RMS Olympic: Titanic's Unsinkable Sister

[Music] dude [Music] [Music] late one night on an eastbound crossing early in the olympics career her senior wireless operator ernie moore was listening to the dole ship-to-shore chatter from the wireless station at cape race nearing the end of his shift he turned his marconi set over to the commercial wavelength to listen in on ship to ship messages at around 12 45 am he picked up a muffled message from mgy the call sign for the olympics new sister ship the rms titanic but atmospheric interference made it difficult to pick up the signal moore was confused and cut into the chatter of numerous other ships to ask if the titanic needed help then he waited the chatter of other ships in the area increased something big was happening finally 10 minutes later he received a brief but chilling reply from the titanic she was sinking fast and needed immediate assistance moore acted quickly he ran to the bridge and just 10 minutes after the olympic received a message captain herbert j haddock ordered full steam in the direction of the stricken liner nearly 500 nautical miles away but hours later when she was just 100 nautical miles away from the scene with the titanic signal now long silent a message was received from captain arthur rosten of the rms carpathia the titanic was gone there was nothing the olympic could do to save her sister [Music] [Music] [Music] the rms olympic and her two sisters were the culmination of a long cycle of one upsmanship between the white star line the cunard line and their german competitors the white star line was at its peak in the early years of the 20th century with the big four launched between 1901 and 1906 at the time they were the largest and most luxurious passenger ships afloat and they would all go on to enjoy long and profitable careers but before they could even launch the last of the big four the adriatic the cunard line launched a liner that would revolutionize the atlantic passenger trade on june 7 1906. the lusitania was only around 7 000 tons larger than the adriatic but her 24 not service speed made her and her sister the mauritania significantly faster than any of the competition for decades the white star line had elected not to pursue speed records competing for the blue ribbon was costly and winners would usually only hold the title for a year or two before being outdone by some new rival instead the line focused on size and luxury but with the introduction of the lusitania the white star line was losing on both fronts something had to be done lord piri the controlling chairman of harland and wolf initiated extensive and costly modernizations and expansions to the shipyard between 1906 and 1908. three shipways were converted into two significantly larger ones in preparation for the inevitable response to cunard finally in the summer of 1907 j bruce ismey the chairman of the white star line had dinner at lord perry's home in london over the course of the evening ismae and piri discussed plans for what they called the big ship and after dinner they drew up rough plans for three sisters that would set the standard for safety luxury and economic operations these plans were announced one day before the lusitania arrived in new york on her maiden voyage bruce ismay would take an active role in the designs for the new liners which would evolve rapidly from a three funnel to a four funnel design initial concepts were presented to the white star line on july 29 1908 they called for accommodations for 3 104 passengers it included a first class lounge smoking room and dining saloon all topped by magnificent glass domes but somewhat conventional stairwells while numerous changes would be made to these concepts the overall design would largely remain the same and on july 31st the white star line signed a letter of agreement for construction to proceed despite ownership by j.p morgan's international mercantile marine company the trust actually did not finance the new liners instead the white star line took out a series of commercial loans to finance the olympic trio this differed from cunard which relied on low-interest government loans to finance several of its ships during this period the white star line was enjoying unprecedented levels of success with a net profit of six million one hundred seventy five thousand eight hundred fifty two pounds from the preceding ten years nearly double the profit of cunard in 1907 saw a further fifty percent increase in profits the white star line was riding a high and bruce esme and lord peary were eager to build a liner that reflected and maintained the company's dominance [Music] on december 16 1908 the keel was laid down for harlington wolf's 400th commission labeled yard number 400 tss olympic three months later in the next slipway the keel was laid down for yard number 401 tss titanic the two sisters would be built nearly in tandem between three thousand and four thousand workers assisted in the construction of the olympic the details of her design were overseen by alexander carlisle until his retirement on june 30th 1910 when thomas andrews assumed his duties technical details of the design were overseen by andrews deputy edward wilding the