The Olympic and her sisters were White Star's
answer to the Cunard Line's twin four-stackers, Lusitania and Mauretania,
which were at the time the world's largest liners. The White Star
trio, while not making an attempt to gain the Blue Riband from the The Olympic was launched on October 20, 1910 with great excitement. While being fitted out, tremendous emphasis was placed on her level of luxury at sea. She would be fitted with a swimming pool (one of the first on a transatlantic liner), a Turkish bath, eleven different styles of decor for first class cabins, and the lush greenery in the Palm Court. Furthermore, her forward grand staircase was something beyond beautiful.
When the Olympic was getting ready to make her fifth voyage, on September 20, 1911, she had a collision with the cruiser HMS Hawke. The Hawke's bow was severely smashed, and the Olympic had damage to her hull in two places, one above the waterline, and one below. Furthermore, two of Olympic's watertight compartments were flooded. She put off her passengers by tender at Cowes, and headed to Harland and Wolff for repairs. In April 1912, while the Olympic was on the
eastbound leg of one of her voyages, the Titanic disaster
occurred. With the Olympic being the sister ship of the
ill-fated liner, there were some In the winter of 1912-1913, the Olympic was taken out of service temporarily, while she was given an extended refit at Harland and Wolff, to address any safety deficiencies brought to light in the wake of the Titanic disaster. First off, her double bottom was extended up her sides to a point well above the water line. This in itself required the removal of the funnels and the boilers, replacement of all the piping, as well as some of the wiring. Furthermore, her bulkheads were extended higher and were strengthened, and now she had permanent lifeboat capacity for all. Her lifeboat davits now ran the entire length of the boat deck, and each set of davits served two boats.
After the war, the Olympic was returned to Belfast, in order to be converted back to a passenger liner from a troop ship. During this time, the opportunity was also seized to convert her from coal-burning to oil-burning. Her post-war running mates were the Majestic and the Homeric, both former German liners that had been seized after the war.
In April 1935, the Olympic was laid up next to
the Mauretania in Southampton. Rumors were abound as to what the Olympic's
future would be. One said that the Italian government wanted her as
a She was finally sold to Metal Industries, Limited, and was sent to Jarrow to be scrapped. In the picture at left, she can be seen getting up steam for the last time for her final trip to the scrapyards of Jarrow. Two years later, her remains were towed to Inverkeithing, where the final demolition was completed.
Olympic Vital Statistics: Gross tonnage: 45,324 (1911), 46,349 (1913) Length: 882 feet Width: 92 feet Draft: 34 feet Machinery: Steam triple-expansion engines geared to triple screw Speed: 21 knots Capacity: 1,054 First, 510 Second, 1,200 Third (1911); 735 First, 500 Second, 1,150 Third (1913); 750 First, 500 Second, 1,150 Third (1920), 675 First, 561 Second, 819 Third (1928); 618 First, 447 Second, 382 Third (1930) Built: Harland and Wolff Limited, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1911 Demise: Partially scrapped in Jarrow, 1935, completed in Inverkeithing, Scotland, 1937 The Classic Liners of Long Ago © 2000-2007 Nick Works, Inc. |
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The
Olympic was one of a trio of four-stackers built for the White Star Line
by Harland and Wolff. The Olympic came first, followed by the
famed Titanic, and then a third ship, originally supposed to be
called Gigantic, but was renamed Britannic.
Mauretania,
were planned to far surpass the Cunard duo in size and grandeur. The
liners would be 45,000 tons, 14,000 more than the two Cunarders.
The
Olympic was completed by the time the Titanic was launched,
on May 31, 1911. As a result, viewers of the Titanic's launch
ended up touring the completed Olympic afterwards. On June
14, 1911, the Olympic left Southampton on her maiden voyage, with
Edward J. Smith as her captain. The sailing went without a hitch,
except for one incident in New York, when a tug was accidentally sucked in
by the Olympic and severely damaged. The Olympic
emerged unscathed.
repercussions
from the Titanic disaster. Many of the Olympic's
passengers and crew would not board the liner until there was sufficient
lifeboat capacity for all, and so as a result, the decks of the Olympic
were littered with all sorts of life rafts and the like in order to
increase her lifeboat capacity until more permanent modifications could be
made.
In
World War I, Olympic was seized by the British government for
trooping. For this purpose, she was "dazzle painted", as
depicted in the photograph at right. In this guise, she rescued the
crew of and attempted to tow the HMS Audacious, which had struck a
mine. The tow was unsuccessful, however, and the Audacious
sank. On May 12, 1918, enemy submarine U-103 attempted to torpedo
the liner and missed, but the Olympic turned on her attacker and
rammed the submarine, sinking it.
Olympic
retained her popularity throughout the 1920's, and even earned the
nickname "Old Reliable". However, when the 1930's came, and
with that the Great Depression, the Olympic was not treated kindly.
In 1933-1934, she returned to Belfast for extensive engine work, and all
the while the financial situation was deteriorating. It was even
reported that it was going so far that only one side of the ship was being
maintained - the one that passengers would see upon arrival and departure.
In 1934, the White Star Line merged with the Cunard
Line. With the number of ships that the new merged line had, it was
determined that many ships would be sold off and possibly scrapped.
The Olympic was unfortunately one of these that was retired.
However, before her retirement, she rammed and sank the Nantucket Light
Ship, killing seven of the lightship's crew.
troopship. However, this
never came to pass, and her fittings were
all sold off. Many of these fittings ended up in the White Swan
Hotel in Alnwick, England.
