Home Fishing rod The fate of three superliners: Titanic, Britannic and Olympic. The ocean liner Britannic is the last of the Olympic series that sank.

The fate of three superliners: Titanic, Britannic and Olympic. The ocean liner Britannic is the last of the Olympic series that sank.

The fate of three superliners: Titanic, Britannic and Olympic

At the end of 1907, the White Star Line decided to build three liners measuring 259 meters long, 28 meters wide and displacing 52 thousand tons at the Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They provided space for 2,566 thousand passengers in cabins of three classes, and passengers of all classes were provided with unprecedented amenities. The ships were conceived as competitors to the Lusitania and Mauretania, which belonged to the rival company Cunard Line.

In 1908 and 1909, construction began on the first two ships of the series. One was called "Olympic", the other - "Titanic". Both ships were built side by side, in the same workshop. Construction of the third was planned for a later date.

On October 20, 1910, the Olympic was launched; on May 31, 1911, after completion of the outfitting work, it began sea trials, and on June 14, it set off on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

The management of the White Star Line treated the first flights of the Olympic with great responsibility. It was on these voyages that decisions were made about a number of improvements on the Titanic, which was still under construction: the layout of some rooms was slightly changed, by reducing the area of the promenade decks, the number of passenger cabins was increased, cabin-apartments appeared, two in total, a cafe in the Parisian style was created, adjacent to the restaurant. Finally, the first voyages showed that part of the liner's promenade deck was not sufficiently protected from bad weather, so on the Titanic it was decided to make it closed, with sliding windows. Later, the Titanic and the Olympic could be visually distinguished precisely by this promenade deck.

This accident was destined to enter the maritime chronicle as the first among other similar ones, as a result of which a new phenomenon was discovered - the mutual suction of ships and vessels - one of the important reasons for the collision of ships. It was in connection with the accident of the cruiser Hawk and the Olympic liner that this phenomenon was first studied, and quite clear and scientifically based practical conclusions were drawn from it.

Repair work on the Olympic somewhat delayed the completion and maiden voyage of the Titanic, which was completed in 1912. The Titanic amazed with its size and architectural perfection; newspapers reported that the length of the liner was equal to the length of three city blocks, the height of the engine was the height of a three-story building, and that the anchor for the Titanic was pulled through the streets of Belfast by a team of 20 of the strongest horses.

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set out on its first and last voyage to America, taking on board more than 2.2 thousand people. On April 14, at the end of the fourth day of the journey, the Titanic collided with a huge iceberg. The starboard side of the ship was torn open from the very stem; the length of the hole was 90 meters. Panic began on the ship; in the cramped conditions and crush, people tried to get to the stern. Of the 20 boats, two were never lowered. The Titanic sank at 2.20 on April 15th. According to various sources, from 1.4 thousand to 1.517 thousand people died, about 700 were saved.

At the time of the sinking of the Titanic on the night of April 15, 1912, the Olympic was on its next voyage from New York to Southampton. Having received information about the disaster, "Olympic" hastened to help his twin brother, but he was at a considerable distance from the scene of the disaster, and the surviving passengers were picked up by the "Carpathia" liner. The captain of the Olympic offered to take some of the rescued people on board, but it was decided to abandon this idea because there were fears that the appearance of a copy of the Titanic would cause horror among people in shock. Despite this, the Olympic was asked to stay within sight of the Carpathia, since the ship's radio was not powerful enough to communicate with the shore, while the Olympic's radio had sufficient power. Lists of those rescued were transmitted to the Olympic radio operator, who immediately sent them to the coastal radio station. After some time, the Olympic, which carried hundreds of passengers hurrying to Europe, continued sailing along its route.

On April 24, 1912, the Olympic was scheduled to depart on its next voyage from Southampton to New York. But since there were not enough boats on the Titanic to save all the people, the Olympic crew refused to go to sea until the liner was provided with the necessary number of boats. Some of the crew abandoned the ship in Southampton. The flight was canceled.

In the same year, the Olympic arrived at the Harland and Wolf shipyard, where an expensive reconstruction was carried out within six months: the second bottom was raised and the height of the watertight bulkheads was increased. These measures were taken as a result of the sinking of the Titanic. Now the Olympic could stay afloat even if six compartments were flooded. Only on April 2, 1913, the Olympic set out on its first voyage after reconstruction.

The liner was finishing its next transatlantic flight when the First World War began. By increasing its speed, the Olympic arrived in New York ahead of schedule. It was decided to leave the liner on the transatlantic route, especially since with the beginning of the war there were a lot of people who wanted to leave troubled Europe. In October, the Olympic rescued sailors from the warship Odeisies, which was struck by a mine off the coast of Ireland. Since September 1915, the Olympic became a transport ship for transporting troops and was named T-2810. The ship was repainted in camouflage colors and equipped with six-inch anti-submarine guns.

