Olympic: "Old Reliable"

The only thing truly remarkable about the Olympic-class liners was that two ships of great size (record-breaking at the time) were constructed nearly simultaneously, side by side.  When rival Cunard announced plans to build two new superliners, White Star felt they needed to keep pace.  J. Bruce Ismay and Lord Pierre, chairman of shipbuilder’s Harland & Wolff conceived of new vessels that would outclass their rivals in terms of comfort and luxury.  Let Cunard try for the Blue Ribband, they reasoned, we will make our ships so splendid passengers will not mind an extra day at sea.  Working with naval architect Alexander Carlisle, plans emerged for two new ships, with a third and even more splendid ship to follow. Construction of the Olympic began ahead of her sister, Titanic, and so it is to her went the honor of launching the world’s largest ship.  Many people believe that Titanic sailed as the largest ship in the world.  However, when Titanic was launched a year after Olympic, she was only a thousand tons heavier than her sister but the same in all other dimensions.  As Titanic entered service in 1912 she was outclassed by the new German liner Imperator in terms of both measurements and tonnage.  Olympic and Titanic were nearly identical and the design changes incorporated into Titanic were the result of experience with Olympic.  Many of these changes (except for the partially enclosed promenade, the key distinguishing feature) were  later made to Olympic.

1:1250 Scale model of Olympic by Carlo Marquardt.  Replica Ephemera from The Titanic Collection, Chronicle Books/Madison Press, 1998.

 The third ship was intended to take luxury (and later safety) to yet another level.  There is much debate and conflicting evidence regarding the origins of the name Britannic.  Some evidence (advertising copy) suggests that White Star intended to name the vessel Gigantic but was changed after the loss of Titanic for fear of tempting fate with grandiose names.  Other evidence suggests the intended name was always Britannic.  I am inclined to believe the latter is correct.  The Germans were building ships with patriotic names: Imperator (initially to be Europa) and Vaterland and consider the level of national pride in the liners as well as the gather war clouds, Britannic was the fitting patriotic choice for the newest British (though technically American) liner.

When Olympic entered service in 1911 she was the largest liner in the world and settled into a long career on the Atlantic. She is the only one of her class to complete a commercial voyage! Titanic sank four days into her maiden westbound crossing in 1912.  Still under construction as the Great War began, Britannic was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a hospital ship.  In 1915, she made several runs to the Mediterranean theater, and while inbound struck a mine.  Fortunately, Britannic was not carrying wounded soldiers and the casualties were limited to 30.  Somewhat ironically, these people abandoned ship without orders and were lost in a lifeboat that drifted too close to the still moving propellers. Today HMHS Britannic is a protected wreck in the Aegean Sea.

Olympic model and Scientific American, July 1, 1911. Note the two rows of double-stacked lifeboats.  This model represents Olympic 1913 and later.

Olympic served as a troopship during World War I and carried thousands of men to war and back.  On one trip from the United States, lookouts spotted a surfaced German U-Boat.   Olympic proved exceptionally maneuverable and altered course to avoid a torpedo attack.  Her captain ordered her turned again, this time aiming the prow at the U-Boat. The hunted became the hunter!  Horrified, the few men in the conning tower saw the immense bulk of Olympic bear down them.  The U-Boat crumpled like a soda can and quickly sank. The sailors up top were picked up by a British destroyer as Olympic sailed on.  On another occasion, she stopped, at great risk to assist a warship, rescuing the crew and attempting, unsuccessfully, it turned out to tow the vessel.  She proved to be a lucky ship and earned the nickname “Old Reliable” by the end of the war.

When her war duties were over, Olympic underwent a thorough refit and became one of the first major liners converted from coal to oil.  Her accommodations were updated to reflect new tastes and changing times.  Immigrant spaces were removed, third class became Tourist Class, and more amenities: private bathrooms, luxury suites, dance floors, and cinemas were installed at various times throughout the 1920s and 1930s.  Olympic was one of the popular ships of the 20s and like all the liners that sailed between the US and Europe coped with two new realities on the ocean:  immigration restriction and prohibition.  Immigrants provided much of the profits for shipping lines before the war, but now this revenue was largely gone.  Shipping companies sought to attract a new kind of passenger: the tourist.  Ordinary Americans in the 1920s, taking advantage of good economic times took vacations- domestic and overseas.  They also took to the sea to drink.  Once in international waters, the bars opened!  Indeed, the idea of cruising was born in the 1920s and in the lean years of 1930s, shipping companies offered $1 day cruises in North America, British Isles, Mediterranean, and Caribbean.  People needed an escape and shipping companies needed profits.  The Olympic made few cruises however and continued on the North Atlantic run. 

Olympic model and Scientific American May 6, 1911.  Note the balanced profile and evenly spaced funnels.  The fourth funnel was a "dummy"- it did not vent smoke from the boilers but did provide ventilation for the galleys.

Hard times also forced changes to the shipping companies themselves.  In the early 1920s, Morgan’s combine, IMM, fractured, and White Star returned to British ownership as an independent company. When the Depression threatened the survival of British shipping, Parliament underwrote measures that forced a merger between the old rivals, White Star and Cunard.  The new company emerged as Cunard-White Star, Ltd.  The combined tonnage made many vessels redundant and many were sold to other lines or scrapped in the mid 1930s.

While Olympic led a charmed life, her service was bookmarked by two incidents.  In 1911 as the liner was leaving Southampton the cruiser HMS Hawke broke her moorings and was drawn into Olympics wake.  The suction of the propellers and her much larger displacement caused the smaller ship to ram the Olympic. An inquiry placed blame on the Olympic and seemed to show that harbor pilots were not used to vessels of such size.  In one of her last crossings in 1934, Olympic was in heavy fog of Nantucket.  The channel is marked by a lightship, whose crews complained for years that the big liners pass too close and too fast for comfort.  Lookouts spotted the lightship too late and the Olympic rammed and sank it.  Seven of the lightship’s crew members lost their lives in the collision.  Once again, an inquiry found Olympic responsible.  Shortly after this incident, she was withdrawn from service. 

Olympic's fine profile.

Olympic saw her passenger numbers decline in the 1930s as fewer people crossed the Atlantic and those who did opted for newer ships.  She did make cruises, but none to the warmer climes.  In 1934-1935 she was largely laid up, and sailed for the breakers in 1935.  She was very sound and could have sailed for several years more.   Today pieces of Olympic’s woodwork and furnishings can be found throughout the United Kingdom. 

RMS Olympic (1911-1935).  Built by Harland & Wolff, Ltd. Belfast, Ireland.  As built in 1911: 45,324 gross tons, 882 ½ feet long, 92 feet wide.  Steam triple expansion engines geared to triple screw. Service speed 21 knots. Total capacity of 2,764 passengers (1,054 first class, 510 second class, 1,200 third class).