HMS Britannic Expedition

The Britannic was launched in 1914, the third of the Olympic-class ocean liners built by the White Star Line at Harland and Wolff\'s Belfast shipyard. Its size and luxury were such it was originally going to be named the Gigantic. The line redesigned the vessel to correct the defects that had played such a crucial role in the sinking of the Titanic, in 1912. It was announced that the Britannic would sail the Southampton-New York route carrying thousands of immigrants destined for the new world. But the first world war intervened and, requisitioned by the British navy, the Britannic instead began ferrying the wounded from the Gallipoli campaign and other fronts in the Middle East. She was on her sixth outward voyage when disaster struck on November 21 1916 and the vessel sank off Kea, an island near Athens. Controversy has always raged over whether the ship was hit by a mine or torpedo. Some historians believe it was attacked because it was carrying weapons and only dressed up as a hospital ship.

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