Does the HMHS Britannic wreck still have a grand staircase or any staterooms?












5















Does the wreck of HMHS Britannic still have a grand staircase or any staterooms or were they all removed prior to being converted into a hospital ship?










share|improve this question





























    5















    Does the wreck of HMHS Britannic still have a grand staircase or any staterooms or were they all removed prior to being converted into a hospital ship?










    share|improve this question



























      5












      5








      5








      Does the wreck of HMHS Britannic still have a grand staircase or any staterooms or were they all removed prior to being converted into a hospital ship?










      share|improve this question
















      Does the wreck of HMHS Britannic still have a grand staircase or any staterooms or were they all removed prior to being converted into a hospital ship?







      20th-century ships






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Jan 15 at 0:13









      sempaiscuba

      50.2k6173220




      50.2k6173220










      asked Jan 14 at 14:42









      PaulmPaulm

      361




      361






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          9














          RMS Britannic was initially requisitioned for use as a hospital ship on 13 November 1915. She was then renamed as HMHS Britannic and underwent a refit. From the Wikipedia article:




          In the interior, 3,309 beds and several operating rooms were installed. The common areas of the upper decks were transformed into rooms for the wounded. The cabins of B Deck were used to house doctors. The first-class dining room and the first-class reception room on Deck D were transformed into operating rooms. The lower bridge was used to accommodate the lightly wounded. The medical equipment was installed on 12 December 1915.




          HMHS Britannic




          • [Image source, Wikimedia]


          On 12 December 1915 HMHS Britannic was declared fit for service, and she then served until 6 June 1916 when she was released from service and returned to Belfast to be refitted once again as a passenger liner. At this point she had completed three voyages to and from the Mediterranean.



          In the middle of that refit, on 26 August 1916, she was requisitioned again for service as a hospital ship. She sailed for the Mediterranean less than a month later, on 24 September 1916 and remained in service, completing a further two voyages, until she was sunk on her sixth voyage on 21 November 1916.



          Details of her voyages as a hospital ship, and some descriptions of the ship as she was fitted out during her war service can be found on the Hospital Ship Britannic web site.





          Also on that site, you will also find a page dedicated to the wreck of HMHS Britannic. It notes that, during the exploration of the wreck by Robert Ballard's team:




          The weather cover over the glass dome of the forward Grand Staircase was found nearly intact. The dome was found broken, but there was still evidence of the white glass in some places.




          The forward Grand Staircase formed part of the first class entrance to the ship. It was located aft of the first funnel in the picture above, and was designed and built as part of the structure of the ship. As such, it would not have been removed during the refit. However, much of the staircase itself was built from wood, and so it is unlikely to have survived (although some wooden structures have been found on the wreck).



          We do know that the pipe-organ which was intended to form part of the Grand Staircase was, in fact never fitted. Since she was never fully fitted out for her role as a luxury passenger liner before she was requisitioned, it is therefore quite possible that much of the decorative work intended for the Grand Staircase was also never installed.





          The staterooms would certainly have remained, although many of the fixtures and fittings would probably have been removed. Given the short turnaround times of each refit, and the urgency involved, its is likely that only the minimum amount of re-design work required to fit out the ship for her intended function would have been carried out.



          Unfortunately, even though the wreck lies in relatively shallow water (about 120m), and is well within range of technical divers, there has been only limited exploration of the interior of the ship. The wreck has been designated as a war grave, and permission from the governments of both United Kingdom and Greece must be secured ahead of any penetration dives.






          share|improve this answer


























          • Why is the declaration of the Britannic as a war grave and the resulting ban on unregistered penetrating dives "unfortunate"? (Just a minor nitpick I know, but I stumbed over that.)

            – DevSolar
            Jan 15 at 13:41













          • @DevSolar It is unfortunate that we do not have any record of the present state of most the interior of the Britannic due to the restrictions on penetration diving. Most of the expeditions to the wreck have only been licenced to explore and record the exterior of the wreck.

            – sempaiscuba
            Jan 15 at 13:54











          Your Answer








          StackExchange.ready(function() {
          var channelOptions = {
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "324"
          };
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
          createEditor();
          });
          }
          else {
          createEditor();
          }
          });

          function createEditor() {
          StackExchange.prepareEditor({
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader: {
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          },
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          });


          }
          });














          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f50618%2fdoes-the-hmhs-britannic-wreck-still-have-a-grand-staircase-or-any-staterooms%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes








          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          9














          RMS Britannic was initially requisitioned for use as a hospital ship on 13 November 1915. She was then renamed as HMHS Britannic and underwent a refit. From the Wikipedia article:




          In the interior, 3,309 beds and several operating rooms were installed. The common areas of the upper decks were transformed into rooms for the wounded. The cabins of B Deck were used to house doctors. The first-class dining room and the first-class reception room on Deck D were transformed into operating rooms. The lower bridge was used to accommodate the lightly wounded. The medical equipment was installed on 12 December 1915.