During the First World War, the liner received the affectionate nickname Old Reliable, “reliable old man.”

In April 1917, "Olympic" was included in the navy. During its military service, the famous liner transported 119 thousand military and civilians across the Atlantic, was attacked by submarines four times, but always remained unharmed, and once, with an incredible maneuver, rammed and sank a submarine.

These cards were given to soldiers of the Canadian Expeditionary Force who were returning home on the Olympic in early July 1919. This was the Olympic's last voyage as a troop transport; from Halifax he proceeded to Liverpool, where he arrived on July 21.

“His Majesty's troop transport Olympic leaves Southampton.

THE SHIP ON WHICH I CAME BACK HOME

Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919

Mons - Saint-Eloi - Neuve Chapelle - Ypres 2 - Festubert - Givenchy - La Basse - Looe - Plogsteert - Saint Julien - Ypres 3 - Somme - Courcelet - Vimy - Hill 70 - Passchendaele - Amiens - Arras - Cambrai - Valenciennes - occupation of Mons November 11th"

After the end of the war, Olympic returned to peaceful work on the transatlantic line, and soon embarked on another lengthy reconstruction, during which its engines were switched from coal to fuel oil. The reconstruction lasted almost a year, and only on June 25, 1920, the Olympic, which was the first of the large transatlantic liners to begin using fuel oil as fuel, returned to work.

The 1920s were a high point for Olympic. The death of his twin, the Titanic, was forgotten. The liner has gained a reputation as an extremely reliable vessel. During these years, the ship regularly crossed the Atlantic Ocean with passengers on board and was very popular.

There was also an accident. On May 22, 1924, in New York, the Olympic collided with the St. George liner, after which it had to replace a significant part of the stern plating.

In 1928, the passenger quarters of the liner were modernized. But age was beginning to take its toll. By 1930, mechanical problems and fatigue cracks in the hull began to appear. It got to the point that in 1931 the ship was issued a certificate of seaworthiness based on the condition of the hull for only six months. Later it was nevertheless extended.

In the 1930s, the global economic crisis caused serious problems for shipping companies. To stay afloat, the White Star Line merged with another British company, Cunard Line. In 1934, a new company, Cunard-White Star, appeared, to which the entire passenger fleet of the two companies, including Olympic, was transferred. Shortly thereafter, on May 16, 1934, the Olympic struck the Nantucket lightship off the coast of Canada in thick fog and sank it and its seven crew members.

I immediately remembered the Titanic disaster. In addition, construction was underway on the new Queen Mary liner, next to which there was no place for the Olympic. In the context of the ongoing global crisis, this decided the fate of the liner.

Despite the fact that the Olympic's transatlantic flight schedule for the summer of 1935 was officially published, already in January 1935 the company announced the cancellation of the liner's flights. Olympic completed its last voyage on March 27, 1935. He remained to await his fate in Southampton. In September of the same year, "Olympic" was sold for cutting into scrap metal.

On October 11, 1935, the liner left Southampton and went to Scotland for breaking up. A month later, an auction took place in London, where property from the Olympic was sold over the course of ten days. To this day, details of the liner’s exquisite finishing can be seen in the interiors of some British hotels and restaurants. The restaurant of the cruise ship Millennium is decorated with wall panels from the Olympic restaurant.

Olympic enters New York Harbor. Postcard printed in Detroit.

And such “silk” postcards were sold on board the liner itself as a souvenir.

"Olympic" crossed the Atlantic Ocean more than 500 times and remained in the memory of passengers and sailors as a beautiful, comfortable and reliable liner.

The fate of the Britannic

During the First World War, the younger brother of the Olympic and the Titanic, the third and last ship in the series, perished. At first it was planned that the new liner would be named Gigantic, but after the sinking of the Titanic, it was decided to choose the more modest and at the same time patriotic name Britannic. It was laid down on November 30, 1911 and was supposed to set out on its maiden voyage in the summer of 1914, but the design modifications that needed to be made after the sinking of the Titanic delayed the ship's departure from the shipyard. On February 26, 1914, Britannic was launched.

The length of the liner was 275.2 m, width 28.7 m, draft 10.5 m, gross tonnage - 50,000 r.t. Main engine rated at 50,000 hp. With. Speed 21.0 knots.

When building the ship, the lessons learned from the sinking of the Titanic were taken into account. It received a double bottom, which increased the width of the hull by 2 feet, the space between the outer and inner bottom was divided by six longitudinal bulkheads, which were supposed to reduce the extent of flooding in the event of damage to the hull. The Britannic liner received 16 watertight bulkheads, and the number of boats was increased.

