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Titanic's sister ship


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Old 06-12-2016, 10:03
Surf's Up
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Terrific documentary on BBC2 about the sinking of the hospital ship Britannic in 1916. There's so much of this sort of thing knocking around the documentary channels I had low expectations, but this one was first class.

Contrast with the bargain-basement Britain at Low Tide on C4. Very earnestly presented and no doubt academically worthwhile, but ultimately as dull as, er, ditchwater on the coasts of Essex.
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Old 06-12-2016, 10:09
Straker
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Bit less Humble and it would've been better. Less am-dram letters read out to camera and more diving on the wreck would also have helped.
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Old 06-12-2016, 10:32
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Disagree, I thought it was smart to keep the eyewitness testimony in central focus and not overdo the underwater stuff. To the non-diving viewer it can get a bit samey, given there are so many documentaries about diving shipwrecks on the various documentary channels.

The regional BBC1 streams for Scotland, Wales and NI do some great stuff which only emerges later on BBC2. This one seems to have been shown first in NI, a very moving programme on Aberfan was initially shown only in Wales and Neil Oliver did a brilliant thing about the crash of a troop train which was shown first in Scotland.
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Old 06-12-2016, 10:34
Gary Halliday
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Watched the first five minutes then gave up. Full of stupid errors; no mention of the fact that Titanic was the second ship of the class, after Olympic; standing in a dry dock and stating it was where Titanic and Britannic were built, they were built on slipways and launched in the traditional manner. I couldn't face more of this kind of rubbish.
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Old 06-12-2016, 10:38
Straker
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Disagree, I thought it was smart to keep the eyewitness testimony in central focus and not overdo the underwater stuff. To the non-diving viewer it can get a bit samey, given there are so many documentaries about diving shipwrecks on the various documentary channels.
I've not seen one diving on the Britannic before, Titanic yes but not the Britannic. I hardly think some third rate actors in unconvincing sets staring into the camera is more compelling telly than diving on a largely intact historical wreck like that. Have some carefully selected passages read out in voiceover while images of the ship play out - Would be quite eerie and powerful.

Was it a doco about the subject or just more facetime for Kate Humble?
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Old 06-12-2016, 10:39
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So once they were launched, they weren't moved into dry dock for further building work?
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Old 06-12-2016, 10:46
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Is it a doco about the subject or just more facetime for Kate Humble?
Just a hunch, but I suspect the former.
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Old 06-12-2016, 10:49
Straker
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Just a hunch, but I suspect the former.
Like most programmes she's in I suspect the opposite. What does seeing her on-screen add to my understanding of the subject? Nothing. At least the bloke actually dived on the wreck so had reason to be there which is more than you can say for Humble's omnipresence on the channel.
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Old 06-12-2016, 10:58
lundavra
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Disagree, I thought it was smart to keep the eyewitness testimony in central focus and not overdo the underwater stuff. To the non-diving viewer it can get a bit samey, given there are so many documentaries about diving shipwrecks on the various documentary channels.

The regional BBC1 streams for Scotland, Wales and NI do some great stuff which only emerges later on BBC2. This one seems to have been shown first in NI, a very moving programme on Aberfan was initially shown only in Wales and Neil Oliver did a brilliant thing about the crash of a troop train which was shown first in Scotland.
I agree, too much underwater footage gets repetitive, one wreck looks very much like another, it becomes a "look how clever we are to have filmed this wreck underwater" type film.

Whatever presenter was used, there would be someone with a chip on their shoulder about him or her. Kate Humble always does a good job.
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Old 06-12-2016, 11:05
Straker
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I agree, too much underwater footage gets repetitive, one wreck looks very much like another, it becomes a "look how clever we are to have filmed this wreck underwater" type film.
Except it doesn't because as they made a point of saying in the programme, the Titanic's wreck is spread out in pieces whereas the Britannic is largely intact so even these two sister ships have wrecks that are not "very much like another".

Whatever presenter was used, there would be someone with a chip on their shoulder about him or her. Kate Humble always does a good job.
Bringing nothing whatsoever to being on-camera other than to make herself part of the programme, a trend that wrecks (pun intended) many modern docos. Why should I care what she thinks about anything - I don't watch documentaries to see some generic, one-size-fits-all presenter who'll be fronting a programme about tinned food next week and plastic bags the week after.
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Old 06-12-2016, 11:41
ftv
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Except it doesn't because as they made a point of saying in the programme, the Titanic's wreck is spread out in pieces whereas the Britannic is largely intact so even these two sister ships have wrecks that are not "very much like another".



Bringing nothing whatsoever to being on-camera other than to make herself part of the programme, a trend that wrecks (pun intended) many modern docos. Why should I care what she thinks about anything - I don't watch documentaries to see some generic, one-size-fits-all presenter who'll be fronting a programme about tinned food next week and plastic bags the week after.
That description could apply to many, many presenters on all channels. I wonder how some of them ever get work, I suppose they know the right people......
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Old 06-12-2016, 11:57
zz9
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Watched the first five minutes then gave up. Full of stupid errors; no mention of the fact that Titanic was the second ship of the class, after Olympic; standing in a dry dock and stating it was where Titanic and Britannic were built, they were built on slipways and launched in the traditional manner. I couldn't face more of this kind of rubbish.
I agree, the whole program was very sloppy in errors. They kept saying "sister ship" when Titanic was the second of three Olympic ships. It looked like they went out of their way to avoid mentioning the third ship. And the diver said he'd dived on the Titanic? Did he mean "in a submarine"?