          HMHS Britannic




          • [Image source, Wikimedia]


          On 12 December 1915 HMHS Britannic was declared fit for service, and she then served until 6 June 1916 when she was released from service and returned to Belfast to be refitted once again as a passenger liner. At this point she had completed three voyages to and from the Mediterranean.



          In the middle of that refit, on 26 August 1916, she was requisitioned again for service as a hospital ship. She sailed for the Mediterranean less than a month later, on 24 September 1916 and remained in service, completing a further two voyages, until she was sunk on her sixth voyage on 21 November 1916.



          Details of her voyages as a hospital ship, and some descriptions of the ship as she was fitted out during her war service can be found on the Hospital Ship Britannic web site.





          Also on that site, you will also find a page dedicated to the wreck of HMHS Britannic. It notes that, during the exploration of the wreck by Robert Ballard's team:




          The weather cover over the glass dome of the forward Grand Staircase was found nearly intact. The dome was found broken, but there was still evidence of the white glass in some places.




          The forward Grand Staircase formed part of the first class entrance to the ship. It was located aft of the first funnel in the picture above, and was designed and built as part of the structure of the ship. As such, it would not have been removed during the refit. However, much of the staircase itself was built from wood, and so it is unlikely to have survived (although some wooden structures have been found on the wreck).



          We do know that the pipe-organ which was intended to form part of the Grand Staircase was, in fact never fitted. Since she was never fully fitted out for her role as a luxury passenger liner before she was requisitioned, it is therefore quite possible that much of the decorative work intended for the Grand Staircase was also never installed.





          The staterooms would certainly have remained, although many of the fixtures and fittings would probably have been removed. Given the short turnaround times of each refit, and the urgency involved, its is likely that only the minimum amount of re-design work required to fit out the ship for her intended function would have been carried out.



          Unfortunately, even though the wreck lies in relatively shallow water (about 120m), and is well within range of technical divers, there has been only limited exploration of the interior of the ship. The wreck has been designated as a war grave, and permission from the governments of both United Kingdom and Greece must be secured ahead of any penetration dives.






          share|improve this answer


























          • Why is the declaration of the Britannic as a war grave and the resulting ban on unregistered penetrating dives "unfortunate"? (Just a minor nitpick I know, but I stumbed over that.)

            – DevSolar
            Jan 15 at 13:41













          • @DevSolar It is unfortunate that we do not have any record of the present state of most the interior of the Britannic due to the restrictions on penetration diving. Most of the expeditions to the wreck have only been licenced to explore and record the exterior of the wreck.

            – sempaiscuba
            Jan 15 at 13:54
















          9














          RMS Britannic was initially requisitioned for use as a hospital ship on 13 November 1915. She was then renamed as HMHS Britannic and underwent a refit. From the Wikipedia article:




          In the interior, 3,309 beds and several operating rooms were installed. The common areas of the upper decks were transformed into rooms for the wounded. The cabins of B Deck were used to house doctors. The first-class dining room and the first-class reception room on Deck D were transformed into operating rooms. The lower bridge was used to accommodate the lightly wounded. The medical equipment was installed on 12 December 1915.




          HMHS Britannic




          • [Image source, Wikimedia]


          On 12 December 1915 HMHS Britannic was declared fit for service, and she then served until 6 June 1916 when she was released from service and returned to Belfast to be refitted once again as a passenger liner. At this point she had completed three voyages to and from the Mediterranean.



          In the middle of that refit, on 26 August 1916, she was requisitioned again for service as a hospital ship. She sailed for the Mediterranean less than a month later, on 24 September 1916 and remained in service, completing a further two voyages, until she was sunk on her sixth voyage on 21 November 1916.



          Details of her voyages as a hospital ship, and some descriptions of the ship as she was fitted out during her war service can be found on the Hospital Ship Britannic web site.





          Also on that site, you will also find a page dedicated to the wreck of HMHS Britannic. It notes that, during the exploration of the wreck by Robert Ballard's team:




          The weather cover over the glass dome of the forward Grand Staircase was found nearly intact. The dome was found broken, but there was still evidence of the white glass in some places.




          The forward Grand Staircase formed part of the first class entrance to the ship. It was located aft of the first funnel in the picture above, and was designed and built as part of the structure of the ship. As such, it would not have been removed during the refit. However, much of the staircase itself was built from wood, and so it is unlikely to have survived (although some wooden structures have been found on the wreck).