No different from its older brothers in appearance, but in terms of passenger comfort, the Britannic was the best of the series. There was another hair salon, a children's playroom, a gym for second class passengers, and a fourth elevator. The developers remembered that the radio operators of the Titanic, due to their busyness, did not always have time to transmit radiograms related to the navigation situation to the bridge, and a pneumatic mail appeared on the Britannic, connecting the radio room and the bridge.

On February 26, 1914, this huge three-screw ship was launched. But he never managed to end up on the Southampton-New York line, for which he was built: the First World War began. The luxury liner was immediately requisitioned by the British Admiralty, which ordered it to be renamed Britannic and converted into a hospital ship. And already in this capacity the liner set out on its maiden voyage at the end of 1915.

The magnificent, expensive interiors of the cruise ship have become dormitories and operating rooms. The first class reception and dining salon served as the intensive care unit. The remaining rooms became hospital wards for wounded soldiers and sailors, up to three thousand of whom the ship could take on board.

The most luxurious cabins of the Britannic became the doctors' personal offices. To protect against possible attacks, a green stripe and six red crosses were applied to the liner’s hull, emphasizing the medical and humanitarian purpose of the ship.

In November 1915, the giant 275-meter floating hospital was commissioned into the fleet, and the Britannic set sail for the Mediterranean. During the war, the liner made five successful voyages to the Aegean Sea and the Balkans, from where it transported 15 thousand soldiers of the British Empire. But the sixth flight turned out to be fatal.

On the morning of November 21, the liner Britannic entered the Kea Strait in the Aegean Sea, heading towards Lemnos. But at about 8.00 the huge ship shook from a terrible blow. The liner "Britannic" was blown up by a mine laid by the German submarine U-73, and immediately began to sink with its nose. Captain Charles E. Bartlett ordered the radio operators to send out a distress signal. The crew worked smoothly and calmly. The lifeboats were immediately lowered, so that of the 1,066 people on board at the time of the explosion, only 30 were killed. This happened because two lifeboats were lowered too hastily and were blown to pieces by the huge propellers of the liner.

55 minutes after the explosion, the Britannic liner raised its stern high and went under water. It sank at a depth of 106.5 m, so its nose hit the bottom of the sea even before the stern completely disappeared under the water. The distress signal was received by British warships, and soon the destroyer Skodge arrived at the scene of the disaster. A little later, the destroyer Foxhound. With their help, the lifeboats reached the small island of Malta (not the same one, of course). There, the crew of the Britannic liner had to wait for a hospital ship, which took the sailors to Marseille. Captain Charles E. Bartlett was the last to leave the sinking ship.

It remains unclear why the Britannic, despite all the improvements, sank so quickly, even faster than the Titanic. This most likely happened because the nurses opened most of the windows to ventilate the compartments before admitting the wounded. When the ship landed with its bow, the open portholes found themselves in the water. If they had been closed, the Britannic would most likely have survived.

The question of where exactly it rests has interested many people for a long time. In 1975, the answer to the riddle was given by the legendary explorer of the deep sea Jacques Cousteau. After a three-day search, the underwater radar on his vessel Calypso detected the hull of the Britannic at a depth of 120 meters.

The researchers found that:

1) The liner lies on the starboard side and has holes from the explosion.

2) None of the chimneys remained in place (they lie next to the liner).

3) Coal and parts of the ship’s interior (hospital beds, other equipment) are scattered on the ground.

4) The wooden parts of the “Grand Staircase” (which was no longer such by the last voyage) rotted (later expeditions found out that the glass dome was partially damaged).

After the expedition of the famous French oceanographer, divers descended there 68 more times. They brought to the surface hundreds of artifacts, which are now exhibited in many museums around the world.

The captain, thanks to whose correct actions many lives were saved, continued his career, ended the war, retired and died on February 15, 1945 at the age of 76.

A century has passed since the terrible catastrophe

Exactly 100 years ago, on November 21, 1916, the largest shipwreck occurred - the Titanic sank again at sea.

However, it would be more correct to formulate it differently: the ship sank, outwardly like two peas in a pod, similar to the Titanic.

This similarity is quite understandable: after all, in the autumn disaster of 1916, the twin brother of the famous ocean liner, the Britannic, died. Few people know about the fate of this gigantic ship. Meanwhile, his death was largely “copied” from the sinking of the Titanic and was also surrounded by secrets and accompanied by strange circumstances.

Britannic

There were three of them. – Three giant transatlantic liners of the same type, built in English shipyards for the largest transport company, White Star Line.

The “elder brother” is “Olympic”, which sailed safely across the seas and oceans for a quarter of a century and “died a natural death” (that is, cut into scrap metal).

“Middle Brother” is the same infamous “Titanic”.

