Olympic and Titanic in Belfast
In 1912 one of the most horrific things happened that to this day still is an unbelievable thought to imagine. The largest ship of that time sank in the Ocean Atlantic. Though everyone since 1912 has heard the story, what you may have not heard is that Titanic was not the only ship of its stature. Titanic had two identical sister ships, the Olympic and the Britannic.

RMS OLYMPIC
The Olympic was the first of the three ships. In 1907 White Star Line sat out to build the largest ocean liners the world had ever seen. At the time there rival “The Cunard Line” was Taking the glory for having the largest, fastest, and most steady liners at the time. The first two of the ships was built side by side in Belfast, Northern Ireland. On December 16, 1908 the keel of Olympic was complete and three months later Titanic’s keel was complete. Over the next two years, the two “Olympic-Class” ocean liners took there shape. The only real difference in these two ships was on the promenade on A-deck, just under the boat dock. On Olympic, the deck is open the entire length. On Titanic the deck was only open half its length. The other half was covered with large windows.
On June 14, 1911 the RMS Olympic left Great Britain on her maiden voyage. The ships 1,313 passengers included some of the world’s richest and most famous people. Although Olympic could carry 2600 to 2700 people, she wasn’t completely filled because it being her first crossing. Olympics maiden voyage was a complete success. The next three crossing would also be a success. But on the fifth crossing disaster struck. The HMS Hawk of the British Royal Navy traveled to closely to Olympic and begin to get sucked in the wake it by the Olympic. Collision was unavoidable and the hawk collided with Olympics starboard side. Though both ships had to limp to the nearest port neither of them sank. When Olympic returned to service a few months later after extensive repairs in Belfast, she was still the most popular ship around. In fact, this accident helped her career in that; it supported the idea that she was “unsinkable”.
The glory of Olympic lasted only a year. It ended suddenly when her sister, Titanic, struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank. Olympic was more than 500 miles from Titanic’s position and couldn’t do anything. In March of 1935, after serving in the cold war and surviving tragedy after tragedy, the Royal Mail Ship Olympic made her final trip to New York before being sold, stripped, and in 1937, completely scrapped.
HMHS BRITANNIC
On November 11, 1911 the work on the last of three Olympic Class liners began. In April of 1912 construction was stopped due to the sinking of the Titanic. When work was restarted many changes would be don’t to the design. The double bottom was extended up the side of the ship to give her a double skin, the water tight bulkheads were also extended up, and other safety
features were put in, making the ship capable of staying afloat with her first six compartments damaged (two more than Titanic). She could now survive the damage that sank her sister. The White Star Line’s Britannic was launched on February 26, 1914. Originally she was to be called Gigantic, but White Star chose the name Britannic to be patriotic with Europe on the brink of war. This ship was to be the most luxurious of the trio. The first class reception room was to be grander that the ones on Olympic and Titanic ever were or would be, the A la Carte Restaurant and First Class Smoking Room were to be expanded, and they were even planning to grace the forward grand staircase with an elegant pipe organ. Like her sisters she’d be able to carry about 790 first class passengers, 835 second class passengers, 950 third class passengers, and 950 crew members. But Britannic’s grand entry into commercial service was to be changed due to the outbreak of World War One in July of 1914. Shortly after that, the British government began pulling ships out of commercial service to use them for war duties. This caused a large drop in the number of passengers crossing the ocean. After only a few months, White Star alone had six of its ships taken by the British Admiralty. However, the line was getting paid good money per ship for every month the ships were used. Few people at the White Star offices were very worried about their ships being sunk in the war because most people were sure it would be over by Christmas. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Complete with a green stripe and six red crosses on her hull, on December 12, 1915, Britannic was ready for war service. She arrived in Liverpool, England and was fitted for her duties as a hospital ship with 2034 berths (beds) and 1035 cots (fold-up beds), as well as a staff of 52 officers, 101 doctors and nurses, 336 orderlies (hospital attendants), and a crew of 675 men and women. The ship was able to carry a total of 3309 patients. She was put under the command of Captain Charles A. Bartlett. He started his career with the White Star Line in 1874 and earned his Masters Certificate in 1903. Although passengers loved him, he wasn’t a favorite of the White Star Line because of his concern for safety over speed. She left Southampton on Sunday, November 12, 1916. The trip to Italy was uneventful. On Friday November 17, she arrived at Naples, for coaling. She was supposed to leave there on November 18, but rough seas delayed her departure for a day. Tuesday, November 21, 1916, was a perfect day. As the sun shown down, the HMHS Britannic steamed through the Kea Channel, the small water way between the tiny Greek island of Kea and the Greek mainland, on her way to the island of Lemnos. At about 8:00 am, the crewmen who worked down in the boiler and engine rooms, were changing sifts. To make changes like this quicker, the officers sometimes opened the water tight doors for a short time. It was a few minutes after 8:00 am when Sheila Macbeth, a nurse onboard who had slept very late, rushed into the dinning saloon. “I only managed to get two spoonfuls of porridge,” she said, “before: BANG! And a shiver right down the length of the ship.” Britannic’s Presbyterian minister, John Fleming, was just walking out of his cabin, “when there was a great crash,” he wrote, “the great ship shuddered for a moment from end to end.” Historians aren’t sure but Britannic either struck a mine (laid by German U-boat, U-73) or was torpedoed. Even with all her modifications Britannic still sank. The first five watertight compartments were flooded. The sixth one was also flooded because the watertight door separating the fifth and sixth compartments didn’t close all the way. The ship was capable of staying afloat with her first six compartments damaged. However, most of the ship’s windows were open because the nurses where airing out the ship for the wounded soldiers that were going to board her in a few hours. This let water get in because with all the water in her bow, the ship was a little low in the water. Had the windows been shut, she probably wouldn’t have sunk.A stewardess named Violet Jessop was onboard the Britannic that night. She was also aboard the Olympic during its collusion with The Hawk. Even more amazing is she was also aboard Titanic and she survived all three.
Britannic was never to carry a paying passenger. She was never to cross the Atlantic. She was never to earn her place on the transatlantic route. Instead, she was the largest ship sunk in World War One, and is the largest liner on the ocean floor.Raising Titanic is out of the question. Because she lies so far down (2 1/2 miles), plus her fragile condition, it would be impossible, However, raising Britannic might be possible. She is in much better and stronger condition. Except for the crack in her bow that was caused when she slammed into the ocean floor, she is all intact. To raise her, it would cost a bundle of money and there’d be a lode of problems, but, with modern technology, there might be a chance that she could be raised. This issue is being debated right now.