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At a time when the French Line and Cunard
were building their liners
Normandie and Queen Mary,
the White Star Line designed a 1,000-foot
liner of their own with the intended name
being Oceanic. The depression of
the 1920s led to the order for
Oceanic being cancelled in 1928.
With much of the steel for building that
ship being on site, the White Star Line
decided to use the materials to build a
mid sized liner powered by diesel
engines. The intended name of
Oceanic was changed to
Britannic before she set out on
her maiden voyage from Liverpool -
Belfast, Glasgow and New York June 28th
1930. That voyage saw Britannic
become the first diesel powered British
liner to be operated on the Atlantic run.
Financial difficulties caused by the
depression forced the merger of the
Cunard and White Star lines in 1934.
By 1936, Britannic and her
sister ship Georgic were the only
two White Star ships still operating in
the Cunard/White Star fleet. The British
Admiralty requisitioned Britannic
to serve as a troopship during World War
Two. After undergoing a conversion that
gave her the capacity to carry over 5,000
servicemen at a time, she served
throughout the war mainly operating
between Britain and the Far East and
America and North Africa. She was
returned to the Cunard/White Star Line in
March 1947 after completing the
repatriation of servicemen to the Far
East. Following an extensive refit, the
Cunard/White Star Line began operating
Britannic between the Liverpool -
New York run and cruises out of New York
- Caribbean. Her worn out diesel engines
began needing regular repairs from the
late 1950s. As the cost of repairs
continued to increase over the following
years, Britannic was sold to T. W.
Ward of Inverkeithing/Scotland for
scrapping December 2nd 1960.
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