Britannic actually would have survived the damage she suffered on her starboard side, but there had been open portholes along the lower forward decks, which tilted underwater within minutes of the explosion.
As the ship's list began to increase, the water reached the critical point in which Britannic could stay afloat and continued moving aft. Water also reached the bulkhead between boiler rooms 5 and 4.
On the bridge, Captain Bartlett was considering efforts to save the ship. The Greek island of Kea was only 2 and a half miles away and it was possible the ship could be beached. Only two minutes after the explosion, boiler rooms 5 and 6 had to be evacuated. In 10 minutes, Britannic was in the same condition Titanic had been an hour after the collision with the iceberg.
15 minutes after the explosion, around 8:27 am, the portholes on E deck were already underwater. Due to the open portholes on E deck, Britannic developed a serious list to starboard with all of the water flowing into the starboard side.
With the shores of Kea only a few miles away, Bartlett restarted the engines and put the ship to "Full ahead". However, due to the explosion, the ship's rudder had been damaged and it was impossible to steer with it.
Bartlett then gave the order to turn on the propellor on the port side, using the momentum to turn the ship towards Kea. At the same time, the hospital staff were getting ready to evacuate. Bartlett had given the order to load the lifeboats but not launch them due to him still trying to save the ship.
While Bartlett continued his beaching attempt, the ship listed more and more. Other crew members began to fear the list would be too much and launched two lifeboats on the port side. Bartlett then decided to stop the engines. Before he could do so, the two launched lifeboats were sucked into the port propeller, killing 30 people.
Bartlett then put the ship to "Full Stop", saving a third lifeboat from the port propeller.
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A black and white depiction of Britannic's sinking, 8:30 am on November 21, 1916.