question of her machinery would not be answered until several months into her construction quadruple expansion reciprocating engines proved very successful on previous white star liners including the oceanic and the big four but the lusitaneous turbines were also considered a great success but while turbines were the latest innovation efficiency and passenger comfort were the number one priority and lucitaneous turbines were causing vibration issues and her speed came at a cost in fuel consumption with that in mind it was decided that the olympic would split the difference with two triple expansion reciprocating engines that would drive her two outer propellers and a low pressure turbine engine powered by the steam exhaust that would drive a center propeller before committing to this configuration a test was conducted with two mid-sized liners being constructed to service the canadian roots the lorentic and the megantic megantic was given the conventional reciprocating engines while lorentic was outfitted with the new combination system lorentic's performance proved superior to her sister and the combination system was confirmed for olympic on april 20th 1909 just five days after the laurentic had been delivered siemens martin steel was used for the olympics shell plating and upper works it was considered battleship quality steel improved successful on previous liners that were decades into their career by that point her hole was divided into 16 compartments with watertight doors that could be closed manually or from a control panel located on the bridge she was equipped with 14 regular lifeboats two emergency cutters and four collapsible boats more than the regulations required at the time titanic would receive the same arrangement up from the original plans that called for just 14 boats and two cutters as you probably already know this configuration was not enough to hold every passenger on board but at the time lifeboats were intended primarily to ferry passengers from one ship to another it was thought that in an emergency the wireless marconi equipment could be used to call other ships on the busy north atlantic shipping lanes and help would arrive before the ship could go under this uh wasn't a good idea the olympic was launched on october 20th 1910 her hole was painted a brilliant white to make her stand out and press photos the event was attended by thousands and presided over by lord perry and she was christened by nobody because the white star line didn't christen their ships gasp a rocket was fired at 11 am and the olympic was released down the slipway to wild cheers whistles and applause at the awe-inspiring site of the largest moving object ever created sliding smoothly into the water the olympic was outfitted over the next few months her first class public rooms and promenades occupied an incredible 90 000 square feet with the majority of these spaces situated on a deck starting with her reading and writing room just past her grand staircase the room was decorated with bright white walls and large bay windows that filled the space with light plush furnishings and thick velvety carpeting softened the room while beautiful the space which was intended for women to retire to proved unpopular and was cut down to add additional first class staterooms and subsequent refits passengers greatly preferred to spend their time in the next room the grand first class lounge the 59 by 63 foot space was decorated in the louis xv style with rich finely carved wood paneling plush furnishings and carpeting all topped with a large crystal chandelier the warm and inviting room was flanked by a marble fireplace and a large bookcase and featured several cozy alcoves and large windows that filled the space with light just past her aft grand staircase came the 61 by 65 foot first class smoking room paneled in fine mahogany the room was decorated with intricate stained glass panels lit from behind that depicted mythological scenes a norman wilkinson painting the approach to the new world hung over a large marble coal burning fireplace the space which was reserved for men was allotted at the time as one of the most palatial rooms afloat the afmos first class space on a deck was the light and airy veranda cafe and palm court the garden themed rooms mirrored each other and were decorated with mirrored walls wicker furnishings and ornate trellises with climbing plants light refreshments were served throughout the day and the two rooms were a popular spot for after dinner coffee her lounge and other public spaces were bookended by her forward and aft grand staircases undoubtedly the most recognizable and impressive spaces on the ship significantly grander than the bland concept presented in her original d plans from 1908 her forward grand staircase reached from ftc to her boat deck it featured walls that were paneled in rich carved oak in a curved staircase with balustrade supported by iron scrollwork with bronze accents all culminating in a sweeping iron and glass dome that flooded the space with natural light the uppermost landing featured a clock with two female figures symbolizing honor and glory crowning time the space also featured three lifts that span from e to adex