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Britannic
Drawings (Artwork Courtesy Remco Hillen)
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figure 1
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Aft Well Deck fig
1 (Click
here to view a Titanic/Olympic version of this drawing)
The most apparent difference
between the sisters is the cover which Britannic sported, but
which was absent on Olympic/ Titanic.
This is why Britannic has the unusual stanchion arrangement in
the aft well deck hull cut-out. A less obvious but critical difference
in this area is the addition of a fourth expansion joint, running
between hatches 5 and 6. The hatches themselves were extended
upwards above the new cover.
You will also notice that the two cranes have been moved up a
level - on Britannic they sat at the same level as the ones on
the poop deck. According the rigging plans they would, however,
have been stored in the same angular configuration as they were
on the sisters.
The drawing of Britannic shows clearly a number of new staircases
which were unique to Britannic (although some were added to the
late Olympic). Two of these allowed access from the aft well deck
cover to A-Deck, and the other one allowed access from A-Deck
to the boat deck. No doubt these were added a safety measure to
enable passengers (regardless of class) to easily get from one
place to another in an emergency.
Perhaps one of the most interesting changes shown by the above
pictures is the difference in deck shapes employed on Britannic.
You can clearly see the "simplified" shape of the A-Deck
aft edge, and the regularized straight edge of the Boat Deck.
This alteration of the A-Deck aft edge led to the repositioning
of the #4 hatches. Instead of being flat into the deck, they now
had a bulkhead around them and a pair of large double doors facing
outboard. How cargo would have been loaded into these is unclear;
for some reason the A-Deck cranes were omitted from Britannic.
The final and most intriguing (and difficult to spot) changes
is the fusing of the #2 class entrance at B-Deck with the aft
side of the A-La-Carte Restaurant. |
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figure 2
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Bridge Area fig
2
This bridge area drawing shows yet another vastly different
area on Britannic. Things to note in particular are the gantry
davits and their associated operating gear (the port side davits
were left off the HMHS configuration due to time limitations),
massive stack of lifeboats and the canvas "box" on the
bridge roof. The exact purpose of this "box" is unknown
- it may have housed an extra, wartime, Morse lamp or it may have
contained an auxiliary compass. You should also pay attention
to the vents immediately in front of the #1 funnel - these are
drastically changed from those found on Titanic or Olympic. Finally,
a subtle difference is the extension of the bridge side bulkheads.
Whether or not these would have been in place on the final ship
is debatable. The plans seem to show them longer than the ones
on her sisters, but they would therefore have caused an unnecessary
obstruction to the officers' field of view. |
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figure 3
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Forward Well Deck fig
3
The forward well deck is
one of the best known alteration areas on Britannic. Following
the Titanic disaster, the steerage passenger's were going to be
treated somewhat better on Britannic. This involved giving them
proper, enclosed entrances in the forward well deck which lead
to the 3rd class recreation areas below on D-Deck. These entrances
weren't quite as wide as the hatches, and featured double doors
in the port facing bulkheads. Another feature is the addition
of extra mushroom vents - Olympic also had a few of these added
later on, probably to better ventilate the 3rd class areas below.
The final two features to note are the fairlead rollers moved
up on to the forward entrance's roof, and the two winches which
have also been relocated. |
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figure 4
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1st Class Lounge Raised Roof
fig 4
The area around the
#4 funnel on Britannic is almost certainly the most impossible
area to understand on Britannic. Overshadowed by 4 huge gantry
davits, each holding a full set of boats, it is virtually impossible
to see the detailing in this area. There are also very few photographs
taken specifically of this area. With this challenge in mind,
Remco has drawn a superb view of this area, minus the davits and
boats. Drawing from data supplied by Russell Wild and Dan Hughes,
as well as his own research, he has done his best to surmise what
this area would have been like. Things to note are the vents and
staircases. The large flat rectangle shape to the aft of the deckhouse
is the raised section which houses the "soffit" in the
lounge below. |
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figure 5
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A-deck partition
fig 5
This drawing shows the A-deck partition as it was
on Britannic. The straight partition, with it's two doors, it's
a real difference compared to the one on Titanic; this partition
had one door and one window and was shaped like a gull's wing.
The drawing is based on a photo that was shot by the 1999 expedition
and on Britannic's builders plans.The brown colour on the back
of the door is not sure, it might also be white. The door on the
left is crew stairwell door, which leads you to the boatdeck. |
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One of the extra
luxuries added to Britannic was the Children's playroom, almost
a mirrored copy of the gymnasium. This playroom was a bit shorter
then the gymnasium, note that there's a small overhang at the
aft of the playroom. Other things of interest: an extra expansion
joint, the elevator gear house and vent placements. When this
drawing was made, the area aft of the gymnasium is a bit unclear
in the case of vents; this might be different then what is shown.
The drawing was made with help from Dan Hughes and Mike Pell.
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