Kevin

Good evening everyone

Welcome to yet another of my builds

The build is one of the Titanic’s sister ships, not the Olympic, but the HMHS  Britannic

Britannic (II), yard number 433, was the third Olympic Class ship, and the largest ship ever built for the White Star Line. Britannic is best known as being the sister ship of Olympic and Titanic, and also for her own sinking while serving as a hospital ship in 1916. Prior to her launching Britannic, had also been referred to as Gigantic, although it is uncertain whether or not White Star intended to use the name Gigantic.

In order to construct the Olympic Class liners Harland and Wolff constructed two massive slipways, 840ft by 270ft wide and up to 228ft high. Olympic was constructed on one side and Titanic on the other. Following the launch of both ships, on 30th November 1911, construction work begun on Britannic in the slipway that had been occupied by Olympic.

On 14th April 1912, Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later with the loss of around 1500 lives. As a result of the disaster it was decided to stop all work on Britannic until a safer design could be created following the Titanic inquiry – in an attempt to ensure that Britannic did not suffer the same fate as her sister, and also probably to increase public confidence in the ship.

When work continued on Britannic, a number of changes had been made to the design, most notably was the addition of lifeboats for all and large gantry davits to support some of them. Britannic also had her watertight double skin extended, a new bulkhead added and her bulkheads made higher.

Witnessed by some 50,000 people, Britannic was launched on Thursday 26th February 1914 at Harland and Wolff, Belfast. It was intended that Britannic would enter service as a passenger liner on the Southampton to New York service; however, World War One would intervene.

On 4th August 1914 Britain declared a state of war. As a result, work on Britannic was slowed down – as priority had to be given to ships involved with war services. On 13th November 1915, Britannic was requisitioned as a hospital ship.

As a hospital ship, Britannic’s duty was to transport wounded soldiers back home. To turn her into a hospital ship, Britannic’s interior was converted into wards, operating theatres…and accommodation for medical equipment and medical staff. So that Britannic could be easily identified as a hospital ship, Britannic was painted white with three large red crosses on each side, a green band going across the ship, and two further crosses on each side which were illuminated at night, this made sure that according to conventions, Britannic could not be legally targeted – providing that she was not used for military purposes other than transporting any wounded persons.

Upon completion Britannic sailed to Liverpool, where she arrived on 12th December 1915, under the command of Captain J Ranson. In Liverpool on 14th December, Britannic was officially commissioned as His Majesties Hospital Ship (HMHS) Britannic and given the identification number G618. Also on that same day Captain Charles A Bartlett took command of her.

On 23rd December 1915 Britannic’s maiden voyage began; she departed Liverpool bound for Naples, where she arrived on 28th December to take on coal and water, following Naples she headed for Mudros, on the Greek island of Lemnos, where she arrived on new year’s eve and took patients onboard. When Britannic left Mudros she sailed straight for Southampton, where she arrived on 9th January 1916. Unlike her younger sister, Titanic, Britannic’s maiden voyage – which had seen her crew celebrate Christmas on board – had been a success.

Britannic completed two more voyages, the first from Southampton (departing on 20th January 1916) to Naples, where the patients were transferred from smaller ships and the second from Southampton (departing on 20th March 1916) to Augusta, where patients were also transferred from other ships.

Due to the failure of the Gallipoli campaign, which had been supplying Britannic with casualties, Britannic was no longer needed, and was laid up at Cowes, Isle of White, UK. On 6th June 1916 Britannic was discharged from her war services, and returned to Belfast, so that she could be made ready for her true intended purpose, as a passenger liner.

Shortly after, due to new campaigns in the Balkans, Britannic was again needed, and was recalled back to war time hospital ship services on 28th August 1916. She departed Cowes on 24th September 1916 bound for Mudros, where she collected her patients from other hospital ships, and arrived home at Southampton on 11th October 1916.

Britannic made one more successful voyage, departing Southampton on 20th October 1916, for Mudros. On this voyage Britannic had been given permission to transport over 480 extra medical personal and tons of medical supplies that were destined for Egypt, Malta Salonika, India and Mesopotamia. Britannic arrived at her Southampton home on 6th November 1916.

Under the command of Captain Bartlett, Britannic’s sixth and final voyage started from Southampton on Sunday 12th November 1916. From Southampton she sailed to Naples, where she arrived on Friday 17th November for the loading of coal and water; Britannic was supposed to leave Naples the next day, but a storm had prevented her leaving until Sunday afternoon.

On the morning of Tuesday 21st November 1916, at 8.12am, Britannic was sailing in calm waters through the Kea Channel, when suddenly she was rocked by a massive explosion originating from her starboard side. The damage to the ship was serious, with watertight compartments flooding and bulkheads damaged. The situation was made even worse by the fact that many of the ships portholes had been left open – perhaps sealing Britannic’s fate.

