Scale: 1:768. The third White Star liner to bear the name ‘Britannic’ (1932) was the largest British-built ship in the world when the celebrated miniaturist, Charles Hampshire, made this model of her in 1930. It is in the typical Hampshire style and scale of 64 feet to the inch. When the Cunard Line and the French Line announced their grand projects of building the ‘Queen Mary’ and the ‘Normandie’ the White Star Line, too, wanted to compete. Their plan was for a ship 1000 feet in length, and a speed to rival the competitors’ two ships. The ship was going to be called ‘Oceanic’ after the first steam vessel in White Star possession, but as the Depression drew closer the Line had to cancel their ship. Cunard put all work on ‘Queen Mary’ on hold. Only the French managed to continue the ‘Normandie’.
Since the building of the ‘Oceanic’ had already got underway in 1928, with the steel already delivered, White Star decided to built a more modest vessel though similar to ‘Oceanic’s’ planned proportions. The new, smaller, more modern ship sported two funnels rather than three and was named ‘Britannic’. One interesting feature was that the ship’s forward funnel was a dummy, not used for ventilation like ordinary dummy-funnels but instead it housed the radio cabin and the engineering officer’s smoking room.
Inside the fashionable Art Deco style was prevalent. Passengers could choose to travel in three classes: cabin, tourist, and third but, with the emphasis being concentrated on tourist class, the ship had an air of equality and this lead to the ‘Britannic’s’ great popularity.
She was the first major British motor-vessel to be built. Her two diesel engines consuming only half the amount of fuel of an ordinary steamship. ‘Britannic’ was requisitioned as a troopship even before the Second World War had begun and before long was shipping soldiers between the Clyde and Bombay. By 1943, she was employed carrying troops between the Americas and Algiers in Operation Husky. By the end of the War, she had transported over 180,000 troops and steamed 376,000 miles.
She was returned to Cunard White Star in March 1947 and resumed service the following year with a number of improvements. She began cruising out of New York to the Caribbean during winter months. In May 1950, Cunard White Star Line became, simply, Cunard though ‘Britannic’ continued to sport her White Star livery until her withdrawal in December 1960. She was broken up the following year.