Editing HMHS Britannic (section)

=== Last voyage and sinking ===
{{ multiple image |total_width=500

| image1=2011 Dimos Keas.png | caption1=The location of [[Kea (island)|Kea]] in the [[Cyclades]] [[archipelago]] in the [[Aegean Sea]]

| image2=ISS009-E-15405-Kea-Makronisos-N-at-top.jpg | caption2= The channel between [[Makronisos]] (near top) and [[Kea (island)|Kea]] (bottom); ''Britannic'' sank closer to Kea
}}
After completing five successful voyages to the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I|Middle Eastern theatre]] and back to the United Kingdom transporting the sick and wounded, ''Britannic'' departed Southampton for [[Lemnos]] at 14:23 on 12 November 1916, her sixth voyage to the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name=MC241 /> The ship passed [[Gibraltar]] around midnight on 15 November and arrived at [[Naples]] on the morning of 17 November, for her usual [[Coaling (ships)|coaling]] and water-refuelling stop, completing the first stage of her mission.<ref name=MC253>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=253}}.</ref>

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. The seas rose once again as ''Britannic'' left the port. By the next morning, the storms died, and the ship passed the [[Strait of Messina]] without problems. [[Cape Matapan]] was rounded in the first hours of 21 November. By morning, ''Britannic'' was steaming at full speed into the [[Kea Channel]], between [[Sounion|Cape Sounion]] (the southernmost point of [[Attica]], the prefecture that includes [[Athens]]) and the island of [[Kea (island)|Kea]].<ref name=MC253 />

There were 1,066 people on board: 673 crew, 315 [[Royal Army Medical Corps]] (RAMC), 77 nurses, and the captain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hmhsbritannic.weebly.com/sinking.html|title=Sinking|work=Hospital Ship HMHS Britannic|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810003608/http://hmhsbritannic.weebly.com/sinking.html|archive-date=10 August 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==== Explosion ====
[[File:19161123 Hospital Ship Brittanic Sunk - The New York Times.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2| Some newspapers printed reports that the sinking was caused by one of two torpedoes launched by respective German submarines whose commanders would have known the ship, being northbound, did not carry combatants.<ref name=NYTimes_19161123/> The report stated that after the explosion there was "perfect order" and "not the slightest panic", and that "the women, of course, were saved first".<ref name=NYTimes_19161123>{{cite news |title=Hospital Ship Britannic Sunk; 50 Lives Lost |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:19161123_Hospital_Ship_Brittanic_Sunk_-_The_New_York_Times.jpg |work=The New York Times |date=November 23, 1916 |page=1 }}</ref>]]
At 08:12 am European Eastern Time ''Britannic'' was rocked by an explosion after hitting a mine.{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=260}} The mines had been planted in the Kea Channel on 21 October 1916 by {{ship|SM|U-73}} under the command of {{ill|Gustav Sieß|de}}.

The reaction in the dining room was immediate; doctors and nurses left instantly for their posts but 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 (nautical)|bridge]] at the time and the gravity of the situation was soon evident.{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=259}} The explosion was on the [[starboard]]{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=259}} side, between holds two and three. The force of the explosion damaged the watertight [[Bulkhead (partition)|bulkhead]] between hold one and the [[forecastle|forepeak]].{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=260}} The first four watertight compartments were filling rapidly with water,{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=260}} the [[boiler-man]]'s tunnel connecting the firemen's quarters in the bow with boiler room six was seriously damaged, and water was flowing into that boiler room.{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=260}}

Bartlett ordered the watertight doors closed, sent a [[distress signal]], and ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats.{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=260}} An SOS signal was immediately sent out and was received by several other ships in the area, among them {{HMS|Scourge|1910|6}} and {{HMS|Heroic}}, but ''Britannic'' heard nothing in reply. Unknown to either Bartlett or the ship's wireless operator, the force of the first explosion had caused the antenna wires slung between the ship's masts to snap. This meant that although the ship could still send out transmissions by radio, she could no longer receive them.<ref name=MC256>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=256}}.</ref>

Along with the damaged watertight door of the firemen's tunnel, the watertight door between boiler rooms six and five failed to close properly.{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=260}} Water was flowing further aft into boiler room five. ''Britannic'' had reached her flooding limit. She could stay afloat (motionless) with her first six watertight compartments flooded. There were five watertight bulkheads rising all the way up to B Deck.{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=261}} Those measures had been taken after the ''Titanic'' disaster (''Titanic'' could float with only her first four compartments flooded).<ref name=hublots>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=258}}.</ref>

The next crucial bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four and its door were undamaged and should have guaranteed the ship's survival. However, there were open [[porthole]]s along the front lower decks, which tilted underwater within minutes of the explosion. The nurses had opened most of those portholes to ventilate the wards, against standing orders. As the ship's [[angle of list]] increased, water reached this level and began entering aft from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. With more than six compartments flooded, ''Britannic'' could not stay afloat.<ref name=hublots/>

