Titanic’s sister ship, Britannic, was the largest vessel lost during WW1. Today, its wreck site lies at a depth of only 390 feet.
Britannic was the youngest among the three steamships of the White Star Lines’ ‘Olympic’ class, following Titanic and Olympic. Originally designed as an Atlantic liner, it was urgently converted into a hospital ship for service in the Mediterranean during the First World War.
For its new role, Britannic was repainted white with prominent red crosses and a horizontal green stripe, and it was renamed HMHS (His Majesty’s Hospital Ship) Britannic.
On November 21, 1916, at 8:12 am, while sailing in the Aegean Sea, Britannic struck a German mine and sank within a remarkably short time of 55 minutes. Although 30 individuals lost their lives, unlike the Titanic, the majority of the people on board (1,035 individuals) survived the sinking.
The sinking of Britannic represents the largest loss of a ship during the First World War. Due to the vessel’s massive size and the relatively shallow water in which it sank (400 feet/122 m), the wreck remains one of the largest intact passenger shipwrecks in the world.
