Mv britannic

[John Callon]

[QUOTE=TonyMorcom;72103]Hi Tony

Around may 1950 White Star ceased to exist completely and Cunard absorbed everything. Assuming that the funnels had to change colour I wonder. Not being a Cunard expert by any means am I right in assuming that the new Cunard colours were Black over Red. In which case the B&W photo of the Mauritannia may well be an illusion. With this in mind is it possible that Britannic was photographed during the colour change. May be they were all RED at that time ready fro the new Black topping. Just a suggestion.


Update: John's post would make this more likely to be the case.

Tony,
When Cunard took over the White Star Line, they(White Star that is} only had two ships, the Brittanic and the Georgic. Both ships retained their White Star colours right up until they arrived at breakers. Neither were painted in the Cunard colours.
Regards,
John

[Tony Morcom]

[QUOTE=John Callon;72105]

Hi Tony

Around may 1950 White Star ceased to exist completely and Cunard absorbed everything. Assuming that the funnels had to change colour I wonder. Not being a Cunard expert by any means am I right in assuming that the new Cunard colours were Black over Red. In which case the B&W photo of the Mauritannia may well be an illusion. With this in mind is it possible that Britannic was photographed during the colour change. May be they were all RED at that time ready fro the new Black topping. Just a suggestion.


Update: John's post would make this more likely to be the case.

Tony,
When Cunard took over the White Star Line, they(White Star that is} only had two ships, the Brittanic and the Georgic. Both ships retained their White Star colours right up until they arrived at breakers. Neither were painted in the Cunard colours.
Regards,
John

Now you are just being difficult John I read somewhere that the mauritannia had to have her funnels replaced at some stage because they needed access to the engine room. Possibly the same happened on the Britannia and these were the new funnels that had not be painted yet??

[John Callon]

Tony,
The aft funnel of the Mauretania was removed to gain access to the engine room whilst she undergoing a major refit after troopship service during the war. The funnel was replaced and then painted in Cunard black and red with two black bands.
Not sure where you are going with the Britannia though.
Regards,
John

[Tony Morcom]

Tony,
The aft funnel of the Mauretania was removed to gain access to the engine room whilst she undergoing a major refit after troopship service during the war. The funnel was replaced and then painted in Cunard black and red with two black bands.
Not sure where you are going with the Britannia though.
Regards,
John

Round in circle I think John . Haven't you got any suggestions for Tony W's photo?

[John Callon]

Round in circle I think John . Haven't you got any suggestions for Tony W's photo?

Well at the moment I hav'nt my friend. But in the morning I will get in touch with some of the Cunard guys I know and ask them can they throw any light on the matter. Unfortuantly those that would know have now sadly passed away. We will see.
John

[Tony Wilding]

Hi again, according to cunard history , britannic and her sister ship were kept in white star colours untill scrapping, tony w.

[Tony Wilding]

Have just seen photos of her taken in new york prior to her last voyage, she is in white star colours, still had white star logo on all lifeboats, funnel in white star colours.

[Captain Kong]

I first saw the Britannic in 1952 and she had the White Star funnels on and they never changed until she went to the breakers in 1960. I was on her sister Georgic in 1955 she also had the White Star colours.
I took the Georgic to the Clyde for scrapping in December 1955.

These two were the last ships built for White Star in 1930 for the Brit and 1932 for the Georgic, they were taken over by Cunard Steamship Company in 1934, which then became the Cunard White Star Line until the Brit went to the breakers in 1960, it then became Cunard Line, but they always retained the original colours to the end.
The forard funnel on both the ships were dummies, they housed the Engineers `smoke room`.

Another thought... Maybe that was the colour the buyers painted on to take her to the breakers, this happened quite a lot sometimes even with a name change,
The Empress of Scotland had her name changed to Scotland and the red and white squares on the funnel were painted out when she was laid up in Belfast while awaiting sale.
Once the ship is out of Service from her last ship owner the colours are usually changed because she does not belong to them anymore. The ship is then for sale to a scrapper and then sailed to a scap yard by the breakers own hired crew.
We left the Georgic moored to Buoys off Rothersay, she was for sale, and then a few weeks later a hired crew took her to the breakers in Inverkeithing, So she may have had her colours changed.

I would say that is the best explaination.

Cheers
Brian.

[Tony Wilding]

THE PHOTO SHOWS HER FWD PROMENADE DECK PLATED IN, ON MAIN DECK LEVEL FWD OF THE BRIDGE IN LINE WITH THE WHITE CROSS, SAME LEVEL, WOULD IMAGINE A WARTIME EXPEDIENT, SHE WAS COMPLETELY REFITTED AFTER THE WAR, CHECK THE PHOTO WITH OTHERS OF HER ON PHOTOSHIP. CERTAINLY IS A MYSTERY, THE WHITE CROSS MUST SIGNIFY SOMETHING, I DONTKNOW IF SHE WAS PAINTED GREY DURING THE WAR, GEORGIC WAS. POSSIBLY IT COULD BE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE SHIPYARD REFITTINGER ?

[Captain Kong]

The Britannic was a troopship during WW2 and was painted in wartime Grey.
She rejoined the Atlantic passenger service in 1948. Her last voyage from New York was in November 1960.
The photo shows her at anchor, possibly awaiting a berth at the breakers, I am only guessing this, but it seems to be the only explanation.
I still think it was on a delivery voyage to the breakers, Wards of Inverkeithing on December 16 1960 then broken up in 1961. That would be the only reason to change her livery.

Cheers
Brian.