And the ship filled the dry dock built for it? Well duh.
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Old 06-12-2016, 12:06
Surf's Up
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So once they were launched, they weren't moved into dry dock for further building work?
Genuine question, does anyone know? If they were, then yes they were "built" to a degree in the dry dock.
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Old 06-12-2016, 12:15
codeblue
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I expected better than this, i was disappointed
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Old 06-12-2016, 12:35
tiv
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Genuine question, does anyone know? If they were, then yes they were "built" to a degree in the dry dock.
I have no particular knowledge for these ships but in general ships were, as has been pointed out, built on slipways from where they were launched. They were then moored at a berth where they were fitted out. Dry docks were to allow repair or refurbishment of ships hulls after they had been in service for a while or suffered damage.
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Old 06-12-2016, 12:36
Porcupine
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I was quite disappointed too. I thought a few more direct descendants would be on talking at length about their experiences, but they were the great great niece of the man who died or someone's great aunt who died.

I'm not a fan of Kate Humble and I found her segments boring. I too wish they had shown more of the wreck and more of the dive instead of playing dress up with actors reading a script. Also - were there no photos of this magnificent ship so we could see the splendour and beauty of her before she sunk ? I know she was a hospital ship, but I would have loved to see how it looked before it ended up on the sea bed.
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Old 06-12-2016, 13:07
Heston Veston
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I was quite disappointed too. I thought a few more direct descendants would be on talking at length about their experiences, but they were the great great niece of the man who died or someone's great aunt who died.

I'm not a fan of Kate Humble and I found her segments boring. I too wish they had shown more of the wreck and more of the dive instead of playing dress up with actors reading a script. Also - were there no photos of this magnificent ship so we could see the splendour and beauty of her before she sunk ? I know she was a hospital ship, but I would have loved to see how it looked before it ended up on the sea bed.
She was never anything else. Went straight from launch into hospital ship service.

It's somehow fascinating that the Brittanic (and the Lusitania, Kursk and Edmund Fitzgerald) all sank in water shallow than their length.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/lakes_and_oceans_large.png
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Old 06-12-2016, 13:29
lundavra
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Except it doesn't because as they made a point of saying in the programme, the Titanic's wreck is spread out in pieces whereas the Britannic is largely intact so even these two sister ships have wrecks that are not "very much like another".

Bringing nothing whatsoever to being on-camera other than to make herself part of the programme, a trend that wrecks (pun intended) many modern docos. Why should I care what she thinks about anything - I don't watch documentaries to see some generic, one-size-fits-all presenter who'll be fronting a programme about tinned food next week and plastic bags the week after.
I was writing of wrecks in general, never mention Titanic though I don't think any free divers have been down to Titanic, just submersibles and ROVs.

I not bother if the presenter is doing a programme on tinned food next week, provided they do the job well and Kate Humble always does the job well which is probably why producers choose her.
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Old 06-12-2016, 13:34
lundavra
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I have no particular knowledge for these ships but in general ships were, as has been pointed out, built on slipways from where they were launched. They were then moored at a berth where they were fitted out. Dry docks were to allow repair or refurbishment of ships hulls after they had been in service for a while or suffered damage.
Titanic in dry dock


Dublin Daily Express - Monday 19 February 1912
TITANIC LEAVES DRY DOCK.
The White Star liner Titanic left the new graving dock at Belfast on Saturday, and was moored again alongside the jetiy at which the been fitted out. The operation was accomplished, without the suggestion of a hitch, and in a remarkably short period Tho Belfast tugs, Hercules and Musgrave, were in attendance. and assisted in the interesting transfer operations. Tho liner, which entered the dock the 3rd inst., will leave Belfast in about six weeks, and sail from Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage April 10th.
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Old 06-12-2016, 13:44
lundavra
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And Britannic was going in the graving / dry dock also after launch.

Daily Record - Friday 27 February 1914
Belfast people are accustomed the launching of mammoths, and the Britannic after all is a few feet short of being the longest ship in the world. Her actual length is 884 ft.. but what is more remarkable is, she will be fitted out in dock only two and half feet Longer.
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Old 06-12-2016, 13:46
Straker
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I was writing of wrecks in general, never mention Titanic though I don't think any free divers have been down to Titanic, just submersibles and ROVs.
Safe to say that the major wrecks hold their own fascination and don't all blend into each other, nor is the wreck of a submarine the same as a battleship or a liner or a galleon etc.

I not bother if the presenter is doing a programme on tinned food next week, provided they do the job well and Kate Humble always does the job well which is probably why producers choose her.
Or more likely she's under contract to the Beeb and they attach her to various projects in order to keep her working and get their money's worth.
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Old 06-12-2016, 13:46
lundavra
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She was never anything else. Went straight from launch into hospital ship service.

It's somehow fascinating that the Brittanic (and the Lusitania, Kursk and Edmund Fitzgerald) all sank in water shallow than their length.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/lakes_and_oceans_large.png
It went into the graving dock for fitting out then was laid up for some time before becoming a hospital ship.

Wonkypedia
Britannic was launched just before the start of the First World War and was laid up at her builders, Harland and Wolff, in Belfast for many months before being put to use as a hospital ship in 1915.
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Old 06-12-2016, 14:28
Heston Veston
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It went into the graving dock for fitting out then was laid up for some time before becoming a hospital ship.

Wonkypedia
True enough, but I was indicating that she never sailed in her intended role as a liner.
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Old 06-12-2016, 14:33
codeblue
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She was never anything else. Went straight from launch into hospital ship service.

It's somehow fascinating that the Brittanic (and the Lusitania, Kursk and Edmund Fitzgerald) all sank in water shallow than their length.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/lakes_and_oceans_large.png
that chart is way more interesting than the entire show last night!

The Burj is absolutely huge
Nuclear subs cannot go very deep
Titanic is way way deeper than the other wrecks
Oil wells are pretty deep
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Old 06-12-2016, 15:51
lundavra
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Nuclear subs cannot go very deep
They can go a lot deeper than WWII U-Boats.
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