RMS Olympic

File:RMS Olympic at port.jpg RMS Olympic, sister ship of infamous RMS Titanic.
Career
Nationality:	British
Owner:	White Star Line
Builder:	Harland and Wolff yards in Belfast
Laid down:	December 16, 1908
Launched:	October 20, 1910
Christened:	Not christened
Maiden voyage:	June 14, 1911
Fate:	Served for 24 years from 1911 to 1935. Scrapped.
General characteristics
Tonnage:	45,324 (46,439 after 1912)
Displacement:	52,067 tons
Length:	882 ft, 9 in
Beam:	92.5 feet
Draught:	34 ft, 7 in
Power:	24 double-ended (six furnace) and 5 single-ended (three furnace) Scotch boilers. Two four-cylinder triple-expansion reciprocating engines each producing 16,000 hp from 215-psi steam for the outer two propellers. One low-pressure turbine producing 18,000 hp from 7 psi absolute exhausting into the partial vacuum of a condenser for the centre propeller. Total 50,000 hp.
Propulsion:	Two bronze triple-blade side propellers. One bronze quadruple-blade centre propeller.
Service Speed:	21 knots
Maximum Speed:	23.75 knots

RMS Olympic was the first of her class of ocean liners built for the White Star Line, which also included the ill-fated liners Titanic and Britannic. Unlike her sisters, Olympic served a long and illustrious career (1911 to 1935) and came to be known as "Old Reliable."

The Olympic class of ships were originally to be named Olympic, Titanic and Gigantic, after Greek mythological races: the Olympians, the Titans and Giants.

History

Beginning

J. Bruce Ismay, the chairman of White Star Line, and William Pirrie, the chairman of Harland and Wolff shipyard planned the new Olympic-class ships intended to surpass rival Cunard's largest ships, the RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania in size and luxury but not speed. Olympic was to be built first, followed by Titanic and Britannic. In order to accommodate the construction of the class, Harland and Wolff had to upgrade their existing facility in Belfast, the most dramatic change being the combining of three slipways into two larger ones. Olympic's keel was laid in December 1908 and she was launched in 1910. For her launch, which took place on October 20, 1910, the hull was painted in a light grey colour for photographic purposes (a common practice of the day for the first ship in a new class, it made the lines of the ship clearer in the black and white photographs). Her hull was repainted following the launch. Her maiden voyage commenced on June 14, 1911. During this voyage, shipbuilder Thomas Andrews was present along with a number of engineers, as part of Harland and Wolff's "Guarantee Group" to spot anything needing improvement. Unlike other ships of the day, Olympic had a cleaner look with a sleek profile. Rather than fitting her with bulky exterior air vents to catch more air, Harland and Wolff used smaller air vents with a fan powered by electric motors, with a "dummy" fourth funnel used for additional ventilation. For the power train, Harland and Wolff decided to use a combination of reciprocating engines with a centre low-pressure turbine, as opposed to the use of steam turbines only, as on Cunard's giant Lusitania and Mauretania. White Star claimed that the engine set-up found on Olympic class was more economical than vessels using expansion engines or turbines alone. Olympic consumed about 650 tons of coal a day at 21.7 knots, compared to 1000 tons of coal a day on Cunard's Lusitania and Mauretania.

Hawke incident

On September 20, 1911, Olympic's first major mishap was the collision with a British warship, HMS Hawke. Although the collision left two of her water-tight compartments filled and one of her propeller shafts twisted, Olympic was able to limp back to Southampton. At the resulting inquiry, the Royal Navy blamed Olympic for the incident, alleging that her large displacement generated a suction that pulled Hawke into her side. In command during this incident was Captain Edward Smith, who famously died at the helm of Titanic less than a year later. One crew member, Violet Jessop, survived not only the collision with the Hawke, but also the later sinking of Titanic as well as the 1916 sinking of Britannic, the third member of the class. Curiously, a similar incident was narrowly avoided by Titanic a year later, when a smaller vessel New York was pulled free of her moorings and was about to collide with Titanic, because of the huge displacement of Titanic. Fortunately, the tugboat operator nearby reacted quickly and pulled the smaller vessel away from Titanic.