==== Evacuation ====
On the bridge, Captain Bartlett was already considering efforts to save the ship. Only two minutes after the blast, boiler rooms five and six had to be evacuated. In about ten minutes, ''Britannic'' was roughly in the same condition ''Titanic'' had been in one hour after the [[Iceberg that sank the Titanic|collision with the iceberg]]. Fifteen minutes after the ship was struck, the open portholes on E Deck were underwater. With water also entering her aft section from the bulkhead between boiler rooms four and five, ''Britannic'' quickly developed a serious list to starboard.<ref name=MC257>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=257}}.</ref>

Bartlett gave the order to turn starboard towards the island of [[Kea (island)|Kea]] in an attempt to beach her. The effect of ''Britannic's'' starboard list and the weight of the [[rudder]] made attempts to navigate the ship under her own power difficult, and the steering gear had been knocked out by the explosion, which eliminated steering by the rudder. The captain ordered the port shaft driven at a higher speed than the starboard side, which helped the ship move towards Kea.<ref name=MC257/>

At the same time, the hospital staff prepared to evacuate. Bartlett had given the order to prepare the lifeboats, but he did not allow them to be lowered into the water. Everyone took their most valuable belongings with them before they evacuated. The chaplain of the ship recovered his Bible. The few patients and nurses on board were assembled. Major Harold Priestley gathered his detachments from the Royal Army Medical Corps to the back of the A deck and inspected the cabins to ensure no one was left behind.<ref name=MC257 />

While Bartlett continued his desperate manoeuvre, ''Britannic's'' list steadily increased. Fearing that the list would become too large to launch, some crew decided to launch lifeboats without waiting for the order to do so.<ref name=MC257 /> Two lifeboats were put onto the water on the port side without permission by Third Officer Francis Laws. These boats were drawn towards the still-turning, partly surfaced propellers. Bartlett ordered the engines to stop but before this could take effect, the two boats were drawn into the propellers, completely destroying both and killing 30 people.<ref name=hublots /> Bartlett was able to stop the engines before any more boats were lost.<ref name=MC259>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=259}}.</ref>

==== Final moments ====
By 08:50, most of those on board had escaped in the 35 successfully launched lifeboats. At this point, Bartlett concluded that the rate at which ''Britannic'' was sinking had slowed so he called a halt to the evacuation and ordered the engines restarted in the hope that he might still be able to beach the ship.<ref name=MC260>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=260}}.</ref> At 09:00, Bartlett was informed that the rate of flooding had increased due to the ship's forward motion and that the flooding had reached D-deck. Realising that there was now no hope of reaching land in time, Bartlett gave the final order to stop the engines and sounded two final long blasts of the whistle, the signal to abandon ship.<ref name=MC261>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=261}}.</ref> As water reached the bridge, he and Assistant Commander Dyke walked off onto the deck and entered the water, swimming to a collapsible boat from which they continued to coordinate the rescue operations.<ref>[http://www.titanic-titanic.com/britannic.shtml « ''Britannic'' »] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806070941/http://www.titanic-titanic.com/britannic.shtml|date=6 August 2009}}, ''Titanic-titanic.com''. Accessed 12 July 2009.</ref>

''Britannic'' gradually capsized to starboard, and the funnels collapsed one after the other as the ship rapidly sank. By the time the stern was out of the water, the bow had already slammed into the seabed. As ''Britannic'''s length was greater than the depth of the water, the impact caused major structural damage to the bow before she slipped completely beneath the waves at 09:07, 55 minutes after the explosion.<ref name=MC261 /> [[Violet Jessop]] (who was one of the survivors of the ''Titanic'', and had also been on board when the ''Olympic'' collided with {{HMS|Hawke|1891|6}}) described the last seconds:<ref>Gleick, Elizabeth; Carassava, Anthee (26 October 1998). "Deep Secrets". ''[[Time International]] (South Pacific Edition)''. No. 43. p. 72.</ref>

<blockquote>She dipped her head a little, then a little lower and still lower. All the deck machinery fell into the sea like a child's toys. Then she took a fearful plunge, her stern rearing hundreds of feet into the air until with a final roar, she disappeared into the depths, the noise of her going resounding through the water with undreamt-of violence....</blockquote>

When the ''Britannic'' came to rest, she became the largest ship lost in the First World War.<ref name="largest">{{cite web
 |url          = https://www.pbs.org/lostliners/britannic.html
 |title        = PBS Online – Lost Liners – Britannic
 |access-date  = 9 November 2008
 |publisher    = PBS
 |url-status   = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081014140615/http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/britannic.html
 |archive-date = 14 October 2008
 |df           = dmy-all
}}</ref>

