HMHS layout

[Bob Read]

I have never seen any kind of layout or deck plan which showed what areas of the hospital ship were dedicated for what purpose. If such documents exist which show modifications made to convert Britannic to a hospital ship does anyone have any thought as to where these plan could possibly be held if they exist at all? H&W archives at the Merseyside Museum, Imperial War Museum, Admiralty archives. Anybody want to hazard a guess as to whether anybody will ever dig into any of these archives to see what may or may not exist? HMHS Britannic is like a black hole of information compared to her sisters. Even the wreck is so obscured by marine growth that details that are readily visible on Titanic look like a coral reef on Britannic.

Regards,
Bob Read

 

[Noel F. Jones]

I would be inclined to take first recourse to the ADM/... archive at PRO Kew on two counts:

Firstly she was a naval auxiliary modified from a civil project, secondly she was a war casualty and presumably a court of inquiry ensued, of which there should be some record. Her GA's should be in the files of the former and the bunches of the latter.

As she became a shipyard modification rather than a newbuilding I doubt the modification plans have survived at the shipyard itself. They would have been 'classified information' at the time of course.

As a quirk you might try the QARANC museum; they have a web site. Fruitful things can come from such oblique sources.

Another oblique source might be the RAMC museum/archive; presumably they were responsible for the actual operation of the ship's medical resources.

In the absence of GA's, personal accounts can occasionally fill in some gaps.

Noel

 

[Mark Chirnside]

Hi Bob,

Check your e-mail.

Best wishes,

Mark.

 

[Bob Read]

Mark:
I got your private e-mail through ET but it was just your message above which told me to check my e-mail.

Regards,
Bob Read

 

[Mark Chirnside]

Hi Bob,

It wasn't an e-mail sent through ET. This was direct from my yahoo e-mail account a while ago, and independent of the board.

Best wishes,

Mark.

 

[Bob Read]

Mark:
I didn't receive your e-mail. My current e-mail address is [email protected].
Try re-sending it to that address.

Regards,
Bob Read

 

[Bob Read]

To Mark or anybody else:

Part of why I'm interested in the way the hospital ship was arranged has to do with a hypothesis I have developed about a skylight that I have never seen identified. Because of the lack of windows to this area I am postulating a skylight on the port side of the roof of the of the First Class Smoke Room. This would have been in the area between the two
gantry davits. With no windows down on A deck in this area and no windows in the raised roof area I have a strong suspicion that there is a skylight on this raised roof. I have been unable to locate any wreck photos of this area.
There is a port side profile photo of HMHS Britannic which barely suggests a dark object which could be a skylight projecting just barely above the port bulwark rail. Anybody who has wreck photos which could confirm this would be of great help.

Regards,
Bob Read