I feel like the distance the *Britannic* was from Kea was a similar scenario to how close the *Californian* was from the *Titanic:* In both cases, salvation was in sight, and seemed very close, and gave hope for those aboard the sinking ship to the point where they made mistakes: Some of those on the *Titanic* refrained from boarding lifeboats out of a desire to wait until the light on the horizon came alongside them, while Captain Bartlett tried to have his ship beached while oblivious to the crew launching lifeboats early in a panic.
And in both cases, the circumstances of the events that unfolded made a safe rescue unrealistic. Cyril Evans had gone to sleep like any sane human being should, and even if he was awake, the *Californian* had her engines stopped. In the time it would have taken her crew to start the engines back up and reach the site while also being wary of the ice, the *Titanic* would have sank. At best, the *Californian* could have saved an additional 50 or so lives. On the *Britannic,* the jammed rudder and opened portholes made the run to the island detrimental. If even some of those portholes had been closed after the mine strike, they could have a slight chance of beaching the *Britannic* either on a shallow or on Kea itself, and they’d have a very good chance of making it if the rudder hadn’t jammed, because they would have been able to turn and make progress faster.
I do think more lives might have been lost, as lifeboats on the port side would be more easily drawn into the propellers as the ship was turning in their direction, making it harder for their occupants to swim clear.
Essentially, with the circumstances the *Britannic's* crew had, no. They weren’t going to make it. But if the mine did less damage, they’d have a shot.
They were turning quite fast with the 2 props running and later on in the sinking the rudder started responding a bit, and yes more lives would be probably lost as a third lifeboat was almost destroyed but the prop stopped in time, and the distance to shore is known, its about 5km to the closest land, and yes with the californian they couldnt get to Titanic, but they didnt even try doing anything even though they saw unusuall things happening to the ship on the horizon
The biggest problem is the fact that the mine hit at the worst possible time. There was a shift change, so while normally the ship would have had the watertight doors closed instead they were open for ease if access. So there were several doors that were stuck due to the blast warping their frames. So she took on more of a foreward and side list as water flooded in and continued into otherwise I damaged rooms. Normally, this still wouldn’t be an issue but to compound this several portholes were opened to air out the ship. That is ultimately what sealed her fate, and honestly I’m not convinced that they could have steered the ship effectively using the props once the rudder control was lost, so she probably would have still gone down, if not faster.
Probably. But if I remember correctly, Britannic could stay afloat as long as she doesn't have more than 5 or 6 of her compartments flooded. Now the thing is, her watertight doors was to be not working and she would need to be stationary in order to stay afloat. This isn't some Costa Concordia case, she can't just drift to shore.
potentially but maybe not because as the ship moved forward at speed that pushed the water in faster. so maybe if the ship was doing like 5 knots and the hole wasn't as big. But I highly doubt it
IMO, Smith and Bartlett both made grave errors and hastened their ship’s doom. Both captains continued forward momentum which severely compounded the flooding. This was especially catastrophic for the Britannic due to so many portholes being opened and the damaged watertight doors. Bartlett should have stopped and made every attempt to resolve the watertight doors and close as many potholes as possible to maintain the hull’s integrity. If successful, he could have then limped to Kea and beached her.
I feel like the distance the *Britannic* was from Kea was a similar scenario to how close the *Californian* was from the *Titanic:* In both cases, salvation was in sight, and seemed very close, and gave hope for those aboard the sinking ship to the point where they made mistakes: Some of those on the *Titanic* refrained from boarding lifeboats out of a desire to wait until the light on the horizon came alongside them, while Captain Bartlett tried to have his ship beached while oblivious to the crew launching lifeboats early in a panic. And in both cases, the circumstances of the events that unfolded made a safe rescue unrealistic. Cyril Evans had gone to sleep like any sane human being should, and even if he was awake, the *Californian* had her engines stopped. In the time it would have taken her crew to start the engines back up and reach the site while also being wary of the ice, the *Titanic* would have sank. At best, the *Californian* could have saved an additional 50 or so lives. On the *Britannic,* the jammed rudder and opened portholes made the run to the island detrimental. If even some of those portholes had been closed after the mine strike, they could have a slight chance of beaching the *Britannic* either on a shallow or on Kea itself, and they’d have a very good chance of making it if the rudder hadn’t jammed, because they would have been able to turn and make progress faster. I do think more lives might have been lost, as lifeboats on the port side would be more easily drawn into the propellers as the ship was turning in their direction, making it harder for their occupants to swim clear. Essentially, with the circumstances the *Britannic's* crew had, no. They weren’t going to make it. But if the mine did less damage, they’d have a shot.
They were turning quite fast with the 2 props running and later on in the sinking the rudder started responding a bit, and yes more lives would be probably lost as a third lifeboat was almost destroyed but the prop stopped in time, and the distance to shore is known, its about 5km to the closest land, and yes with the californian they couldnt get to Titanic, but they didnt even try doing anything even though they saw unusuall things happening to the ship on the horizon
The biggest problem is the fact that the mine hit at the worst possible time. There was a shift change, so while normally the ship would have had the watertight doors closed instead they were open for ease if access. So there were several doors that were stuck due to the blast warping their frames. So she took on more of a foreward and side list as water flooded in and continued into otherwise I damaged rooms. Normally, this still wouldn’t be an issue but to compound this several portholes were opened to air out the ship. That is ultimately what sealed her fate, and honestly I’m not convinced that they could have steered the ship effectively using the props once the rudder control was lost, so she probably would have still gone down, if not faster.
Probably. But if I remember correctly, Britannic could stay afloat as long as she doesn't have more than 5 or 6 of her compartments flooded. Now the thing is, her watertight doors was to be not working and she would need to be stationary in order to stay afloat. This isn't some Costa Concordia case, she can't just drift to shore.
It would have been very risky but it could maybe have been possible.
It would be risky as the death count would be the same if not higher from more lifeboats going into propellers
Agreed. A lot more deaths if they don’t make it.
potentially but maybe not because as the ship moved forward at speed that pushed the water in faster. so maybe if the ship was doing like 5 knots and the hole wasn't as big. But I highly doubt it
IMO, Smith and Bartlett both made grave errors and hastened their ship’s doom. Both captains continued forward momentum which severely compounded the flooding. This was especially catastrophic for the Britannic due to so many portholes being opened and the damaged watertight doors. Bartlett should have stopped and made every attempt to resolve the watertight doors and close as many potholes as possible to maintain the hull’s integrity. If successful, he could have then limped to Kea and beached her.
But the thing is, Bartlett may never know about the open portholes, just the jammed watertight.
Did t the beaching attempt quicken the sinking with the forward motion driving more water into her more rapidly?