How did the HMHS britannic sink?

Question

some say a topedo but i wont to really know how it sank

Answer 1

It hit a mine in 1916 with a loss of 30 lives.

Answer 2

HMHS Britannic (1914), the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liner of the White Star Line, sister ship of RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, sank in 1916 after hitting a mine with the loss of 30 lives. Although the White Star Line always denied what it called a "legend",[1] most sources say that the ship was originally intended to be named Gigantic[2] (this is supported by a White Star pamphlet that advertised "The Gigantic"). In the aftermath of the Titanic disaster, the name was changed to Britannic, making it the second of three ships to be so named (see SS Britannic (1874) and RMS Britannic (1929)).

Following the loss of the Titanic and the subsequent enquiries, several design changes were made to the remaining Olympic-class liners. With Britannic, these changes were made before launching (Olympic was refitted on her return to Harland and Wolff). The main changes included raising the level of the internal watertight bulkheads to 'D' Deck, and making this deck a continuous watertight deck in itself, thus sealing each compartment from its neighbours. This prevented water in any flooded compartments from spilling over the bulkhead into adjacent compartments as the flooded ship sank into the water (as happened on the Titanic). A more obvious external change was the fitting of large crane-like davits, each capable of holding six lifeboats. Additional lifeboats could be stored within reach of the davits on the deckhouse roof, and in an emergency the davits could even reach lifeboats on the other side of the vessel. The aim of this design was to enable all the lifeboats to be launched, even if the ship developed a list that would normally prevent lifeboats being launched on the side opposite to the list. These davits were not fitted to Olympic, which used additional Welin double-acting davits installed along the whole length of the boat deck, instead of only in clusters at the ends.

[edit] Construction

Britannic was launched on February 26, 1914 at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast and fitting out began. In August 1914, before Britannic could commence transatlantic service between New York and Southampton, World War I began. Immediately, all shipyards with Admiralty contracts were given top priority to use available raw materials. All civil contracts (including the Britannic) were slowed down. The military authorities requisitioned a large number of ships as armed merchant cruisers or for troop transport. The Admiralty was paying the companies for the use of their vessels but the risk of losing a ship during military operations was high. However, the big ocean liners were not taken for military use, as smaller vessels were much easier to operate. The White Star decided to withdraw RMS Olympic from service until the danger had passed. RMS Olympic returned to Belfast on November 3, 1914, while work on her sister continued slowly. All this would change in 1915.

[edit] Requisitioning

The need for increased tonnage grew critical as military operations extended to the eastern Mediterranean. In May 1915 Britannic completed mooring trials of her engines, and was prepared for emergency entrance into service with as little as four weeks notice. The same month also saw the first major loss of a civilian ocean vessel when the Cunard liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed near the Irish coast by a German submarine.

The following month, the British Admiralty decided to use recently requisitioned passenger liners as troop transports during the Gallipoli campaign (also called the Dardanelles service). The first to sail were Cunard's RMS Mauretania and RMS Aquitania. As the Gallipoli landings proved to be disastrous and the casualties mounted, the need for large hospital ships for treatment and evacuation of wounded became evident. RMS Aquitania was diverted to hospital ship duties in August (her place as a troop transport would be taken by the RMS Olympic in September) and on November 13, 1915, Britannic was requisitioned as a hospital ship from her storage location at Belfast. Repainted white with large red crosses and a horizontal green stripe, she was renamed HMHS (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Britannic and placed under the command of Captain Charles A. Bartlett.

[edit] Last voyage

After completing five successful voyages to the Middle Eastern theatre and back to the United Kingdom transporting the sick and wounded, Britannic departed Southampton for Lemnos at 14:23 on November 12, 1916, her sixth voyage in the Mediterranean Sea. The Britannic passed Gibraltar around midnight on November 15 and arrived at Naples on the morning of November 17 for her usual coaling and water refuelling stop, completing the first stage of her mission.

A storm kept the ship at Naples until Sunday afternoon, when Captain Bartlett decided to take advantage of a brief break in the weather and continue on. The seas rose once again just as Britannic left the port but by next morning the storms died and the ship passed the Strait of Messina without problems. Cape Matapan was rounded during the first hours of Tuesday November 21. By the morning Britannic was steaming at full speed (around 21 knots) into the Kea Channel, between Cape Sounion (the southernmost point of Attica, the prefecture which includes Athens) and the island of Kea.

[edit] Explosion

At 08:12 on Tuesday, November 21, 1916, a loud explosion shook the ship. The reaction in the dining room was immediate; doctors and nurses left instantly for their posts. 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. Captain Bartlett and Chief Officer Hume were on the bridge at the time, and the gravity of the situation was soon evident. The first reports were frightening. The explosion had taken place on the starboard side between holds two and three, but the force of the explosion had damaged the watertight bulkhead between hold one and the forepeak. That meant that the first four watertight compartments were filling rapidly with water. To make things worse, the firemen's tunnel connecting the firemen's quarters in the bow with boiler room six had also been seriously damaged and water was flowing into that boiler room.

