jfs@petrus.UUCP (Jack Stanley) (08/05/86)
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The Titanic had two sister ships, named...the Olympic,and the Britanic.
The Olympic made her maiden voyage in mid 1911. Shortly afterwards she was
rammed by the British patrol ship Hawk. This cut a 30 foot gash in her side
and she was returned to Belfast. There were a few pictures taken at this
time of the Olympic parked next to her new sister, the Titanic.
She was refitted and served well her owners. During the first World
War she was refitted as a troop transport. During the war she was torpedoed
once,this was however a dud. In 1918 as she approched England, her skipper
noticed a U-boat ready to strike, So, he turned the Olympic slightly and
rammed the U-boat and sank it. She was the only vessel in that war to
do so. In 1920 she returned to service, having been totaly refited with
new boilers and a oilburning system,instead of the previous coal system.
She proved herself to be a good ocean ferry many times making a voyage
at a good 24 knots. She came to be known as old reliable.
The White Star Line which owned and operated all of the
"ic"class ships(all of their ships names ended in an ic such as Titan IC)
went out of bussiness in 1934, and the Olympic was soon part of the Cunard
fleet. At this time the Queen Mary was being built and it was decided
the many of the older ships would be replaced by her. The Olympic was concid-
-ered one of the older ships, although she was only 23 years old.
It seemed that the great ship knew her time was about up, for on a
foggy night near Nantucket t lightship!!!
Nearly all the members of the lightships crew were killed,and the Olympic
made headlines again. In the summer of 1935 she was removed from service
and was scraped in 1937.
The other sister was the Britanic ...she never made a maiden voyage
due to the fact of war service. In1915 she became the hospital ship B ,
everyone felt very safe in her for her builders said"She has been built
to withstand all the damage that her sister had sucomed too."
In 1916 in the Mediteranian, she was struck by a mine or a torpedo .
She sank in less than a hour with amage,not unlike her sisters.
Of the three vessels only one made it to New York, not a good average, eh
I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship
a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this
vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.
Capt. E. J. Smith of the Titanic.