Olympic-class ocean liner

Belfast, 6 March 1912: Titanic (right) moved out of the drydock to allow Olympic to replace a damaged propeller blade
Class overview
Builders	Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Operators	White Star Line; Cunard-White Star Line[1]
Preceded by	Athenic class
Built	1908–1914
In service	1911–1935
Planned	3
Completed	3
Lost	2
Retired	1
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	45,000 GRT - 48,000 GRT
Displacement	52,310 tons
Length	882 ft 9 in (269.1 m) overall
Beam	92 ft 6 in (28.19 m)[1] (Olympic & Titanic), 94 ft (28.7 m) (Britannic)
Height	205 ft (62 m) from keel to top of masts
Draught	34 ft 7 in (10.54 m)[1]
Depth	64 ft 9 in (20 m) from keel to side of C-deck
Decks	9
Installed power	24 double-ended and 5 single-ended 15 bar Scotch marine boilers, tested to 30 bar. Two 4-cylinder reciprocating engines for the two outboard wing propellers. One low-pressure turbine for center propeller. Together 50,000 HP nominal, 59,000 max.[2][3][4]
Propulsion	Two bronze 3-blade wing propellers. One bronze 4-blade centre propeller
Speed	21 kn (39 km/h; 24 mph); 23 kn (43 km/h; 26 mph) max
Capacity	3,327 passengers, officers, and crew[1]
Crew	892 crew members

The Olympic-class ocean liners were a trio of British ocean liners built by the Harland & Wolff shipyard for the White Star Line during the early 20th century. They were Olympic (1911), Titanic (1912) and Britannic (1914). All three were designed to be the largest and most luxurious passenger ships at that time, designed to give White Star an advantage in the transatlantic passenger trade.

While Olympic, the lead vessel, had a career spanning 24 years and was retired and sold for scrap in 1935, her sisters would not see similar success: Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage and Britannic was lost during World War I after hitting a mine off Kea in the Aegean Sea before she could enter passenger service.

Although two of the vessels did not have successful careers, they are among the most famous ocean liners ever built. Both Olympic and Titanic enjoyed the distinction of being the largest ships in the world. Olympic was the largest British-built ship in the world for over 20 years until the commissioning of Queen Mary in 1936. Titanic's story has been adapted into many books, films, and television programs and Britannic inspired a film of the same name in 2000.

Origin and construction

Diagrams comparing Mauretania's side plan (up) with Olympic and Titanic's side plan (down)

The Olympic class had its origins in the intense competition between the United Kingdom and Germany in the construction of the liners. The Norddeutscher Lloyd and Hamburg America Line, the two largest German companies, were indeed involved in the race for speed and size in the late 19th century. The first in service for the Norddeutscher Lloyd was Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which won the Blue Riband in 1897^[5] before being beaten by HAPAG's Deutschland in 1900.^[6]

Then followed the three sister ships to Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse: Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kronprinzessin Cecilie all of whom were part of a "Kaiser class". In response to this, the British Cunard Line ordered two vessels whose speed earned them the nickname 'greyhounds of the seas': Lusitania and Mauretania.^[7] Mauretania held the Blue Riband for more than twenty years, from 1909 to 1929.^[8][9]

The White Star Line knew that their

Construction of Olympic started in December 1908 and Titanic in March 1909. The two ships were built side by side.[12] The construction of Britannic began in 1911 after the commissioning of Olympic and Titanic's launch. Following the sinking of Titanic, the two remaining vessels underwent many changes in their safety provisions.^[13]

• 
  Titanic and Olympic under construction in Belfast, ca 1910
• 
  The Titanic prior to launching, May 31, 1911
• 
  Britannic in the Arrol Gantry at Harland and Wolff, ready for launching, February 1914
• Bill Hammack on the construction and service of the Olympic-class ocean liners

Specifications

All three of the Olympic-class ships had nine decks, seven of which were for passenger use. From top to bottom, the decks were:

• Boat Deck. The topmost deck of the ship, where the deck housing, lifeboats, and funnels were installed. The bridge and wheelhouse were at the forward end, in front of the captain's and officers' quarters. The bridge was flanked by two observations platforms on the Starboard and Port sides so that the ship could be manoeuvred more delicately while docking. The wheelhouse stood within the Bridge. The entrance to the First Class Grand Staircase and Gymnasium were located midships along with the raised roof of the First Class Lounge, while at the rear of the deck were the roof of the First Class smoke room, a deck house for the ship's engineers, and a relatively modest Second Class entrance. The wood-covered deck was divided into four segregated promenades: for officers, First Class passengers, engineers, and Second Class passengers respectively. Lifeboats lined the side of the deck on both sides except in the First Class area, where there was a gap so that the view would not be blocked.^[14][15]

• A Deck, also called the
  Promenade Deck, ran the entire 546 feet (166 m) length of the superstructure. It was for First Class passengers only and contained First Class cabins all the way forward, the First Class lounge, Smoke Room, Reading and Writing Room and Palm Court.^[14] The promenade on Olympic was unenclosed along its whole length, whereas on Titanic and Britannic, the forward half was enclosed by a steel screen with sliding windows.^[16]
• B Deck, also known as the Bridge Deck, was almost entirely devoted to First-Class staterooms. The finest suites could be found on this deck, particularly the two "Deluxe" Parlour Suites with their own private 50 ft (15 m) long promenades. All three ships had À la Carte Restaurants positioned aft on B-Deck, as well as the Second-Class Smoking Rooms and Entrances. Olympic was built with an encircling First-Class promenade which soon proved to be redundant given the ample promenade space on A-Deck. Titanic added enlarged additional staterooms to occupy the space and a Café Parisien built as an annex to an enlarged Restaurant. This arrangement proved so popular that Olympic would adopt the same additions during its 1913 refit. On the exterior of each ship, B-Deck is defined by rectangular sliding windows.
• C Deck, the Shelter Deck, was the uppermost deck to run uninterrupted from the ships' bow to stern. It included the two well decks, both of which served as the Third Class promenade spaces. Each well deck also contained large cranes for loading cargo into the interior holds. Crew cabins were located under the
  Poop Deck. The superstructure of C Deck between the bow and stern contained mostly First Class accommodation, but the Second Class Library was also placed further aft, directly below the Second Class Smoking Room.^[17][18]

• D Deck, the Saloon Deck, was dominated by three large public rooms – the First Class Reception Room, the First Class Dining Saloon and the Second Class Dining Saloon. An open space was provided for Third Class passengers underneath in the bow. Second Class and Third Class passengers had cabins on this deck, with berths for firemen located in the bow. It was originally the highest deck reached by the ships' watertight bulkheads (though only by eight of the fifteen bulkheads).^[17][19] This was later changed in the Olympic in a 1913 refit following the loss of Titanic. Britannic was designed with bulkheads extending to the main deck.
• E Deck, the Upper Deck, was predominantly a passenger accommodation for all three classes as well as berths for cooks, seamen, stewards and trimmers. There was also Third-Class cabins with a long passageway nicknamed Scotland Road by the crew, in reference to a famous street in Liverpool.^[17][20]
• F Deck, the Middle Deck, was the last complete deck and predominantly accommodated Third Class passengers. There were also some Second and Third Class cabins and crew accommodation. The Third Class dining saloon was located here, as were the swimming pool and Turkish baths, the only section for First-Class passengers.^[17][20]
• G Deck, the Lower Deck, was the lowest complete deck to accommodate passengers, and had the lowest
  orlop (partial) decks over the boiler, engine and turbine rooms.^[17][21]
• The Orlop decks and the Tank Top were at the lowest level of the ship, below the waterline. The orlop decks were used as cargo space, while the Tank Top – the inner bottom of the ship's hull – provided the platform on which the ship's boilers, engines, turbines and electrical generators were housed. This part of the ship was dominated by the engine and boiler rooms, areas which were generally never seen by passengers. They were connected with higher levels of the ship by flights of stairs; twin spiral stairways near the bow gave access up to D Deck.[17]^[21]