          We do know that the pipe-organ which was intended to form part of the Grand Staircase was, in fact never fitted. Since she was never fully fitted out for her role as a luxury passenger liner before she was requisitioned, it is therefore quite possible that much of the decorative work intended for the Grand Staircase was also never installed.





          The staterooms would certainly have remained, although many of the fixtures and fittings would probably have been removed. Given the short turnaround times of each refit, and the urgency involved, its is likely that only the minimum amount of re-design work required to fit out the ship for her intended function would have been carried out.



          Unfortunately, even though the wreck lies in relatively shallow water (about 120m), and is well within range of technical divers, there has been only limited exploration of the interior of the ship. The wreck has been designated as a war grave, and permission from the governments of both United Kingdom and Greece must be secured ahead of any penetration dives.






          share|improve this answer


























          • Why is the declaration of the Britannic as a war grave and the resulting ban on unregistered penetrating dives "unfortunate"? (Just a minor nitpick I know, but I stumbed over that.)

            – DevSolar
            Jan 15 at 13:41













          • @DevSolar It is unfortunate that we do not have any record of the present state of most the interior of the Britannic due to the restrictions on penetration diving. Most of the expeditions to the wreck have only been licenced to explore and record the exterior of the wreck.

            – sempaiscuba
            Jan 15 at 13:54














          9












          9








          9







          RMS Britannic was initially requisitioned for use as a hospital ship on 13 November 1915. She was then renamed as HMHS Britannic and underwent a refit. From the Wikipedia article:




          In the interior, 3,309 beds and several operating rooms were installed. The common areas of the upper decks were transformed into rooms for the wounded. The cabins of B Deck were used to house doctors. The first-class dining room and the first-class reception room on Deck D were transformed into operating rooms. The lower bridge was used to accommodate the lightly wounded. The medical equipment was installed on 12 December 1915.




          HMHS Britannic




          • [Image source, Wikimedia]


          On 12 December 1915 HMHS Britannic was declared fit for service, and she then served until 6 June 1916 when she was released from service and returned to Belfast to be refitted once again as a passenger liner. At this point she had completed three voyages to and from the Mediterranean.



          In the middle of that refit, on 26 August 1916, she was requisitioned again for service as a hospital ship. She sailed for the Mediterranean less than a month later, on 24 September 1916 and remained in service, completing a further two voyages, until she was sunk on her sixth voyage on 21 November 1916.



          Details of her voyages as a hospital ship, and some descriptions of the ship as she was fitted out during her war service can be found on the Hospital Ship Britannic web site.





          Also on that site, you will also find a page dedicated to the wreck of HMHS Britannic. It notes that, during the exploration of the wreck by Robert Ballard's team:




          The weather cover over the glass dome of the forward Grand Staircase was found nearly intact. The dome was found broken, but there was still evidence of the white glass in some places.




          The forward Grand Staircase formed part of the first class entrance to the ship. It was located aft of the first funnel in the picture above, and was designed and built as part of the structure of the ship. As such, it would not have been removed during the refit. However, much of the staircase itself was built from wood, and so it is unlikely to have survived (although some wooden structures have been found on the wreck).



          We do know that the pipe-organ which was intended to form part of the Grand Staircase was, in fact never fitted. Since she was never fully fitted out for her role as a luxury passenger liner before she was requisitioned, it is therefore quite possible that much of the decorative work intended for the Grand Staircase was also never installed.





          The staterooms would certainly have remained, although many of the fixtures and fittings would probably have been removed. Given the short turnaround times of each refit, and the urgency involved, its is likely that only the minimum amount of re-design work required to fit out the ship for her intended function would have been carried out.



          Unfortunately, even though the wreck lies in relatively shallow water (about 120m), and is well within range of technical divers, there has been only limited exploration of the interior of the ship. The wreck has been designated as a war grave, and permission from the governments of both United Kingdom and Greece must be secured ahead of any penetration dives.






          share|improve this answer















          RMS Britannic was initially requisitioned for use as a hospital ship on 13 November 1915. She was then renamed as HMHS Britannic and underwent a refit. From the Wikipedia article:




          In the interior, 3,309 beds and several operating rooms were installed. The common areas of the upper decks were transformed into rooms for the wounded. The cabins of B Deck were used to house doctors. The first-class dining room and the first-class reception room on Deck D were transformed into operating rooms. The lower bridge was used to accommodate the lightly wounded. The medical equipment was installed on 12 December 1915.