And finally, “little brother.” Not everything is clear with his name. In the initial version, the WSL leaders approved the name “Gigantic”. That is, this series of super-ships was dedicated to the heroes of Greek mythology: the Olympians, titans and giants. However, after the sinking of the Titanic, they realized that this option contained a “logical mine.” After all, according to ancient legends, as a result of the battles, the titans and giants were defeated. Moreover, they were defeated by the Olympians! In order not to “scrawl” a sad fate for the third of their liners (which had only just begun to be assembled on the slipway), the gentlemen-directors decided to change its name. As a result, “Gigantic” turned into “Britannica” - also sonorous and, moreover, patriotic!

The MK correspondent was helped to find out some details of the short but difficult biography of this unique passenger ship by materials collected by the enthusiastic historian Dmitry Mazur.

Product No. 433

Britannic was laid down at the Belfast shipyard under the code designation "Item No. 433" on November 30, 1911 and launched on February 26, 1914. Just a few months later, immediately after the sinking of the Titanic, its construction was suspended for some time: it took time for engineers to make changes to the design of this giant steamship, taking into account the sad experience of the April sea tragedy of 1912. On the Britannic, the number of waterproof bulkheads in the hull was increased (and they now passed through the passenger compartments, reaching the level of the upper deck), double sides were designed, further protecting the compartments in case of an encounter with an iceberg... The number of life-saving equipment increased. Each of the five powerful davit cranes installed on the ship could, even with a large list of the ship, safely launch five lifeboats at once. For greater efficiency in transmitting received radiograms about the navigation situation along the route to the captain's bridge, it was connected by pneumatic mail to the radio operator's room...

"Titanic"

As a result of all the improvements, the liner was to become the safest and, most importantly, the “most unsinkable” ship in the world. Design experts argued that the Britannic would be able to stay afloat even with six bow compartments flooded with water along one side. (“The Titanic” was “allowed” to flood only four compartments, so if on the fateful night of April 14 it was not she, but the Britannic, who had been at the “rendezvous” with the iceberg, there would not have been a terrible tragedy at sea).

“Younger” became the largest of the three “brothers” liners. It was several meters longer than the Titanic, slightly wider and had a displacement of almost 2000 tons more (48,158 tons versus 46,328). The cabins of three classes were designed for 2,575 passengers, and the ship's crew was 950 people.

They also wanted to make Britannic the most comfortable and luxurious of the three WSL super-liners. For example, for the convenience of passengers, the restaurant and 1st class smoking lounge were expanded. In addition, the project was supposed to equip the ship with a playroom for children, another hairdresser, a gym for 2nd class travelers, 4 electric elevators... They were even going to install an organ on the main staircase for organizing concerts!

However, the implementation of these plans was prevented by the outbreak of the World War. Under the new conditions, there was no time for high-speed transatlantic flights. The completion of the Britannic slowed down significantly, and in the fall of 1915, radical changes occurred in its fate. On November 13, the British Admiralty requisitioned a huge steamer in order to convert it for military needs into a hospital ship.

The British naval leadership was prompted to take such a step by the difficult situation that was developing in the Mediterranean theater of military operations. The Dardanelles operation, launched by France and England against Germany and Turkey, was in full swing. Entente allied troops landed in the Gallpoli area and actively tried to expand the bridgehead in order to take control of the most important one on the route from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, the Dardanelles. At the same time, the French and British suffered serious losses. The British needed to evacuate by sea numerous wounded and sick “His Majesty’s soldiers.” It was for this purpose that the huge Britannic was needed to help the existing hospital ships.

Within a matter of weeks, the super-liner was converted into a floating hospital. The 1st class dining room and lounge, located in the central area of the deck superstructures, were converted into the operating room and main ward respectively. It was decided to accommodate medical personnel - doctors, paramedics, and nurses - in nearby cabins on deck "B". Other passenger cabins were converted into wards for the wounded. Several hold rooms have now turned into warehouses for medical equipment and drugs, and one of them is even a morgue... For an outside observer, the most noticeable change in the appearance of the Britannic. It was painted in the colors of a hospital ship accepted by international agreement, which should guarantee its inviolability for warships of any country: white sides, on each of which there is a green stripe along the entire hull and three large red crosses.

Britannic

In December 1915, the failed transatlantic liner, now called His Majesty's Hospital Ship Britannic, was officially included in the English fleet. It could transport over 3,000 sick and wounded, medical and service personnel consisted of almost 450 people, and the ship's crew consisted of 675 people. Charles Bartlett was appointed captain of the Britannic.

On December 23, having fully staffed the Southampton roadstead and having loaded all the necessary supplies, the hospital steamer set off on its first voyage. He headed for the Mediterranean Sea. The final destination of the route was the British transshipment hospital base, which they created on the Greek island of Lemnos. The ship arrived there 8 days later, loaded another batch of wounded and set sail back to the British shores.

