HMHS Britannic-Titanic's Younger Sister Quiz

Answer: Gigantic

When the three ships were advertised in the brochures, they were called Olympic, Titanic, & Gigantic. However, the White Star Line opted for the name Britannic after the Titanic's sinking because it was felt that passengers would be leary of a ship that was named for her size. It was a softer approach.

Answer: November 30, 1911

The keel was laid down for the Britanic on November 30, 1911 at the Harland & Wolff shipyards. It was the last of the Olympic class vessels to be built for passenger travel.

Answer: No

The Britannic was later commandeered and turned into a hospital ship. This all happened while the ship was being outfitted and haste had to be made to complete the job. It was later refitted for hospital use and pressed into service.

Answer: Captain Charles Bartlett

Charles Bartlett was the captain in charge of the Britannic and was making his 6th round trip with the ship on the day of the disaster.

Answer: underwater mine

At around 8:12 AM on the morning of November 21, 1916, an explosion ripped open the starboard bow of the ship. The explosion caused damage in the compartments for cargo holds 2 & 3, but damaged the bulkhead between holds 1 & the forepeak. The explosion also damaged the tunnel of the firemen's quarters and boiler room 6 immediately and since the watertight doors would not close properly, Boiler room 5 also flooded.

Answer: open portholes

What made matters worse was the open portholes. Nurses had opened some of these portholes to air out the ship. When the bow sunk lower in the water, the water poured in through these holes. It started to flow into the compartment for boiler room 4. Since the Britannic could only float with the first six compartments flooded, and boiler room 4 was the 7th, it was not going to float.

Answer: run it aground

Captain Bartlett tried his best. He noticed the shore of Kea about 3 miles off and tried to make a desperate run for it. His plan was to try and run the Britannic aground and save the ship from going down.

Answer: Aegean Sea

The Britannic lies in 400 ft. of water in the Aegean Sea. It is about 3 miles from the coast of Kea. Bartlett tried to see about "beaching" the ship on the shore of Kea, but with the seriously listing ship and only one propeller in the water it made it very difficult to control.

After hearing that two of the lifeboats were sucked into the propellers; killing some of the people, Bartlett gave the order to abandon ship. The Britannic went down in 55 minutes.

Answer: 30

Even though the Britannic went down faster than the Titanic did, only 30 people were killed. Some people were killed when their lifeboats were sucked into the still churning propellers. Some died later from their injuries. The Britannic was not carrying patients at the time otherwise the death toll could've been a lot higher.

The death toll was a lot less since the Britannic was equipped with more lifeboats. This was made as a requirement after the Titanic had gone down. Lives saved from the Britannic were 1038.

Answer: True

Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau found the Britannic back in 1975 at the depth of 400 ft. Ballard found and explored the wreck in 1996. Since the ship is only in 400 ft. of water, scuba divers can go down on the wreck. However, because the wreck is considered a "war grave", they must get special clearance from the British Admiralty in order to explore the wreck.

The bow of the ship is deformed because of the way she sank. It struck the bottom before the other half of the ship could go under the waves.

However, the cargo cranes, and most of the rest of the ship is in good condition after so many years. Even though all four funnels fell off the ship, they were all found intact and in good condition.