          HMHS Britannic




          • [Image source, Wikimedia]


          On 12 December 1915 HMHS Britannic was declared fit for service, and she then served until 6 June 1916 when she was released from service and returned to Belfast to be refitted once again as a passenger liner. At this point she had completed three voyages to and from the Mediterranean.



          In the middle of that refit, on 26 August 1916, she was requisitioned again for service as a hospital ship. She sailed for the Mediterranean less than a month later, on 24 September 1916 and remained in service, completing a further two voyages, until she was sunk on her sixth voyage on 21 November 1916.



          Details of her voyages as a hospital ship, and some descriptions of the ship as she was fitted out during her war service can be found on the Hospital Ship Britannic web site.





          Also on that site, you will also find a page dedicated to the wreck of HMHS Britannic. It notes that, during the exploration of the wreck by Robert Ballard's team:




          The weather cover over the glass dome of the forward Grand Staircase was found nearly intact. The dome was found broken, but there was still evidence of the white glass in some places.




          The forward Grand Staircase formed part of the first class entrance to the ship. It was located aft of the first funnel in the picture above, and was designed and built as part of the structure of the ship. As such, it would not have been removed during the refit. However, much of the staircase itself was built from wood, and so it is unlikely to have survived (although some wooden structures have been found on the wreck).



          We do know that the pipe-organ which was intended to form part of the Grand Staircase was, in fact never fitted. Since she was never fully fitted out for her role as a luxury passenger liner before she was requisitioned, it is therefore quite possible that much of the decorative work intended for the Grand Staircase was also never installed.





          The staterooms would certainly have remained, although many of the fixtures and fittings would probably have been removed. Given the short turnaround times of each refit, and the urgency involved, its is likely that only the minimum amount of re-design work required to fit out the ship for her intended function would have been carried out.



          Unfortunately, even though the wreck lies in relatively shallow water (about 120m), and is well within range of technical divers, there has been only limited exploration of the interior of the ship. The wreck has been designated as a war grave, and permission from the governments of both United Kingdom and Greece must be secured ahead of any penetration dives.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited Jan 14 at 22:19

























          answered Jan 14 at 16:44









          sempaiscubasempaiscuba

          50.2k6173220




          50.2k6173220













          • Why is the declaration of the Britannic as a war grave and the resulting ban on unregistered penetrating dives "unfortunate"? (Just a minor nitpick I know, but I stumbed over that.)

            – DevSolar
            Jan 15 at 13:41













          • @DevSolar It is unfortunate that we do not have any record of the present state of most the interior of the Britannic due to the restrictions on penetration diving. Most of the expeditions to the wreck have only been licenced to explore and record the exterior of the wreck.

            – sempaiscuba
            Jan 15 at 13:54



















          • Why is the declaration of the Britannic as a war grave and the resulting ban on unregistered penetrating dives "unfortunate"? (Just a minor nitpick I know, but I stumbed over that.)

            – DevSolar
            Jan 15 at 13:41













          • @DevSolar It is unfortunate that we do not have any record of the present state of most the interior of the Britannic due to the restrictions on penetration diving. Most of the expeditions to the wreck have only been licenced to explore and record the exterior of the wreck.

            – sempaiscuba
            Jan 15 at 13:54

















          Why is the declaration of the Britannic as a war grave and the resulting ban on unregistered penetrating dives "unfortunate"? (Just a minor nitpick I know, but I stumbed over that.)

          – DevSolar
          Jan 15 at 13:41







          Why is the declaration of the Britannic as a war grave and the resulting ban on unregistered penetrating dives "unfortunate"? (Just a minor nitpick I know, but I stumbed over that.)

          – DevSolar
          Jan 15 at 13:41















          @DevSolar It is unfortunate that we do not have any record of the present state of most the interior of the Britannic due to the restrictions on penetration diving. Most of the expeditions to the wreck have only been licenced to explore and record the exterior of the wreck.

          – sempaiscuba
          Jan 15 at 13:54





          @DevSolar It is unfortunate that we do not have any record of the present state of most the interior of the Britannic due to the restrictions on penetration diving. Most of the expeditions to the wreck have only been licenced to explore and record the exterior of the wreck.

          – sempaiscuba
          Jan 15 at 13:54


















          draft saved

          draft discarded




















































          Thanks for contributing an answer to History Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f50618%2fdoes-the-hmhs-britannic-wreck-still-have-a-grand-staircase-or-any-staterooms%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          Can a sorcerer learn a 5th-level spell early by creating spell slots using the Font of Magic feature?

          Does disintegrating a polymorphed enemy still kill it after the 2018 errata?

          A Topological Invariant for $pi_3(U(n))$