In total, until the spring of 1916, the Britannic made three flights to evacuate the wounded in the Dardanelles operation. Each of these campaigns was by no means safe, because German submarines were actively operating in the Mediterranean Sea.

Then there was a lull on the Mediterranean battlefields, and therefore the floating hospital was laid up as unnecessary. The naval command even intended to return it back to its previous owner, the WSL company, in order to save money on servicing the huge ship. By the beginning of summer, they officially managed to exclude this ship from the lists of the British Navy, but after that they had to win back. The situation in the Mediterranean changed again, another surge in military activity began there: the Allies again went on the offensive.

On September 4, its former captain, Charles Bartlett, once again ascended to the captain's bridge of the Britannic. A few days later, a huge ship set off for the fourth time to the Greek islands to pick up the wounded. Another such flight was carried out at the end of October - beginning of November 1916. The hospital liner moored off its native English shores on November 6th. After this, he was entitled to a “time out” to carry out preventive maintenance on steam boilers and machines... However, circumstances prevented this: British troops in the Mediterranean theater of operations suffered unexpectedly large losses, the hospital transshipment base on the island of Lemnos was overcrowded, so it was necessary to urgently remove wounded. So the Britannic's stay in the port of Southampton lasted only 5 days. Already on Sunday, November 12, the huge steamer set out to sea again, heading to the Greek islands.

This sixth voyage - “out of schedule” - turned out to be fatal for the ship.

How the “unsinkable” sank

9 days later, Britannic safely reached the Greek archipelago. On November 21, 1916, the ship was sailing through the strait between the Greek mainland and the island of Kea at a speed of 20 knots (about 36 km/h). Suddenly, an explosion was heard in the bow on the starboard side, noticeably shaking the huge steamer, followed by another.

The ship's chronometer showed at that moment 8.12 a.m., the time for the medical staff to have breakfast. The worried nurses were reassured: nothing serious, you can continue eating. However, Captain Bartlett already understood that the situation was becoming increasingly dangerous. The ship began to list to starboard, sinking with its nose into the sea. The order to immediately batten down all watertight bulkheads did not help: for some reason, streams of water continued to spread through the compartments. The bilge workers reported to the bridge that as a result of a strong explosion, not only had the bulkhead in the bow been destroyed, but the main fire main shaft had also been damaged, through which water was now penetrating into other compartments, including even the boiler rooms. At the same time, for some reason the sealed doors in the bulkheads turned out to be open at the time of the explosion, and now they cannot be closed under the pressure of the rising water.

The portholes on its sides contributed to the agony of the “most unsinkable” ship. Most of them were open: the medical staff arranged for the morning airing of the cabins. Now that the Britannic had noticeably sunk with its bow, through these round “windows” the sea began to easily overwhelm the rooms on the lower decks of the starboard side.

There were 1,134 people on the liner - the administration of the floating hospital, medical and maintenance personnel, and the crew. Realizing that his ship was sinking, Captain Bartlett ordered to broadcast an SOS signal and begin evacuation until help arrived.

In general, it proceeded quite calmly and clearly, however, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, there were still several cases of panic. For example, a group of ship's firefighters began to lower a boat without receiving permission from the officers in charge of the rescue operation. At this time, the Britannic was still moving forward at a very decent speed and the little boat, overwhelmed by the waves, capsized almost immediately. Fortunately, none of the panicked firefighters died.

But, alas, it was not without casualties. The huge ship plunged into the sea with its nose, tilting more and more to the starboard side (by a strange whim of Lady Fortune, everything happened exactly the same as with the Titanic!). At some point, the stern rose so high that the propellers appeared from the water. They rotated as the plane's engines continued to operate. And under these “fans” two large boats with escaping people, which had just been lowered by the stern sloop beams, suddenly began to be pulled in. Both rescue boats were crushed into pieces, and the losers in them began to grind, as if in a giant meat grinder - more than 20 people died under the blades, others were injured... Several more people were never able to get out of the internal compartments of the dying ship.

At 9.07, the “little brother” of the Titanic capsized on the starboard side (at the same time, a terrible roar of collapsing mechanisms was heard inside its hull) and then quickly sank to the bottom. The “most unsinkable” ship disappeared into the depths of the sea just 55 minutes after the explosion (and yet the same “Titanic” stayed afloat for almost 2 hours 40 minutes!). Captain Bartlett, observing maritime tradition, remained on his dying ship until the last moment. Once in the water, he managed, thanks to the life belt he was wearing, to stay on the surface and swam to the nearest boat.

Distress signals from the Britannic's radio operator were heard by several British ships, which rushed to the rescue. By 10 o'clock in the morning, the Scourge and the auxiliary cruiser Heroic were the first to arrive at the site of the shipwreck, then several more ships... They lifted people from the Britannic from the boats.