Propulsion was achieved through three propellers: two outboard or wing propellers had three blades, while the central propeller had four on the Olympic and Britannic. The Titanic was fitted with a three bladed central propeller to test efficiency against the four bladed central propeller of its older sister, Olympic. The two lateral propellers were powered by

The Olympic-class ships were 269.13 metres (883.0 ft) long, displacing 52,310 long tons (53,150 t) normally (their draft at this displacement being 34 ft 7 in or 10.5 m), and their tonnage was around 45–46,000 GRT.^[25] Olympic became the largest ship in the world when it was completed in May, 1911 before losing the title to its sister Titanic when she was completed in April, 1912. After the loss of Titanic, the third ship Britannic claimed the title of largest British-built ship, until her own sinking in November 1916. After this Olympic held the title for 20 years until the commissioning of RMS Queen Mary in 1936.^[26]

All three vessels had four funnels, with the fourth being a dummy which was used for ventilation and aesthetic purposes. Smoke from the galleys and Smoking Room fireplaces and fumes from the engine rooms was exhausted through a chimney up the forward portion of this funnel. While it was a decoration to establish a symmetry in the ships' profile, it acted as a huge ventilation shaft, replacing a large amount of ventilation cowls on deck, as on Cunard's Lusitania and Mauretania.^[27]

Safety features

The trio of ships incorporated advanced safety precautions into their designs, intended to mitigate the risk of flooding and all but eliminate the chances of foundering. Each ship featured an inner skin, a second layer of 1.25 in (31.8 mm) thick steel above the

The sinking of Titanic revealed serious issues within the designs of the Olympic-class liners, needing a major refit for Olympic in late 1912 and major design changes to Britannic, which was still in the early phases of construction.^[30] Titanic had sunk because her five forward compartments had been breached, above the keel but below the waterline, bypassing the double-bottom completely. The low height of the bulkheads had also failed the ship, allowing for uncontrolled flooding once the water in the breached compartments had reached E Deck. The refit on Olympic raised the middle five bulkheads to B Deck, the others to D Deck and also extended the double-bottom along the hull up to G Deck. These improvements were incorporated into Britannic, along with two additional bulkheads.^[29] Such improvements meant that both Olympic and Britannic could survive the scenario that had caused their sister ship to founder. The three ships were fitted with brass three-chime triple-chambered steam whistles on all four funnels. Only the whistles on the first and second funnels functioned however, as those on the third and fourth funnels were dummies fitted for aesthetic reasons and had no valves or bellows.

Lifeboats

Each ship could accommodate a maximum of 64 lifeboats.

• 
  The Grand Staircase aboard Olympic
• 
  Olympic's first class swimming pool
• 
  The gymnasium on board Titanic
• 
  Photograph of the Olympic's À La Carte restaurant, taken in 1911
• 
  Olympic's starboard Verandah Café
• 
  One of the few photographs of Titanic's cool room inside the Turkish Baths

The three vessels had a total of 8 levels of passenger accommodation, with slight variations between the ships. However, no class was neglected. The

The second class also included a smoking room, a library, a spacious dining room, and an elevator. Britannic's second class also featured a gymnasium.^[39]

Finally, the third-class passengers enjoyed reasonable accommodation compared to other ships. Instead of large dormitories offered by most ships of the time, the third-class passengers of the Olympic class lived in cabins containing two to ten bunks. The class also had a smoking room, a common area, and a dining room. Britannic was planned to provide the third-class passengers more with comfort than its two sister ships.^[40]

Careers

1: ^ For ships in passenger service, "commissioned" is taken to mean the date of departure on maiden passenger voyage

Olympic

First of the Olympic-class liners, Olympic was launched on 20 October 1910

Despite a major refit later in her career, Olympic was outdated compared to newer ships. Following the merger of the White Star Line and Cunard Line in 1934, in April 1935 due to the excess tonnage within the new combined fleet of ships Olympic was withdrawn, sold for breaking and towed to Jarrow for scrapping.

