RMS Britannic (1915)

RMS Britannic was the largest passenger steamship constructed by the White Star Line for transatlantic service from Southampton to New York City in 1915. At 20:16 on 23 November 1916 she was spotted by the German submarine U-19 and four gyroscopic torpedoes were fired at the liner, the first time Germany ever has fired more than two torpedoes. At 22:45, Britannic's bow was sinking underwater, with remaining amenities in the ship's hull crashing into the freezing water.

Britannic marks significant loss of life (a total of 8,754) – the greatest loss of life ever in a maritime sinking until the sinking of MV Wilhelm Gustloff on 30 January 1945. The wreck broke apart during its descent, causing numerous furnishings to crash into the ocean floor. The tragedy had 26% Americans perished in the disaster, causing the United States to declare war on Germany; however, Germany surrendered and stated that no merchant ships would be sank. In 1917, Germany sank United States ships, so Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, signed a declaration of war against Germany.

The sinking of Britannic was ironic. It was debated to whether the ship sank because of a submarine or a naval mine laid by a German submarine. Survivor testimony investigates that a German submarine was spotted by Woodrow Wilson in the distance. Britannic became virtually infamous with numerous Americans and British, including the discovery of the wreck in 1994 by Jean Louis-Michel of Ifremer oceanology research center.

Construction

Britannic's keel was laid on 1913 by Lord Pirrie. Britannic had unsurpassed luxury and armed weaponry for wartime maritime crossings with troops. The ship's wheelhouse, diverse from Titanic in 1912 and Olympic in 1911 and other years, had its engine order telegraph and quadruple-screw propellers operated by the steam turbines rather than reciprocating steam engines for the wing and centre propellers. Britannic had a layout design consistent to the mandated safety requirements of the time after the Titanic sank. However, at the time of the torpedo attack, the damage caused incoherently was at No. 5 and No. 6 boiler rooms at 23:12, which were overloaded with pouring seawater.

Britannic's investigations decided that the gyroscopic torpedoes fired had a radius of approximately 28 ft (8.5 m)^*, which had a contrary blow to the port side of the ship. The torpedo's pressure on the portside bow caused the Britannic to break apart during the first hull sections, or rivets, regarding the tales by ship enthusiast David Sarnoff.