the aft grand staircase mirrored the grander forward staircase though slightly smaller and ending on a deck it offered a sense of symmetry and reflected the ship's balanced design her forward grand staircase led to a sweeping 5 000 square foot d-deck reception room decorated with jacobian white paneling light wicker furnishings bronze ceiling lights and intricate leaded looks for glass windows that were lit from behind at night giving the space a warm and inviting glow the room gave passengers the space to gather and socialize on their way to dinner in the accompanying 10 000 square foot dining room being 114 feet long and spanning the full width of the ship the first class dining saloon was the largest room afloat at the time this room continued the jacobean style of her reception room and featured finely carved oak furnishings the olympic also featured an a la carte restaurant on b deck decorated in a plush louis the 16 style with french walnut paneling and delicate light fawn brown colors the space represented a growing trend on larger liners offering an alternative to the main dining room for an additional fee the exclusivity of such a space proved popular and generated extra profits the ship also boasted a lavish turkish bath modeled after a popular feature on the adriatic that further set the olympic apart from the lusitania and the mauritania which lacked such facilities the space was incredibly ornate and offered a variety of treatments that seem a little scary by today's standards she also boasted a salt water pool and a well-equipped gymnasium her first class date rooms offered unprecedented space and luxury these were decorated in numerous styles ranging from empire adams georgian louis the 16th regency modern dutch and old dutch while a bit less glamorous her second-class faces were comfortable and luxurious often finer than the first class spaces found on rival vessels and though largely utilitarian she offered clean and comfortable third class accommodations that were some of the best available at the time often lending standards better than most third class passengers were accustomed to on land the olympic cost somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million pounds to build and measured 882 feet long with a beam of 92 feet and came in at 45 324 gross registered tons she could accommodate 2 435 passengers in a crew of 950 and her combination system of propulsion achieved an impressive service speed of 21 knots though she didn't match lusitania's speed she bested her kinard rivals in nearly every other category she was by far the largest passenger liner ever put to see and she immediately set a new bar for what passengers could expect while crossing the atlantic [Music] the rms olympic sailed her maiden voyage on june 14 1911 captained by edward smith the commodore of the white star line thomas andrews bruce ismey and the heartland wolf guarantee group were on board to iron out any issues with the new ship the titanic was launched only a few days before on may 31st the voyage proved successful earning the olympic worldwide acclaim her first eight crossings would go on to demonstrate her popularity with passengers and the potential for profit she would enjoy for most of her career but then on september 20th 1911 the olympic collided with the british cruiser hms hawk on the solent her size and turning radius took the crew the hawk by surprise and her powerful propeller stuck the small warship's bow into her side the collision flooded two watertight compartments but no one was injured despite the damage the olympic was able to return to southampton on her own power in order to get the olympic back into surface as quickly as possible the propeller shaft intended for the titanic was used to replace the one damaged in the collision delaying titanic's completion the repairs took just six weeks to complete and the olympic was able to return to service by november of that year on march 30th 1912 captain smith left the olympic to take command of her sister he was replaced by captain herbert james haddock over the course of his career he captained several white star liners including the titanic for a brief period of time before she was delivered to southampton for her maiden voyage and turned over to captain smith [Music] on april 13th 1912 the olympic left new york for a routine eastbound crossing the next 48 hours would forever change her career after receiving titanic's distress signals at around 12 45 am the olympic raced at full speed to the scene of the unfolding tragedy 500 nautical miles away though captain haddock responded quickly to the situation lighting all possible boilers to maximize her speed there was still considerable confusion about what was actually going on after titanic told olympic to ready her boats and asked her position olympic responded by asking if the titanic was speeding south to meet them the urgency of the situation became clear when titanic responded by saying that they were putting pastures off in small boats soon the titanic's distinctive signal went silent but the olympic would continue trying to contact her sister throughout the night by mid-morning passengers slowly began piecing together fragments