Friday, August 21, 2009

The Titanic's Sister Ship: The Britannic


The Britannic lies at a depth of 500 feet of the island of Kea, near Athens, Greece. So far there have only been three major expeditions down to Britannic. The first was the 1976 discovery of the wreak, which was led by legendary explorer Jacques Couteau. The second was in 1998 and the only other was in 2003.

Built in the same shipyard as the Titanic, the Britannic was the new unsinkable ship – over 30 meters longer than the Titanic. But when WWI broke out, the opulent cruise liner was re-commishioned and taken over by the Admiralty as a Red Cross hospital ship. She was never to sail as the luxury liner that her owners had in mind.

She sailed off the was with crew, doctors, burses and Royal Army Medical Corps personnel on board. On November 21, 1916 she was stuck off the coast of the Kea channel and was struck, either by a mine or U-boat. She sank in 55 minutes, three times faster than the Titanic. The Brittannic is still in one piece and the radio room is still intact.

Having witnessed the awesome beauty of the Titanic, now it’s my dream to explore her sister ship. 

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