CUNARD – WHITE STAR LINER ‘BRITANNIC’ OF 1930

Built by Harland & Wolff at Belfast in 1930.  Yard No. 807.

Official Number: 162316   Signal Letters: G D X F

Gross Tonnage: 27,666,  Nett: 15,811.    Length: 683·6ft,  Breadth: 82·4ft.

Built for the Oceanic Steam Navigation Co Ltd. (White Star Line)

 and transferred to Cunard-White Star in 1934.

2 oil engines, speed: 18 knots.

            In April 1928 the White Star Line ordered a new passenger liner from Harland & Wolff at Belfast. The new ship would be the first motorship in the fleet, the largest motorship under the British flag, and the second largest such ship in the world, only exceeded by the Italian liner Augustus.

            The new ship was named Britannic and was designed for cabin and tourist-class service on the Liverpool to New York route in the summer months, plus extensive winter cruising. As usual for the White Star Line, the order went to Harland & Wolff at Belfast. The loss of the Celtic on rocks at Roches Point, at the entrance to Cobh harbour, in December 1928 caused the building of the Britannic to be speeded up.

            The Britannic was launched on 6^th August 1929 and she left Belfast for three days of trials in the Firth of Clyde on 26^th May 1930. Following the successful completion of these trials, the new ship returned to Belfast, and left again on 21^st June for Liverpool.

            The Britannic had two funnels of the so-called ‘motorship’ design. In the opinion of many people, including myself, these low squat funnels detracted from her otherwise fine appearance. The forward funnel was a dummy and contained a smokeroom for the engineer officers, plus fresh water and hot water storage tanks. The Britannic’s oil engines reduced fuel consumption by 50% when compared to the steamships, and was 40 tons per day at 17½ knots. One comment was that her engine room was so cool that it was fitted with radiators for winter warmth!

            On 28^th June 1930 the Britannic left Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York, calling at Belfast and Greenock, and then settled down on her designed route with the Cedric, Baltic and Adriatic. The Britannic’s passenger accommodation was originally designed for 504 cabin-class passengers, 551 in ‘tourist-third-cabin’ and 498 in third class. The naming of the first two classes could hardly have been more absurd – ‘cabin’ class obviously suggests that the other passengers did not have cabins, and ‘tourist-third-cabin’, a mixture of all three, would suggest that all the passengers, others than those travelling in the premier ‘cabin class’ were a third-rate crowd of tourists. These terms were chosen by the Atlantic Conference to set the passage rates in international liners of very varying luxury and comfort. ‘Tourist-third-cabin’ was normally shortened to ‘tourist’, and ‘cabin class’ was simply ‘first class’ without the extreme luxury of the large mail liners.

            The Britannic was probably the largest and finest cabin-class liner in the world when she first came out and introduced new standards of accommodation on the Liverpool to New York route. In 1934 the final crash came for the White Star Line, when it was merged with the Cunard Line under the North Atlantic Shipping Bill to form Cunard-White Star Limited. The White Star liners that remained after the merger, including the Britannic, retained their White Star colours and flew the White Star houseflag above that of Cunard.

            Following the merger, the Britannic was transferred to a London – New York service, and she became the largest liner ever to have sailed up the Thames. The Britannic left London for the first time on 19^th April 1935 and she remained on this route until the outbreak of war.

            On 29^th August 1939 the Britannic was requisitioned for service as a troopship. In the initial stages of the war she carried 3,000 men, but this was increased to over 5,000 troops by the time the war ended. In September 1939 the Britannic left the Clyde for Bombay and returned to the UK with British personnel. She operated principally carrying troops across the Atlantic, but made occasional trooping voyages round Africa to Suez.

            In 1943 the Britannic carried American troops to the Sicilian landings, but her principal contribution to the war effort was in transporting over 20,000 U.S. troops across the Atlantic in the build-up to the Normandy Landings on ‘D’-Day. By the end of hostilities the Britannic had carried 180,000 service personnel and she had steamed 367,000 miles.

            Following repatriation work, the Britannic was released in March 1947 and was sent to Harland & Wolff at Liverpool who gave her a complete refit before she re-entered service on the Liverpool – New York service. This work took almost a year and the accommodation was almost entirely rebuilt. Most cabins were provided with private facilities, and the passenger numbers became 429 in first class and 564 in tourist class.

            On 22^nd May, 1948 the Britannic left Liverpool on her first post-war commercial voyage to New York, and she continued on this route for the next twelve years. Winter cruising became an increasingly important part of her work and in January 1953 the

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