The Harland & Wolff firm under the White Star line to compete with the Lusitania and Mauritania built the RMS Olympic, which were built the Cunard Line. These two ships could hold a large number of passengers and could reach speeds up to 24 knots. Bruce Ismay decided to meet with a representative of Harland & Wolff, Lord Perrie, and they dreamt up the building of the Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic.

The Olympic was built slightly ahead of the Titanic in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Olympic was about a 100 feet longer then the Cunard ships was faster, and could carry 3500 people. Plus, of course, she was like a floating hotel. The Olympic was 882.5 feet in length and 92.5 feet in width. The tops of the funnels were 75 feet above the boat deck, and the masts twice that. 3 propellers ran the Olympic, and the top speed she could hit was about 23 knots. The heat to run the propellers came from 29, 3 story, boilers. The engines were 4 stories in height. The Olympic also had 3 running funnels, and a fourth one for show.

On December 16, 1908 the Olympic's keel was placed in the yard of Harland & Wolff, 3 months later the Titanic's keel was placed in the berth next to it. It took 2 years to build the Olympic, and although the Titanic ended up being bigger, the Olympic was the pride of the times at this moment; all eyes were on it and it alone. The only difference between the Olympic and the Titanic was that the Titanic was a bit bigger and that the promenade on the A-deck was all open on the Olympic, while the Titanic only had half of it open.

Some other reasons why the Olympic was an amazing feat was because it had 4 elevators, 3 in first; 1 in second, the 2nd - class dining saloon was more luxurious then most ships, second-class had a lounge, first and second had a barber shop, and then there were the squash courts, Turkish baths, the Verandah Cafe, the A la Carte Restaurant, and the swimming pool. The most luxurious thing on the ship, though, was the first-class stairway. The other point of interest about the Olympic was that 3rd-class was nicer then on any other ship. It also had a smoking room and a general room.

The Life:

The Olympic's maiden voyage was on June 14, 1911, when she left Great Britain. The Olympic was under the command of veteran, Captain Edward John Smith, who would also be the Captain of the Titanic. On this voyage they only carried 1 313 people out of a possible 2700, they didn't want to fill her on her first voyage. These 1 313 people included some of the world's most famous and rich people, and J. Bruce Ismay who spent the voyage wandering around and seeing what changes needed to be made when they built the Titanic.

The Olympic had a successful maiden voyage; disaster didn't strike for her until her 5th voyage when she was on her way to Cherbourg to pick up her next load of passengers. Suddenly, the British Royal Navy's ship the HMS Hawke was seen coming out of the fog and was sucked into the Olympic by her giant propellers. The Hawke ended up ramming the Olympic's starboard side, causing the Hawke to almost capsize. The end result was the Olympic had a bad gash in her side and a broken propeller, while the Hawke had a badly damaged bow. Thankfully no one was injured.

After the sinking of the Titanic, people started to dislike the Olympic-size boats, even after new lifeboats were added. This added some security, but then the crew abandoned the Olympic. White Star quickly replaced them, but then the passengers didn't like them because they were inexperienced. White Star saw that there was no other solution then to add even more safety features to the Olympic, so they took her out of commission for 6 months. They extended bulkheads, giving the ship an extra skin and increasing her width by 2 feet. This meant that she could now stay a float with 6 watertight compartments filled, while the Titanic could only stay afloat with 4. The Olympic also ended up having 68 lifeboats. Some of the popular features on the Titanic were also added to the Olympic while she was out of service. She came back into commission in 1913.

The Olympic got pulled out of commission again because of the "Great War." She was out of service for 10 months. This was ended because she was needed by the government to act as a naval transport. She went back into service in September of 1915. After the war, she went back to serving the White Star Line. She was still considered one of the most luxurious ships around. March 1935 was the last voyage of the Olympic before being sold and stripped. She was completely scrapped in 1937. Out of the Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic, the Olympic was the only one taken out of commission because of old age. The other two sank.