Bartlett ordered the watertight doors closed, sent a distress signal and ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats. Unfortunately, another surprise was waiting. Along with the damaged watertight door of the firemen's tunnel, the watertight door between boiler rooms six and five also failed to close properly for an unknown reason. Now water was flowing further aft into boiler room five. The Britannic had reached her flooding limit. She could stay afloat (motionless) with her first six watertight compartments flooded and had five watertight bulkheads rise all the way up to the B-deck. Those measures were taken after the Titanic disaster (Titanic could float with its first four compartments flooded and the bulkheads only went as high as E-deck). Luckily, the next crucial bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four and its door were undamaged and should have guaranteed the survival of the ship. However, there was something else that probably sealed Britannic's fate: the open portholes of the lower decks. The nurses had opened most of those portholes in order to ventilate the wards. As the ship's list increased, water reached this level and water began to enter aft from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. With more than six compartments flooded, the Britannic could not stay afloat.

[edit] Evacuation

On the bridge, Captain Bartlett was trying to save his vessel. Only two minutes after the blast, boiler rooms five and six had to be evacuated. In other words, in about ten minutes the Britannic was roughly in the same condition the Titanic was one hour after the collision with the iceberg. Fifteen minutes after the ship was struck the open portholes on E-deck were underwater. Water also entered the ship's aft section from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. The Britannic quickly developed a serious list to starboard. To his right Bartlett saw the shores of Kea, about three miles away. He decided to make a last desperate effort by trying to beach the ship. This was not an easy task because of the combined effect of the list and the weight of the rudder. The steering gear was unable to respond properly but by using the propeller (giving more power to the left one) Britannic slowly started to turn right.

Simultaneously, on the boat deck the crewmembers were preparing the lifeboats. Some of the boats were immediately rushed by a group of stewards and some sailors, who had started to panic. An unknown officer kept his nerve and persuaded his sailors to get out and stand by their positions near the boat stations. He decided to leave the stewards on the lifeboats as they were responsible for starting the panic and he did not want them in his way during the evacuation. However, he left one of the crew with them in order to take charge of the lifeboat after leaving the ship. After this episode, all the sailors under his command remained at their posts until the last moment. As no RAMC personnel were near this boat station at that time, the Officer started to lower the boats, but when he saw that the ship's engines were still running, he stopped them within six feet (2 m) from the water and waited for orders from the bridge. The occupants of the lifeboats did not take this decision very well and started cursing. Shortly after this, orders finally arrived: no lifeboats should be launched, as the Captain had decided to beach the Britannic.

Assistant Commander Harry William d**e was making the arrangements for the lowering of the lifeboats from the aft davits of the starboard boat deck when he spotted a group of firemen who had taken a lifeboat from the p**p deck without authority  

Answer 3

Last voyage

After completing five successful voyages to the Middle Eastern theatre and back to the United Kingdom transporting the sick and wounded, Britannic departed Southampton for Lemnos at 14:23 on November 12, 1916, her sixth voyage in the Mediterranean Sea. The Britannic passed Gibraltar around midnight on November 15 and arrived at Naples on the morning of November 17 for her usual coaling and water refuelling stop, completing the first stage of her mission.

A storm kept the ship at Naples until Sunday afternoon, when Captain Bartlett decided to take advantage of a brief break in the weather and continue on. The seas rose once again just as Britannic left the port but by next morning the storms died and the ship passed the Strait of Messina without problems. Cape Matapan was rounded during the first hours of Tuesday November 21. By the morning Britannic was steaming at full speed (around 21 knots) into the Kea Channel, between Cape Sounion (the southernmost point of Attica, the prefecture which includes Athens) and the island of Kea.

At 08:12 on Tuesday, November 21, 1916, a loud explosion shook the ship. The reaction in the dining room was immediate; doctors and nurses left instantly for their posts. 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. Captain Bartlett and Chief Officer Hume were on the bridge at the time, and the gravity of the situation was soon evident. The first reports were frightening. The explosion had taken place on the starboard side between holds two and three, but the force of the explosion had damaged the watertight bulkhead between hold one and the forepeak. That meant that the first four watertight compartments were filling rapidly with water. To make things worse, the firemen's tunnel connecting the firemen's quarters in the bow with boiler room six had also been seriously damaged and water was flowing into that boiler room.

Bartlett ordered the watertight doors closed, sent a distress signal and ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats. Unfortunately, another surprise was waiting. Along with the damaged watertight door of the firemen's tunnel, the watertight door between boiler rooms six and five also failed to close properly for an unknown reason. Now water was flowing further aft into boiler room five. The Britannic had reached her flooding limit. She could stay afloat (motionless) with her first six watertight compartments flooded and had five watertight bulkheads rise all the way up to the B-deck. Those measures were taken after the Titanic disaster (Titanic could float with its first four compartments flooded and the bulkheads only went as high as E-deck). Luckily, the next crucial bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four and its door were undamaged and should have guaranteed the survival of the ship. However, there was something else that probably sealed Britannic's fate: the open portholes of the lower decks. The nurses had opened most of those portholes in order to ventilate the wards. As the ship's list increased, water reached this level and water began to enter aft from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. With more than six compartments flooded, the Britannic could not stay afloat.

Answer 4

By going under water.

GEZ those guys were long winded.