The Titanic was not the only great liner to come out of the 1907 agreement between Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line. There were actually three liners built as a result of that agreement - Olympic, Titanic and Gigantic, later renamed Britannic. Unlike her two sisters, the Titanic and the Britannic, the Olympic had a long and successful life as a liner serving the North Atlantic route. The Olympic entered passenger service in 1911 and served the White Star Line until 1935, at which time she was retired and eventually broken up for scrap.
The first keel plate for hull number 400,
to be named the Olympic, was laid on December 16, 1908, three
months before the first keel plate for hull number 401, to be named the Titanic
was laid. The Olympic was launched on October
20, 1910. On the same day that the Titanic was launched, the
newly-completed Olympic was turned over to the White Star Line.
In fact, dignitaries who attended Titanic's launching in
Belfast, Ireland, including J. Bruce Ismay, the Chairman of the White Star Line's parent
company, and J. Pierpont Morgan, the US financier who owned both the White Star Line and
its ships, returned to England aboard the Olympic.
The Olympic was
very similar to her larger sisters, but is easily distinguished by her open first class
promenade. Both the Titanic and the Britannic
had the forward portion of the first class promenade closed off. Following the Titanic
disaster, the Olympic spent six months at Harland and Wolff's shipyard undergoing an
extensive refit that extended the ship's double bottom up the sides, providing the Olympic
with a double hull. The Olympic's lifeboat capacity was also
increased. She resumed commercial service in the spring of 1913. Unlike her sister, the Britannic,
the Olympic remained in commercial service for several months in
the beginning of 
World War I and rescued the crew of a British battleship that sank off the coast
of Ireland. In September 1915, the Olympic was pressed into
service by the British Admiralty as a troop carrier. In her wartime "dazzle"
paint scheme, the Olympic survived four submarine attacks and
transported 119,000 civilians and troops across the Atlantic. The "dazzle" paint
scheme, illustrated by the image to the left, consisted of various geometric shapes that
were thought to confuse German submarines. The Olympic's performance
during the First World War earned her the nickname of "Old Reliable."
After World War I, the Olympic
was refitted, converted to oil-fired from coal fired. She resumed Trans-Atlantic
passenger service in July 1920. 
Over the
next 15 years, the Olympic made hundreds of Trans-Atlantic
crossings. The image to the right shows the Olympic departing
New York for Southampton during the 1920s. In March of 1935, the Olympic
made her final voyage between New York and Southampton, England. After that, she was sent
to Jarrow on the Tyne for scrapping. Finally, the Olympic's hull
was towed to Inverkeithing, Scotland, for final demolition. While the Olympic
is no more, portions of her remain as her furnishings were sold and may still be seen in
parts of Britain.
This page last updated on Sunday, May 14, 2000