A total of 1,104 people were rescued. The number of victims of the Britannic disaster was 30 people. This floating hospital became the largest ship lost during the First World War. And the operation to rescue people from it was considered perhaps the most successful.

The cause of the Titanic tragedy is known to everyone: a collision with a huge iceberg. In the case of the death of his twin, there is still no absolute clarity.

According to the officially existing version, the Britannic was a victim of a German submarine. A few days before the tragedy, the German submarine U-73, commanded by Captain Gustav Ziss, laid mines in the strait between the island of Kea and the mainland. The super-liner stumbled upon one of these mines.

For a long time, the giant ship that sank in 1916 remained “invisible.” Only in 1975 the exact place of his death was established by the expedition of the famous French explorer Jacques Yves Cousteau. The following year, divers managed to examine the liner, lying at a depth of about 120 meters. On the one hand, what they saw confirms the official version: in the bow of the ship, lying on the starboard side, there is a hole from the explosion. But in addition to this, underwater reconnaissance discovered other damage to the Britannica’s hull.

Subsequently, members of the expedition put forward a different version of the death of the huge steamer. It is this version that explains the paradoxical fact: why did the “unsinkable” Britannic sank much faster than its not so perfect “middle brother”. According to this version, on board the hospital ship (and therefore inviolable for German ships) Britannic, the British illegally transported weapons to Egypt. Carrying out its sixth (which turned out to be disastrous) voyage, the liner was supposed to call at the port of Alexandria to unload military contraband. However, German intelligence managed to find out about this secret operation. During the Britannic's stopover in Naples, German agents managed to smuggle a sophisticated explosive device on board and hide it in one of the coal bunkers. Some time later, in the Kea Strait, the infernal machine worked, causing a secondary explosion of coal dust that had accumulated in the already half-empty bunkers of the huge ship (this “belated” explosion was heard by many of those on board the Britannic). The detonation of the explosive coal-air mixture led to serious damage to the watertight bulkheads adjacent to the bunkers and other systems in the ship's holds, disrupted the tightness of the compartments, which led to their rapid flooding.

Looks too fantastic? – But even some of those specialists. who reject this conspiracy theory agree that a secondary “coal” explosion could still have occurred under the influence of a mine explosion that the Britannic stumbled upon.

The Cousteau expedition did not allow the Cousteau expedition to more thoroughly examine the Britannic lying at the bottom due to the lack of appropriate equipment for deep-sea work in those years. Already today, a group of divers managed to get inside the hull of the sunken liner and examine some of the compartments. What he saw only confirmed the previously existing information: for some reason the sealed doors in the watertight bulkheads were not battened down.

x x x

The “posthumous” fate of Titanic No. 2 has not yet been determined. The Greek authorities, in whose territorial waters the wreck lies, are advocating for the Britannic to be included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There are enthusiasts who propose to raise the airliner and restore it to its original form. There is also a more realistic plan: to create a virtual museum of this deceased giant by installing his video cameras in different places. The transmitted views of various parts of the ship lying at the bottom will be combined using a computer into a single panoramic “picture”, which visitors who come to the museum will be able to admire.

Meanwhile, when trying to implement any of these projects, it should be taken into account that at the moment the sunken Britannic has a full-fledged owner, without whose consent it is not even possible to go under water for a “rendezvous” with the “younger brother” of the Titanic. This gentleman's name is Simon Mills. He became the owner of the legendary ship in 1996. Then high military officials in Great Britain suddenly realized that their department still had some ships that participated in the First World War (among them a giant floating hospital) on its balance sheet, and decided to organize an unusual sale of these rarities. Mills, who by that time had long been interested in the history of the Titanic, learned about such an exclusive trading promotion, applied and purchased the Britannic cheap. The “ship owner” himself is in no hurry to specify the expenses he incurred for this transaction, but the press mentioned the amount of 25 thousand dollars.

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Englishwoman Violet Jessop was “lucky” to be involved in accidents on all three WSL super-ships. In September 1911, she was on board the Olympic, acting as one of the liner's stewardesses, when it collided with the cruiser Hawk in Southampton Bay, received a large hole and was forced to urgently return to port. In April 1912, Violet, also enlisted as a stewardess, sailed on the Titanic and was among the survivors of the disaster. And on November 21, 1916, during the evacuation of people from the sinking Britannic, nurse Jessop was loaded into one of those two ill-fated boats that were pulled under the rotating propellers of the liner. However, this time the Englishwoman escaped death.

Violet Jessop

MOSCOW, March 27 - RIA Novosti. The Olympic, one of the three superliners of the White Star Line, completed its last voyage 75 years ago, on March 27, 1935.

