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RMS Olympic Facts
(1910-1937)
Facts about the Ship
* Gross Tonnage - 45,342 tons
* Dimensions - 852.5 x 92.5ft (259.83 x 28.19m)
* Number of funnels - 4
* Number of masts - 2
* Construction - Steel
* Propulsion - Triple screw
* Engines - Combination of eight triple-expansion reciprocating engines and steam turbines.
* Service speed - 21 knots
* Builder - Harland and Wolff in Belfast
* Launch date - 20 October 1910
* Passenger accommodation - 735 1st class, 674 2nd class, 1,026 3rd class
Story about the Ship
Built for the White Star Line Company, RMS Olympic (or SS Olympic) was a sister-ship to the ill-fated
Titanic and Britannic.
Unlike her sisters, Olympic served a long and illustrious career, coming to be known as "Old Reliable".
Contrary to popular belief the ship was not named after the Olympic Games.
Instead, the Olympic class of ships — Olympic, Titanic and
Britannic (originally Gigantic) — were named after Greek mythological races Olympians, Titans and Giants.
Olympic was built on the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland.
She was the first ship of the Olympic-class liners of the White Star Line Company built in that shipyard.
One notable incident in Olympic's record is a 1911 collision with a British warship,
HMS Hawke. Immediately following the collision, which left two compartments filled,
Olympic was able to limp back to Southampton for repairs.
At the helm during this incident was Captain E. J. Smith, who would famously perish at the helm of
Titanic less than a year later.
During World War I, Olympic was converted into a troopship. On May 12, 1918, she rammed and sank a German U-boat, the only known sinking of a warship by a merchant vessel during World War I.
In 1934, having resumed passenger service, she again struck a ship, this time
Nantucket Lightship, which broke apart and sank, killing 7, out of a crew of 11 aboard the smaller ship.
In 1935, Olympic was withdrawn from service and partially demolished at Jarrow, England.
In 1937 she was towed to Inverkeithing, Scotland for final scrapping.
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, located in Alnwick, England.
Some fittings and paneling also ended up at a Haltwhistle paint factory.
In 2000, Celebrity Cruise Line purchased some of Olympic's original wooden panels and created RMS Olympic Restaurant on board their newest mega cruise ship, Millennium.
According to Celebrity Cruise Line, this rare collection of wood paneling once graced
Olympic's a la carte Restaurant.
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