==== Rescue ====
[[File:Britannic's survivors.jpg|thumb|Survivors of ''Britannic'' on board {{HMS|Scourge|1910|6}}]]
[[File:Dr. John Cropper.JPG|thumb|Captain John Cropper of the RAMC, who died in the sinking<ref>{{cite web|title=CWGC record for John Cropper|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1647786/CROPPER,%20JOHN|access-date=28 July 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728135415/http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1647786/CROPPER,%20JOHN|archive-date=28 July 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>|alt=]]
Compared to ''Titanic'', the rescue of ''Britannic'' was facilitated by three factors: The water temperature was higher ({{convert|20|C|F|abbr=}}{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=262}} compared to {{convert |-2|C|F}}{{sfn|Lord|2005|p=149}} for ''Titanic''), more lifeboats were available (35 were successfully launched and stayed afloat{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=266}} compared to ''Titanic''{{'}}s 20{{sfn|Lord|2005|p=103}}), and help was closer (it arrived less than two hours after first distress call{{sfn|Chirnside|2011|p=266}} compared to three and a half hours for ''Titanic''{{sfn|Brewster|Coulter|1998|pp=45 and 62}}).

The first to arrive on the scene were fishermen from Kea on their [[caïque]], who picked many survivors from the water.<ref>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|pp=261–262}}.</ref> At 10:00, {{HMS|Scourge|1910|6}} sighted the first lifeboats and 10 minutes later stopped and picked up 339 survivors. [[Armed boarding steamer]] HMS ''Heroic'' had arrived some minutes earlier and picked up 494.<ref name=MC262>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=262}}.</ref> Some 150 had made it to [[Korissia, Kea]], where surviving doctors and nurses from ''Britannic'' were trying to save the injured, using aprons and pieces of [[Lifebuoy|lifebelts]] to make dressings. A little barren quayside served as their operating room.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

''Scourge'' and ''Heroic'' had no deck space for more survivors, and they left for [[Piraeus]] signalling the presence of those remaining at Korissia. {{HMS|Foxhound|1909|6}} arrived at 11:45 and, after sweeping the area, anchored in the small port at 13:00 to offer medical assistance and take on board the remaining survivors.<ref name=MC262 /> At 14:00 the light cruiser {{HMS|Foresight|1904|6}} arrived. ''Foxhound'' departed for Piraeus at 14:15 while ''Foresight'' remained to arrange the burial on Kea of RAMC Sergeant William Sharpe, who had died of his injuries. Another two survivors died on the ''Heroic'' and one on the French [[tugboat|tug]] ''Goliath''. The three were buried with military honours in the Piraeus Naval and Consular Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cemetery Details {{!}} CWGC|url=https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/36007/PIRAEUS%20NAVAL%20AND%20CONSULAR%20CEMETERY/|access-date=2021-09-26|website=www.cwgc.org|language=en}}</ref> The last fatality was G. Honeycott, who died at the Russian Hospital at Piraeus shortly after the funerals.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

In total, out of the 1,066 people on board, 1,036 people survived the sinking. Thirty people lost their lives in the disaster<ref>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|pp=325–327}}.</ref> but only five were buried; others were not recovered and are honoured on memorials in [[Thessaloniki]] (the [[Mikra British Cemetery|Mikra Memorial]]) and London. Another 38 were injured (18 crew, 20 RAMC).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hmhsbritannic.weebly.com/crew-lists.html|title=Crew Lists|work=Hospital Ship HMHS Britannic|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815084538/http://hmhsbritannic.weebly.com/crew-lists.html|archive-date=15 August 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Survivors were accommodated in the warships that were anchored at the port of Piraeus while nurses and officers were hosted in separate hotels at [[Phaleron]]. Many Greek citizens and officials attended the funerals. Survivors were sent home, and few arrived in the United Kingdom before Christmas.<ref>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=264}}.</ref>

In November 2006, ''Britannic'' researcher Michail Michailakis discovered that one of the 45 unidentified graves in the New British Cemetery in the town of [[Hermoupolis]] on the island of [[Syros]] contained the remains of a soldier collected from the church of Ag. Trias at Livadi (the former name of Korissia). Maritime historian Simon Mills contacted the [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]]. Further research established that this soldier was a ''Britannic'' casualty, and his remains had been registered in October 1919 as belonging to a certain "Corporal Stevens".<ref name="Mills, Simon 2009">{{cite journal|title=The Odyssey of Sergeant William Sharpe|author= Mills, Simon|journal= Titanic Commutator |volume=33|number=186|date=2009|publisher= Titanic Historical Society}}</ref>

When the remains were moved to the new cemetery at Syros in June 1921, it was found that there was no record relating this name with the loss of the ship, and the grave was registered as unidentified. Mills provided evidence that this man could be Sergeant Sharpe and the case was considered by the [[Service Personnel and Veterans Agency]].<ref name="Mills, Simon 2009"/> A new headstone for Sharpe was erected and the CWGC has updated its database.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1648073/SHARPE,%20WILLIAM |website=CWGC |title=CWGC Record for Sharpe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402142516/http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1648073/SHARPE,%20WILLIAM |archive-date=2 April 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>