Editing HMHS Britannic (section)

=== Post-''Titanic'' design changes ===
[[File:RMS Britannic (crop).jpg|thumb|281x281px|An artist's conception of ''Britannic'' in her intended White Star livery]]
''Britannic'' had a similar layout to her sister ships. Following the ''Titanic'' disaster and the subsequent inquiries, several design changes were made to the remaining [[Olympic class liner|''Olympic''-class liners]]. With ''Britannic'', these changes made before launch included increasing the ship's beam to {{convert|94|ft|m}} to allow for a [[double hull]] along the engine and [[boiler room (ship)|boiler rooms]] and raising six out of the 15 watertight bulkheads up to B Deck. Additionally, a larger {{convert|18000|hp|lk=in}} turbine was added instead of the {{convert|16000|hp}} units installed on the earlier vessels in response to the increased hull width. The central watertight compartments were enhanced, allowing the ship to stay afloat with six compartments flooded.<ref name="MC220">{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=220}}.</ref>

Externally the largest visual change was the fitting of large [[Crane (machine)|crane]]-like [[davit|gantry davit]]s, each powered by an electric motor and capable of launching six [[Lifeboat (shipboard)|lifeboats]] which were stored on gantries; the ship was designed to have eight sets of gantry davits but only five were installed before ''Britannic'' entered war service, with the difference being made up with boats launched by manually operated [[Axel Welin|Welin]]-type davits as on ''Titanic'' and ''Olympic''.<ref name=MC224>{{harvnb|Chirnside|2011|p=224}}.</ref><ref name=Piouffre307>{{harvnb|Piouffre|2009|p=307}}.</ref>

Additional lifeboats could be stored within reach of the davits on the deckhouse roof, and the gantry davits could reach lifeboats on the other side of the ship, providing that none of the [[funnel (ship)|funnels]] was obstructing the way. This design enabled all the lifeboats to be launched, even if the ship developed a [[Angle of list|list]] that would normally prevent lifeboats from being launched on the side opposite to the list. Several of these davits were placed abreast of funnels, defeating that purpose. The elevators, which previously stopped at A deck, could now reach the boat deck.<ref name="Bonsall">{{cite book
| last = Bonsall
| first = Thomas E.
| title = Titanic
| year = 1987
| publisher = Bookman Publishing
| location = Baltimore, Maryland
| isbn = 978-0-8317-8774-5
| page = 54
| chapter = 8
}}</ref> The ship carried 48 lifeboats, capable of carrying at least 75 people each. Thus, at least 3,600 people could be carried by the lifeboats, which was well above the ship's maximum capacity of 3,309.