It was not long before a distress signal was sent and the order given to prepare the lifeboats. In an attempt to save the ship Captain Bartlett attempted to beach the ship on shores of Kea. Without orders, two lifeboats had been lowered; in one of them was Violet Jessop, who had survived the Titanic disaster; once in the water these boats were sucked towards Britannic propellers, which where almost out of the water – resulting in devastation as boats and people were drawn towards them. Violet jumped out of the boat and despite hitting her head twice on something solid while struggling under water was able to get to the surface and survive the disaster.

Soon after, Captain Bartlett ordered the engines to be stopped and at 8.35am he gave the order to abandon ship. At 9am the Captain give the last abandon ship order by sounding the ships whistle, and he then walked off the flooding bridge into the sea, where he swam to a lifeboat.

At 9.07am, 55 minutes after the explosion, Britannic slipped beneath the waves. The cause of the explosion is now widely believed to have been a mine. Of the 1066 people onboard, 30 lost their lives.

The wreck of Britannic was found by Jacques Cousteau in 1975 – in a relatively intact state, lying on her starboard side. Britannic is now the largest passenger liner fully submerged on the ocean floor;the only other passenger ship bigger than her lying on the sea bed being the Costa Concordia, which sank in 2012, but will eventually be raised.

Departure - The Battleship Texas Foundation

49 minutes ago, Gregory said:

If you can get permission, could you do a screen shot and snip?   Image not showing for me..

 

I'm a displaced Texan, and have visited  BB35 many times.....My grandfather served aboard her back when..

Michael, i just googled her, and the internet is full of news clips about her moving, without breaking any copyright im sure you will find everything you need over the next couple days

apparantly taken yesterday

NOT MY PHOTO _ FROM FACEBOOK

they look brilliant

stunning work, i just wish i was 10% as good

3 hours ago, HIPEXEC said:

I’m looking for a kit that I can build noahs Ark. it doesn’t have to be a Noahs Ark kit just one I can bash to look like Noahs Ark

any suggestions?

thanks

if you google diorama Noahs ark there are quite a few around, i tried linking one but it was very poor quality

stunning work, i love it, and agreed that is so much  quality work, just to cover it all up

46 minutes ago, Blue Ensign said:

Thank you Kevin, not so lovely just yet, a fair bit of fettlin' to go, but I too love these bijou models, hours of fun at a modest cost, and a challenge  thrown in.

What more could you want.😀

 

B.E.

 

 

lol i will let you know when the Indi comes out, hopefully the Phoenix (ex Amerigo Vespucci) will be complete by then

lovely work, i just love these Vanguard Model kits

she looks fantastic

good afternoon everyone

thank you for comments and likes

work continues on the mizzen mast, and I have finished the landing pad for the ships own UFO 

next will be ensuring the mast is in the correction positions and get some standing rigging fitted

46 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Really nice work mate  - its starting to pop now.

 

OC.

Thank you OC

good evening every one

the mizzen mast also has a spreader which i made this afternoon thas mast also has another radar fitted on a extended bracket, as i has no dimensions i have winged it for now and adapt later on

, i then thought about the chainstays for the shrouds, and then noticed that the kits says 4 shrouds where as there are infract 5 , space in tight where they have to be fitted

not my photo 

£400 at Cornwall Model Boats - 

Occre Prinz Eugen 1:200 Scale Model Ship Kit OC16000 | Cornwall Model Boats

she is looking great Glenn

great review, thank you @James H

good evening everyone

the last couple weeks no work has been done to the renamed build, the temperature in the UK was silly and made the mancave unbearable and very hard work to put the new fence in,  the last week has been DIY with wood staining and a large skip to get rid of all the rubbish, as well and a few finishing jobs  

But yesterday i built up the Mizzen mast, still to do the spreaders and radar supports, 

11 hours ago, Nirvana said:

Kevin, the wow-factor is amazing!

Did some research and I very certain to 99% the kit is based on the Peterbilt 389 truck.
I don't have any knowledge regarding trucks besides Volvo and Scania.

it certainly filled that, lets do something different period

they are going to look terrific when placed into position

your Pinta is coming along very nice

48 minutes ago, Altduck said:

What is the material of your new fence posts?

They don't look like the usual wood posts.

Just curious.

just putting in 3m concrete posts as the soil is quite damp along the boundary, the life expectancy for the wooden ones is about 5 years even if treated, lol i never realised how dam heavy they are to do on my own

5 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

Why not just color the rat lines.  India ink or leather shoe dye.

that may have to be an option. i have a plan in my head which means keeping it white but i dont see the plan anymore lol, if i could wait for the first of the sails to go on and then stain, i certainly am not in any hurry to rip it all off

good evening everyone

thank you for comments and likes

it think i have now got the foremast backstays in, but now thinking i dont like the ratlines, they are the right scale i just dont think white and brass works for me, that will mean replacing the shrouds as well

why o why do i try to be different and half way through regret it 

whilst i ponder that i am also replacing a line of fencing 8x6 foot panels the posts all failed in the Jan storm (100MPH winds)

with no contribution from the neighbour i am also preserving his side as well , the first panel has been reduced to move the post holes

i tried the fire bucket decals and failed