The Titanic has a sister ship Britannic which is only 390ft under water

The Titanic is perhaps the most famous, or infamous, ship to ever grace the seas.

The enormous liner set sail from Southampton for New York in April 1912, with over 3,000 passengers and crew on board.

But while the Titanic was billed as being 'unsinkable' due to its design, it was anything but, and she sank after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.

And in an interesting but ultimately tragic twist of fate, her sister vessel, the Britannic, also suffered the same fate.

It was initially planned to be even bigger and more luxurious than the Titanic, and another addition to White Star Line's transatlantic fleet alongside another ship, the Olympic.

However, when the First World War broke out in 1914, it was repurposed as a floating hospital.

Britannica/State Library Victoria

The Britannic's first voyage from Liverpool to the Greek island of Lemnos in December 1915 saw it pick up over 3,000 casualties, transporting them back to Southampton.

It made several more journeys like this before being released from war duty.

However, on 21 November 1916, after leaving Southampton for Lemnos, it suffered a sudden explosion.

It later transpired that it most likely hit a mine left by a German U-boat.

In a last ditch attempt to reach land and save those on board, the captain ordered it to go full speed ahead, but this instead led to more water being taken on.

After cutting the engines, the ship eventually sank, going under in less than an hour.

Thirty people lost their lives as a result, with more than 1,000 passengers being rescued.

A virtual reenactment of the sinking has been created by CaljuCotcas, who shared it to their YouTube channel.

YouTube/CaljuCotcas

In the short video, the Britannic appears to sinking quite rapidly, much quicker than its sister, the Titanic, did four years earlier.

As the nose of the ship goes under the water, it begins to barrel over to its right hand side, before the rear follows it down.

The wreck, which lies around 390ft beneath the surface, was later discovered in 1975 by French ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau.

When compared to the Titanic, which is some 12,500ft beneath the Atlantic, the difference in depth is quite stark.

This week saw the devastating news confirmed that the crew of the submarine that went to explore the wreck of the Titanic had most likely died.

A statement from OceanGate confirmed the tragedy: “We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans."

Topics: UK News, World News, Titanic

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

@SmithersDom