Titanic

Second in line of the Olympic class, Titanic was launched on 31 May 1911,^[48] and her commissioning was slightly delayed due to ongoing repairs of Olympic.^[49] The ship left the port of Southampton 10 April 1912 for her maiden voyage, narrowly avoiding a collision with SS New York, a ship moored in the port pulled by the propellers of Titanic. After a stopover at Cherbourg, France and another in Queenstown, Ireland, she sailed into the Atlantic with 2,200 passengers and crew on board, under the command of Captain Edward J. Smith headed for New York City. The crossing took place without major incident until Sunday, 14 April at 23:40.^[50]

Titanic struck an iceberg at 41°46′N 50°14′W / 41.767°N 50.233°W / 41.767; -50.233

The third of the Olympic-class trio, Britannic was ordered in 1911 and launched on 26 February 1914 at the

On 13 November 1915, Britannic was requisitioned as a hospital ship from her storage location at Belfast. Repainted white and from bow to stern with large red crosses and a horizontal green stripe, she was renamed HMHS (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Britannic.^[52]

At 08:12 am on 21 November 1916, HMHS Britannic struck a mine^[b] at 37°42′05″N 24°17′02″E / 37.70139°N 24.28389°E / 37.70139; 24.28389,^[53] and sank. Survivors numbered 1,036, and 30 men lost their lives in the disaster. One survivor, nurse Violet Jessop was notable as having also previously survived the sinking of Titanic in 1912, and had also been on board Olympic, at the time when it collided with HMS Hawke in 1911. Britannic was the largest ship lost during World War I, but her sinking did not receive the same attention as the sinking of her sister ship, or the sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania, when she was sunk by a torpedo in the Irish Sea.^[54]

Legacy

Wrecks and expeditions

When Titanic sank in 1912 and Britannic sank in 1916, the Britannic sinking did not receive the same attention as the Titanic, due to the death toll (1,517 on Titanic and 30 on Britannic) and the ongoing First World War. Because the exact position of the sinking of the Britannic is known and the location is shallow, the wreck was discovered relatively easily in 1975.

The wreck of Britannic was discovered in 1975 by Jacques Cousteau. It has a large tear in the front caused by the bow hitting the ocean floor before the rest of the ship sank, as the ship's length is greater than the depth of the water. After the discovery, she has been seen regularly as part of many other expeditions. In contrast to Titanic, which lies at the very bottom of the North Atlantic and is being fed on by iron-eating bacteria, Britannic is in remarkably good condition, and is much more accessible than her infamous sister. Many external structural features are still intact, including the propellers, and a great deal of the superstructure and hull.^[58]

Cultural heritage

Museums and exhibitions pay tribute to the ships, and the two tragedies have inspired many movies, novels and even musicals and video games.

When she was decommissioned in 1935, Olympic –the only surviving ship of her class– was previously set to be converted into a floating hotel,

Due to the history and the story behind the sinking of the Titanic, several attempts to recreate the ship, partly or totally, were made throughout the years, from floating replicas, inland recreations, to an actual reimagining of the ship.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

• Chirnside, Mark (2004). The Olympic-Class Ships. Stroud, England:
  ISBN 978-0-7524-2868-0
  .
• ISBN 978-1-905026-71-5
  .
• Hutchings, David F.; de Kerbrech, Richard P. (2011). RMS Titanic 1909–12 (Olympic Class): Owners' Workshop Manual. Sparkford, Yeovil: Haynes.
  ISBN 978-1-84425-662-4
  .
• Le Goff, Olivier (1998). Les Plus Beaux Paquebots du Monde (in French). Solar.
  ISBN 978-2-03-584196-4
  .
• Piouffre, Gérard (2009). Le Titanic ne répond plus (in French). Larousse.
  ISBN 978-2-263-02799-4
  .

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Olympic-class ocean liners.

• McCluskie, T.; et al. (1998). Titanic & Her Sisters. Thunder Bay Press.
  ISBN 9781571451750
  .
• Chirnside, M. (2014). Olympic, Titanic, Britannic: An Illustrated History of the Olympic Class Ships. Stroud:
  ISBN 9780750956239
  .