First flights

There was an accident on the fifth flight. On the morning of September 20, 1911, at the exit from Southampton Bay, the Olympic collided with the British cruiser Hawk and received a 12-meter hole in the starboard side. The voyage, which had barely begun, was interrupted and the Olympic returned to Belfast to the shipyard for repairs. Repair work on the Olympic somewhat delayed the completion and maiden voyage of the Titanic, which was completed in 1912.

The Titanic amazed with its size and architectural perfection; newspapers reported that the length of the liner was equal to the length of three city blocks, the height of the engine was the height of a three-story building, and that the anchor for the Titanic was pulled through the streets of Belfast by a team of 20 of the strongest horses.

The sinking of the Titanic

The Titanic sank at 2.20 on April 15th. According to various sources, from 1.4 thousand to 1.517 thousand people died, about 700 were saved.

The wreckage of the lost liner remained untouched until American maritime archaeologist Robert Bollard and his French colleagues discovered it on September 1, 1985, 325 miles off the coast of the Canadian island of Newfoundland. Since then, about 5 thousand artifacts discovered among the wreckage of the Titanic have been recovered. Many submarines visited the remains of the ship, and submarines brought tourists there.

Dozens of books, hundreds of articles and essays have been written about the notorious steamship, and several films have been produced.

First World War

The fate of the Britannic

During the First World War, the younger brother of the Olympic and the Titanic, the third and last ship in the series, perished. At first it was planned that the new liner would be called "Gigantic", but after the death of the Titanic, it was decided to choose a more modest and at the same time patriotic name "Britanic". It was laid down on November 30, 1911 and was supposed to set out on its maiden voyage in the summer of 1914, but the design modifications that needed to be made after the sinking of the Titanic delayed the ship's departure from the shipyard. On February 26, 1914, the Britannic was launched.

No different from its older brothers in appearance, but in terms of passenger comfort, the Britannic was the best of the series. It added another hairdresser, a children's playroom, a gym for second-class passengers, and a fourth elevator. The developers remembered that the radio operators of the Titanic, due to their busyness, did not always have time to transmit radiograms related to the navigation situation to the bridge, and a pneumatic mail appeared on the Britannic, connecting the radio room and the bridge.

However, passengers did not have time to appreciate the advantages of the new liner. When the war began, it was converted into a hospital ship, and in this capacity the liner set out on its maiden voyage at the end of 1915. On November 12, 1916, the Britannic hit a mine in the Kea Strait, near Greece. Despite the fact that the liner sank for only 55 minutes, most of the people on board were saved.

"Olympic" after the war

There was also an accident. On May 22, 1924, in New York, the Olympic collided with the St. George liner, after which it had to replace a significant part of the stern plating.

The last days of Olympic

"Olympic" crossed the Atlantic Ocean more than 500 times and remained in the memory of passengers and sailors as a beautiful, comfortable and reliable liner. It took an honorable place in the history of transatlantic shipping.

Ecology of life. People: The phenomenal luck of the unlucky Violet Jessop, who survived three shipwrecks. Perhaps the name of this woman would not have been preserved in history if not for her phenomenal ability to survive the most terrible disasters. Misfortunes haunted her since childhood, but by some miracle she managed to find a way out of the most difficult situations.

The phenomenal luck of the unlucky Violet Jessop, who survived three shipwrecks

Perhaps the name of this woman would not have been preserved in history if not for her phenomenal ability to survive the most terrible disasters.

Misfortunes haunted her since childhood, but by some miracle she managed to find a way out of the most difficult situations.

Violet Constance Jessop had the opportunity to work on three of the most famous ocean liners - Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. Each of them crashed, but Violet survived.

Violet Constance Jessop worked on passenger airliners

Doctors predicted Violet's death in early childhood. Then she fell ill with tuberculosis, from which a large number of people died at that time.

But the girl not only survived, but also completely recovered from the terrible disease. She was unable to finish school because, due to the death of her father and her mother’s illness, she was forced to look for work.

She chose the same profession as her mother - she got a job as a flight attendant on ships of the White Star Line, which operated transatlantic flights.

*Olympic* and *Hawk* after the collision

In 1910, 23-year-old Violet found herself on the huge liner Olympic, the first of three ships of this class in the White Star Line campaign. A year later, the bulky Olympic, as a result of unsuccessful maneuvering, collided with the cruiser Hawk.

The 14-meter hole was above the waterline, and the ship remained afloat. Fortunately, there were no casualties in the collision, but the liner suffered serious damage.

*Titanic*

Wreck of *Titanic*

Violet continued to work on the Olympic after the ship was repaired, but then a new liner was built, and she was offered to switch to it. So Violet set off on the first and last voyage on the Titanic.

On the night of April 14-15, 1912, the liner collided with an iceberg. The whole world soon learned about the consequences of this disaster - out of 2,224 people, only 711 managed to escape. Among them was Violet, who got a place in boat No. 16.

