![]() ![]() But at 8:12 am, its venture came to an end with a blast. On November 21, 1916, the Britannic was heading through the Aegean Sea to pick up wounded soldiers. Beaumont, called it "the most wonderful hospital ship that ever sailed the seas," and with the capacity to carry and treat as many as 3,309 patients at once, British military officials figured the former passenger ship would be a great aid to the war effort, according to PBS. However, it didn’t get much of a chance to redeem its sister ship as a passenger liner-shortly after the Britannic launched in 1914, the British government requisitioned it for use as a hospital ship in the early days of World War I.Īs the largest of the British fleet, the Britannic wasn’t a bad place for soldiers to rest up and heal before heading back to the front lines. In the wake of the inquiries into how its predecessor failed so spectacularly, the Britannic underwent some big changes, including a thicker hull to protect against icebergs and the addition of enough lifeboats to accommodate everyone on board, according to. Originally called the Gigantic, its owners renamed the passenger liner with the slightly more humble name Britannic shortly after its predecessor sunk, according to. In fact, 100 years ago today, its sister ship the HMHS Britannic also met its doom at sea.Īs the sinking of the “unsinkable ship” made headlines, its owners at the White Circle Line already had its next Olympic-class counterpart in production. But while the Titanic has gone down in history, it wasn’t the only ship of its line to meet a watery end. On April 14, 1912, in a perfect storm of engineering flaws, hubris and simple bad luck, the RMS Titanic descended into the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean roughly 400 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada. ![]()
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