The Hawke incident was a financial disaster for Olympic's operator, and keeping her out of revenue service made matters worse. Olympic returned to Belfast, and to speed up her repair, Harland and Wolff was forced to delay Titanic's completion and use her propeller shaft for Olympic. In February 1912, Olympic lost a propeller blade and she once again returned to her builder for emergency repairs. To get her back to service immediately, Harland & Wolff yet again had to pull resources from Titanic, delaying her maiden voyage from March 20, 1912 to April 10, 1912. [1]

Titanic disaster

On April 14, 1912, Olympic received a distress signal from her sister Titanic, but was too far away to assist. Olympic, like Titanic, did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. Upon return to England, Olympic was equipped with additional old second-hand collapsible lifeboats, but her stokers went on strike and refused to return to work until the ship was equipped with regular lifeboats sufficient to accommodate all passengers and crew. Six months later, White Star withdrew Olympic and returned her to her builders (Harland & Wolff) at Belfast to have her bulkheads raised higher and install her with a double hull. At the same time alterations and additions to her passenger cabins were carried out and extra lifeboats were added so there were places for all passengers and crew. With these changes her gross tonnage rose to 46,359 tons, 31 tonnes larger than Titanic's. In 1913, Olympic resumed her service and briefly regained the title as the largest ocean liner in the world until SS Imperator began her first passenger service in June 1913.

World War I

A postcard of Olympic with "dazzle" camouflage.

At the beginning of World War I, Olympic initially remained in commercial service. On October 27, 1914 she was ordered to assist a stricken British warship, HMS Audacious. Olympic took on board the warship's crew. Attempts to tow the warship were unsuccessful as the tow-lines parted in bad weather, and Audacious sank.

In September 1915 the Royal Navy summoned Olympic to serve as troopship. Armed with 12-pound and 4.7-inch guns, the newly-designated His Majesty's Transport 2810 left Liverpool on 24 September 1915, on her first trooping voyage, carrying soldiers to the Gallipoli campaign and she continued to serve on routes to the eastern Mediterranean. From 1916 to 1917, Olympic was chartered by the Canadian Government to transport its troops from Halifax to Britain. In 1917 she gained 6-inch guns and later she was painted with a "dazzle" camouflage scheme in order to confuse the enemy. After the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, Olympic transported thousands of U.S. troops to Britain. On May 12, 1918, she was attacked by a U-boat U-103; Olympic, under the command of Captain Bertram Fox-Hayes, managed to avoid the torpedo and then rammed the U-boat and sank it, the only known sinking of a warship by a merchant vessel during World War I. Despite this heroic effort, not everyone was thrilled. Some people criticised her crew for risking thousands of lives to retaliate against the U-boat. During the war, Olympic is reported to have carried up to 201,000 troops and other personnel, burning 347,000 tons of coal and travelling about 184,000 miles.[2] Her impressive World War I service earned her the nickname Old Reliable. After the war, when Olympic was about to be reverted back to civilian configuration, a dent was discovered below her hull's waterline, and it was later concluded to have been caused by a torpedo that had failed to detonate. Had the torpedo exploded, the result could have been devastating.

Post-war and demise

After completing service as a troopship, Olympic returned to Belfast for restoration to civilian service. Her interior was modernized and she was converted to burn oil. She emerged from this refit with her tonnage increased to 46,439 gross tons, which enabled Olympic to continue to claim that she was the largest British built liner afloat even though Aquitania was slightly longer. In 1920 she returned to passenger service, on one voyage that year carrying 2,403 passengers. She was joined with RMS Majestic and RMS Homeric for an express service from 1922. She enjoyed success until the Great Depression reduced demand after 1930.

At the turn of 1927-28, Olympic was converted to carry tourist third cabin passengers as well as first, second and third class. Tourist third cabin was an attempt to attract travellers who desired comfort without the high ticket price that came with it. New public rooms were constructed for this class, although tourist third cabin and second class would merge to become 'tourist' by late 1931.

