HMHS Britannic - Based on Trumpeter 1/200 Titanic - by Kevin - Started September 2022

[Kevin Aris]

Good evening everyone

 

Welcome to yet another of my builds

 

from the internet

 

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.

Edited September 3, 2022 by Kevin Aris

[Jerry L]

Looking forward to another of your builds.

[Kevin Aris]

appologies to anyone who has read all my previous messages about not wanting to do 1/200 scale, this is possibly the biggest scale liner i can afford/home her she is compared to the 1/84 Amerigo Vespucci

 

[Orso]

 I am planning for a conversion to the Olympic and later I would like to do the Britannic so I will follow this wit a great interest. 

To your note about the Costa Concordia, it was raised and I think that the scrapping is done by now.

[Kevin Aris]

17 minutes ago, Orso said:

 I am planning for a conversion to the Olympic and later I would like to do the Britannic so I will follow this wit a great interest. 

To your note about the Costa Concordia, it was raised and I think that the scrapping is done by now.

i used the ref instead of a wikki page, and considered taking that comment out

[Iceman 29]

Welcome to the Titanic/Britannic/Olympic Club, Kevin! 😉 

 

Good idea.

 

Mine has been in the box for two and a half years, waiting for the right moment to start it. 😓

 

This assembly by a friend is one the most detailed and of the best I know, can help.

 

https://www-laroyale--modelisme-net.translate.goog/t27508-rms-titanic-trumpeter-1-200-de-panther?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fr&_x_tr_pto=wapp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kevin Aris]

1 hour ago, Iceman 29 said:

Welcome to the Titanic/Britannic/Olympic Club, Kevin! 😉 

 

Good idea.

 

Mine has been in the box for two and a half years, waiting for the right moment to start it. 😓

 

This assembly by a friend is one the most detailed and of the best I know, can help.

 

https://www-laroyale--modelisme-net.translate.goog/t27508-rms-titanic-trumpeter-1-200-de-panther?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fr&_x_tr_pto=wapp

 

i will check that one out, i keep meaning to enrole onto that site

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kevin Aris]

anyway i got carried away

 

here are some of the kit contents

 

 

the KA MK!  upgrade set goes on forever, here is a small selection of goodies

 

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Kevin Aris

[Kevin Aris]

good evening everyone

 

day 1 hull - portholes

 

i dont quite know how many portholes there are, but they seam to be taking a while to do. i was originally going to do them by pin vice, my hands were never going to manage that, so the electric variable speed power drill came into use, the pin vice was put into the chuck for the very small size drill bits

 

i may have undersized the holes by using 0.6, 1mm, 1.5 and 2mm

 

i placed a white led in the hull to see what effect im going to get and quite happy with the result

 

although not ready for this the kit i purchased from a friend also had a set of internal bulkheads to keep the shape right 

 

 

 

made the stand up, wrong name of course

[Courageous]

That's bloomin' big!

 

Stuart

[Kevin Aris]

good afternoon everyone

 

Day 2 portholes

 

im so glad im not doing these by pin vice, but i am using a lot of 0.5mm drill bits  with the pin vice in my power drill chuck, the drill has seen better days, the brearing creates a wobble at the drill bit end, 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Kevin, that's a LOT of port-holes. I imagine they would have let in a lot of water when she started to heel over. Regards, Jeff.

[Kevin Aris]

they were certainly part of the downfall of this vessel after she hit the mine,

[Kevin Aris]

no portholes tomorrow as i have had to order a power drill, other things can ne done

[Killingholme]

Wow that's quite an undertaking, even before you consider the scratchbuilding required! It'll keep you going for a while! Any plan for the changes required- 3d printing or classic modelling skills?

 

Oh and I guess it's probably a bit too late to tell you that Britannic had a large number of her portholes painted over at the time of her use as a hospital ship... 

 

Will

[Kevin Aris]

1 hour ago, Killingholme said:

Wow that's quite an undertaking, even before you consider the scratchbuilding required! It'll keep you going for a while! Any plan for the changes required- 3d printing or classic modelling skills?

 

Oh and I guess it's probably a bit too late to tell you that Britannic had a large number of her portholes painted over at the time of her use as a hospital ship... 

 

Will

the project is evolving all the time, i will update later

[Kevin Aris]

good evening everyone

 

 

day 5 of the project

 

between portholes a lot of the raised detail has been removed in prep off the wooded decks

new better slower drill required for the small portholes, not impressed though, so much play in the drive, plus a cheap mini chuck 

for effect i build up the next section of superstructure, still using my dog walking leds

 

the inside has been primed in yellow to stop any light bleed

the internal bulkheads are presently being used to support the LED light strips, i may split this to three sections, as it will be not be possible to remove after the well decks are secured in place

 

much better with warm white LED

[Kevin Aris]

8 hours ago, Killingholme said:

Wow that's quite an undertaking, even before you consider the scratchbuilding required! It'll keep you going for a while! Any plan for the changes required- 3d printing or classic modelling skills?

 

Oh and I guess it's probably a bit too late to tell you that Britannic had a large number of her portholes painted over at the time of her use as a hospital ship... 

 

Will

good evening Will

i will have to puchase the cranes from Shapeways, the rest i will attempt to make, other than the KAMK1 upgrade, i am not planning any other PE, however i may purchase the stern plate set, after attempting it myself, its quite a large area with nothing on it, but there is a cheaper option than the brass set

Edited September 7, 2022 by Kevin Aris

[S-boat 55]

Such a majestic looking ship, your def right about the warm light being the way to go. I know your looking to avoid porthole by hand but I use a pin vice with proxxon drill bits and find three turns and I'm through as opposed generic drill bits off ebay etc where it was more like 20, just a thought, 

 

Sam

[Kevin Aris]

good evening everyone

i and now on day 8 of the build

all the portholes have been drilled, from both sides, i wont be repeating that in a hurry

a cheap shelf unit with holes for the securing bolts, and access for power

 

nuts fixed in place with 2 part epoxy

 

the upper deck no in and pernamently fixed 

[Killingholme]

Looks impressive. I wonder whether it would be worth the effort to also include the internationally mandated red/green lights for the hospital ship lights too? Wouldn't be difficult , you could even rig it up on a separate battery system. 

[Kevin Aris]

9 hours ago, Killingholme said:

Looks impressive. I wonder whether it would be worth the effort to also include the internationally mandated red/green lights for the hospital ship lights too? Wouldn't be difficult , you could even rig it up on a separate battery system. 

yes great idea and yes i had forgot about that

[Bertie McBoatface]

Great progress so far Kevin. Or should I say “Holy Portholes, Batman!”. The yellow light spilling through is the iconic view of the sinking Titanic from both of the films and well worth the work of reproduction here on Britnnic 

[Kevin Aris]

thanks guys

 

maybe the lights are over the top, but they are dimmable so once its is complete i will then work out if it was worth the effort

[Kevin Aris]

good afternoon everyone

thank you for comments and like

 

day 9 after well deck

Britannic had lots of changes made to her, as a result of the titanic loss,, the after well deck was one of them

it was decided that 3rd class passengers needed somewhere to smoke and protected from the elements

to achieve this they removed the hatched to the after cargo holds (but at present i dont know where to)