Codus Cyril - Shipcraft 18 - Titanic and her Sisters Olympic and Britannic

On her fist voyage from Belfast to Southampton Olympic stopped at Liverpool, her port of registry, and was opened to the public. The Olympic was the largest ship in the world and the first of a trio of superliners, so it was she who was the centre of attention. Titanics maiden voyage less than a year later never received such a blaze of publicity as Olympics had.

Copyright Seaforth Publishing 2011

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Seaforth Publishing, an
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ISBN 978 1 84832 110 6
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CONTENTS

Design and History

I n 1897, the Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse entered service on the North Atlantic run. Compared with other German liners of the era, this ship was different. In fact, compared with all liners crossing the Atlantic on regular passages, this ship was different. She was built by a German yard, she was the largest ship in the world, and she soon proved herself to be the fastest, and she was the first four-funnelled liner.

The North Atlantic trade had been dominated by Britain. Cunard had two record breakers, Lucania and Campania, in service, so the new German-built wonder-liner came as a shock to the British and, for the fastest transatlantic passenger ship voyage, she won the prestigious Blue Riband on her fourth trip. This was the first time that the distinction went to a German ship.

In the ten years starting in 1897, Norddeutscher Lloyd built four four-funnelled liners and Hamburg Amerika Linie built one Deutschland, which in 1900 took the Blue Riband from Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.

However, these high-speed liners all had two fundamental flaws: they were expensive to run and they vibrated badly, particularly towards the stern, where it was most uncomfortable for passengers. Nevertheless, these German successes were a blow to the British.

The second blow to British shipping came when the prestigious Oceanic Steam Navigation Co Ltd, better known as White Star Line, was sold to the International Mercantile Marine Company (IMMC), or in other words John Pierpont Morgan, the American financier and banker. Even though White Star Line ships continued to sail under the British flag, were manned by British crews and the headquarters remained in England, the White Star Line was owned in the United States.

The British needed to respond. In 1907, Cunard commissioned Lusitania and Mauretania. These too would both win the Blue Riband, and Mauretania would remain the fastest ship on the North Atlantic until 1929, when the Blue Riband was recaptured, again, by Germany.

DESIGN BACKGROUND

On a summer evening in 1907, J Bruce Ismay, chairman of White Star Line, and Lord Pirrie, chairman of Harland & Wolff, the Belfast shipbuilders, met at Pirries home at Belgrave Square in London. The topic of the conversation was no doubt the developments in the transatlantic business. The idea of two giant liners, with possibly a third to follow and destined to win back passenger trade for White Star, was born over after-dinner drinks and cigars. These two giant liners would be named Olympic and Titanic. No attempt would be made to surpass the new Cunarders and the German record breakers in speed. Speed was not of the essence. These two new ships would be outstanding in size, luxury, comfort and safety with features such as electric lifts, an indoor swimming pool and a gymnasium. The lesser speed would lead to less vibration and so, in turn, improve passenger comfort. The gross tonnage of each liner was to be 45,000, which was considerably larger than the new Cunarders. A third ship, Gigantic, would follow.

Taken on 31 May 1911, this photo depicts a gala day for Harland & Wolff as in addition to the successful launch of the Titanic, her sister Olympic was handed over to her owners. On board the little Nomadic in the foreground is Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, and Lord Pirrie, chairman of Harland & Wolff and other distinguished guests being ferried out to the Olympic, which was waiting in the River Lagan to begin her first crossing to Liverpool. Nomadic was built as one of two tenders (the second was the Traffic) to ferry passengers from Cherbourg harbour to the Olympic class liners berthed outside as they were too large for docking inside the harbour.

Olympic being launched on 10 October 1910 at Harland & Wolffs shipyard in Belfast. For reasons unknown the hull of the Olympic was painted white for the launch; Titanics hull was painted dark grey and Britannics medium grey. Some historians suggest this was to make the ships distinguishable in black-and-white photographs.

They were to be powered by a combination of two four-cylinder triple-expansion reciprocating engines for the wing propellers and a Parsons low-pressure turbine for the centre propeller. This combination had been tried and tested on White Stars Laurentic and it proved to be very economical. The machinery was to be fired by twenty-four double-ended boilers with six furnaces each and five single-ended boilers with three furnaces each. Titanics reciprocating engines, the largest ever built, extended over four decks and two watertight compartments.

Despite the disaster on 14 April 1912, Titanic was possibly the safest ship of her time. Her hull was divided into sixteen watertight compartments and had a double bottom. By the flick of a switch the captain could close the watertight doors and make the vessel practically unsinkable. She could stay afloat with her first three watertight compartments opened to the sea. Indeed, Titanic would have remained afloat if she had hit the iceberg head on, but nobody foresaw a glancing blow that would open six watertight compartments to fatally wound the ship and cause her to founder.

Nor was it ever intended to leave the third class passengers to their fate. The idea behind so few lifeboats was that there would always be a ship nearby to assist should something happen. The idea was to row out the first class passengers first, row back to collect the second class and then the third. This philosophy was supported by the experience gained during the loss of the White Stars Republic, which sank in 1909 after a collision in heavy fog. Republics wireless operator sent out the first CQD in history and several ships came to