One year later Olympic 's first class cabins were again improved by adding more bathrooms, a dance floor was fitted in the enlarged first class dining saloon, and a number of new suites with private facilities were installed forward on B-deck. More improvements would follow in a later refit, but 1929 saw Olympic's best average passenger lists since 1925.

Following a refit and overhaul at the end of 1932, Olympic returned to service in March 1933 'looking like new.' Her engines were performing better than ever and she continued to record speeds well above 23 knots, despite averaging less than that in regular transatlantic service. Passenger capacities were given as 618 first class, 447 tourist class and only 382 third class after the decline of the immigrant trade. 1933 was Olympic 's worst year ever as she carried her lowest number of passengers (under 10,000) and there would be more bad luck to follow.

Olympic passes the Nantucket light vessel in early 1934

In 1934 Olympic again struck a ship. The approaches to New York were marked by lightships, and Olympic, like other liners, had been known to pass close by these vessels. [3], [4] On May 15, 1934,Olympic, inbound in heavy fog, was homing in on the radio beacon of Lightship 117, the Nantucket lightship. [5] Olympic under the command of Captain John Binks failed to turn in time and sliced through the smaller vessel, which broke apart and sank.[6] Four of the lightship's crew went down with the vessel and seven were rescued, of whom three died of their injuries, for seven fatalities out of a crew of eleven. [7]

In 1934 White Star merged with the Cunard Line at the instigation of the British government. This merger allowed funds to be granted for the completion of the future Queen Mary. Cunard White Star then started retiring older ships, especially those from White Star. Olympic was withdrawn from service in 1935 and sold to Sir John Jarvis for £100,000 to be partially demolished at Jarrow providing work for the region. In 1937 Olympic's hull was towed to Inverkeithing to TW Ward's yard for final demolition.

RMS Olympic today

Olympic fittings can be seen in this photo of the Olympic Suite at the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick Northumberland

Olympic's fittings were auctioned off immediately before she was scrapped; some of her fittings (namely those of the First Class Lounge and part of the Aft Grand Staircase) can be found in the White Swan Hotel, in Alnwick, England. Some fittings and panelling also ended up at a Haltwhistle paint factory. The rest of her fittings found homes in scattered places throughout Great Britain.

In 2000, Celebrity Cruises purchased some of Olympic's original wooden panels and created the RMS Olympic Restaurant on board their newest cruise ship, Millennium. According to Celebrity Cruise Line, this rare collection of wood panelling once graced Olympic's à la carte restaurant.

See also

• SS Nomadic - surviving tender to Olympic

Trivia

• Canadian artist Arthur Lismer, member of the Group of Seven (artists), painted The 'Olympic' with Returned Soldiers and now part of collection in National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
• Famous actor Charlie Chaplin and Edward, Prince of Wales, who later become the King of Great Britain, boarded the Olympic in 1921.
• Cary Grant, actor, emigrated to the United States as a 16-year-old in 1920 on the RMS Olympic.
• Marie Curie, scientist, travelled on the Olympic with her husband Pierre in 1921.

References

• RMS Olympic: Titanic's Sister, by Mark Chirnside
• The Olympic-Class Ships, by Mark Chirnside
• Olympic & Titanic: The Truth Behind the Conspiracy, by Bruce Beveridge
• Atlantic Liners: A Trio of Trios, by J. Kent Layton

External links

• Olympic Vessels

• Titanic Research & Modelling Association, for Olympic-Class Research
• Olympic Home at Atlantic Liners
• RMS Olympic; Old Reliable
• Encyclopedia Titanica : RMS Olympic
• Olympic on Titanic-Titanic.com
• The RMS Olympic Restaurant on the Celebrity Millennium (Virtual Tour of ship's Plaza Deck shows panoramic view).
• Olympic's Fittings at White Swan Hotel, Alnwick, England
• Maritimequest RMS Olympic Photo Gallery
• Lostliners: RMS Olympic
• White Star Line RMS Olympic the Ship Magnificent
• Lego RMS Olympic
• The Discredited Olympic-Titanic switch