from war
service. However, after only two months she was recalled back into service again on August
28th, 1916 and began her fourth voyage on September 24th, 1916. Onboard she carried the
members of the Voluntary Aid Detachment. Following a coaling stop at Naples, the ship
arrived at it's destination in Mudros where officials detained the britannic to
investigate the possible cause of food poisioning which had affected some of the staff
members. She then resumed her service and returned to Southhampton on October 11th, 1916.
November 21st, 1916, a calm day, found the britannic steaming through the Kea Channel in the Aegean Sea. Just after 8:00 she was rocked by a tremendous explosion and quickly began to sink by the bow. It took just 55 minutes for the huge ship to sink and Captain Charles Bartlett, being a true captain, was the last to leave his ship. Amazingly, only 30 people were killed out of the 1100 that were on board at the time. Most of these deaths occured when two lifeboats were launched prematurely and were sucked into the churning screws of the still moving Britannic.
To this day the Britannic is the largest liner to be found on the ocean floor. She can be found lying on her side in only 350 feet of water. It is still unknown how the britannic met her doom, perhaps a torpedo from a u-boat or a floating mine (the latter being the most probable cause). Unlike her two sisters, the britannic was never to serve her real purpose as a Royal Mailing Ship and she never carried a fare paying passenger.