As she was boarding the boat, a man asked her to take care of his child. With the baby in her arms, two hours later, the girl boarded the Carpathia, the first to arrive at the shipwreck site.

Violet Constance Jessop

During the First World War, Violet worked as a British Red Cross nurse. In this capacity, she embarked on a voyage aboard the hospital ship Britannic, the last and largest of the three ocean liners.

In November 1916, the ship was blown up by a mine; during the evacuation, two boats were pulled under the working propellers of the sinking ship. In one of them was Violet, who again miraculously managed to survive.

*Titanic* underwater

Violet lived a long life and died of heart failure at the age of 83. She worked on passenger liners for 42 years, made 2 trips around the world and survived many of those who died during the sinkings of the Titanic and Britannic.

Olympic is a series of three transatlantic liners - Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. All three were the largest ships in the world at the time of commissioning. The Olympic liner is the only one of the three twin liners of this class that operated for many years and was written off due to obsolescence, while the Titanic sank due to a collision with an iceberg on its first voyage, and the Britannic was blown up by a mine laid by the German submarine U-73 during the First World War.

On May 12, 1918, the Olympic, escorted by 4 destroyers, met with the German submarine U-103. U-103, being submerged, fired 3 torpedoes at the ship, but the ship dodged two, and the third sank before reaching the target. Unable to stay under water, the German submarine surfaced. Then the Olympic, not having any serious weapons on board, swam towards the submarine and sank it with a ramming attack.

Since the story of the Titanic is on everyone’s lips, today we present you with a small photo library and some interesting facts about the other ships of the famous series.

"Olympic"

"Olympic" (left) and "Titanic" - the first two ships in the series

Of all three liners in this series, the Olympic had the happiest fate - it made 257 flights from Southampton to New York and back and was decommissioned in 1935.

Although all three ships went down in history as four-funnel ships, they were originally supposed to be equipped with three pipes, but to give the ship a more reliable appearance, a fourth, false, pipe was installed.

The Olympic body was painted white to make it look better in photographs, as it was the main element in the advertising campaign. The hull was repainted black after launching.

The first voyage of the Olympic passed without incident and was very successful. However, over time, passengers began to complain about bad weather, as the promenade on Deck A was completely open, causing passengers to be splashed in the storm. It was decided to glaze the forward part of the "A" deck on the Titanic. This is the main difference between the courts.

Olympic decoration

Despite the fact that Olympic is the only survivor, he also had a series of failures. During launching, the ship crashed into a dam. After that, small and large accidents rained down on him one after another, and the ship was not even insured. There are suggestions that after a number of accidents, the owners would be happy to insure their ship, but the insurance companies did not want to deal with the failed liner. The most serious accident was a collision with the British war cruiser Hawk, which led the White Star Line to significant financial problems: expensive repairs were needed, and the company's financial situation was very sad, so the Olympic was placed in Belfast docks to wait decisions about their future fate.

In April 1917, Olympic was incorporated into the navy. During her military service, the famous liner transported 119,000 military and civilian personnel across the Atlantic, was attacked by submarines four times, but always remained undamaged.

The world was shocked by the death of the “unsinkable” Titanic, and if one “unsinkable” one drowned, the other would drown too. The sailors began to go on strike: they did not want to go on a voyage on an unsafe ship with an insufficient number of boats. Therefore, the watertight bulkheads were raised to deck B, and the number of lifeboats was also increased: from 20 to 42. Only after these changes did the sailors again agree to go to sea on the Olympic.

After being decommissioned in 1935, many of the Olympic's furnishings were used in the White Swan Hotel. They were used as a model by filmmakers when recreating the scenery for the filming of the film "Titanic", and in September of the same year it was sold for cutting into scrap metal.

Britannic

Britannic is the third and last ship of the Olympic class. Initially it was built under the name "Gigantik". It was supposed to become one of the majestic liners, but then the First World War broke out.

On November 13, 1915, she was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a hospital ship. Work to transform the unfinished liner was well underway, with cabins on the upper decks converted into wards and the first class dining room and lounge converted into operating rooms and a main ward.

The ship was painted in the international colors of a hospital ship: white side, green stripe along the hull with red crosses. These colors guaranteed inviolable status for all warships under the Geneva Agreement, but on November 21, 1916, the Britannic struck a German mine between the island of Kea and mainland Greece. The ship capsized to starboard and sank after 55 minutes.

Sinking Britannic

On board the Britannic was nurse Violet Jessop, one of the survivors of the Titanic disaster. She was in a boat that was pulled under the propeller of a sinking ship and survived. What is even more surprising is that Jessop was a stewardess on the Olympic (the older brother of both liners) when it collided with the cruiser Hawk in the port of Southampton.