of what happened all concerts were canceled in a sign of respect and soon passengers began raising money for the survivors collecting nearly seven thousand dollars almost 14 hours after receiving titanic's distress calls and 100 nautical miles from the scene of the disaster the olympic received a message from captain arthur rostron of the rms carpathia all survivors had been taken aboard there was nothing more the olympic could do to help when olympic offered to take some survivors rostrum declined fearing that the sight of titanic's identical sister would only further traumatize her survivors instead olympic resumed her course and helped relay the list of survivors to new york she finally arrived in southampton at 2 am on april 21st captain haddock was reportedly exhausted by the experience but in the coming days and months the trauma felt by the rest of olympics crew would soon turn into outrage [Music] immediately after the disaster the inadequate number of lifeboats on both the titanic and the olympic came under intense scrutiny and the white star line promised to equip their ships with enough lifeboats for everyone on board in the scramble to quickly make good on this promise 24 collapsible boats from troop ships were installed on the olympics boat deck at the end of april 1912. at first this seemed adequate but as she was set to sail to new york 284 of her firemen went on strike they felt that the second hand collapsibles were unsafe and demanded wooden lifeboats be installed instead these firemen were well aware that nearly all the men that held their job on the titanic died in the disaster and they wanted assurances that there would be space for all of them and seaworthy lifeboats if a similar disaster occurred on the olympic the company brought in 100 non-union crew members to replace the striking crew but obviously this didn't solve the situation and the sailing was finally canceled 54 of the striking crew members were arrested for mutiny and on may 4th 1912 they were found guilty but they were discharged without fines or jail time and allowed to return to work on may 15th because of the circumstances of the situation finally on october 9th 1912 the olympic was withdrawn from service to undergo a significant refit to further improve the ship's safety and ensure public trust in the liner changes were extensive her lifeboat capacity was increased from 20 to 68 and extra davits were installed along the full length of her boat deck to accommodate them a double haul was constructed in her boiler and engine rooms and five watertight compartments were extended up from the original height on e or d deck to the full height of her hole on b deck this would prevent water from spilling from one compartment to the next and would effectively prevent the olympic from sinking if she were to experience a similar disaster as the titanic improvements were also made to her pumps making her more capable of dealing with a breach the white star line also sees the opportunity to make improvements to her passenger spaces largely on b deck including adding extra cabins more private bathrooms and a new cafe parisian like the one on titanic she re-entered service in march 1913 and was briefly again the largest ship in the world until the imperator entered service in june of that same year she was marketed as the new olympic with her new safety features heavily advertised she was once again embraced by the traveling public and enjoyed a few more months of peace before world war one would bring a new challenge to her career the olympic initially remained in commercial service with her whole painted gray and her windows blacked out she helped rescue survivors from the battleship hms audacious during her last commercial voyage in october then in may of 1915 she was requisitioned by the admiralty to serve as a troop ship her unfinished sister the britannic was also requisitioned for use as a hospital ship the olympic was armed with 12 pounders and 4.7 inch guns and converted to carry up to 6 000 troops per voyage on november 21st 1916 hmhs britannic struck a mine and sank in the aegean sea leaving the olympic the sole survivor of the trio during her war service hmt olympic was commanded by bertram fox hayes a longtime veteran of the white star line the olympic would prove more than just a valuable troop ship on may 12 1918 while sailing for france in the english channel a surface u-boat was spotted the olympic opened fire on u-103 as they attempted to crash dive and acting fast captain hayes turned its giant ship to ram the enemy sub hitting just after her conning tower the olympics port propeller sliced through the pressurized hull crippling the u-boat and forcing her crew to abandon her they were picked up later by the uss davis the olympic continued on to southampton having only suffered two dented hole plates and a twisted prow but no breach captain hayes was awarded the distinguished service order and a plaque was placed in the olympics lounge commemorating the event over the course of the war in addition to sinking a damn u-boat the olympic carried around 201 000 troops and traveled 184 thousand miles and captain hayes was knighted for his exemplary service having over-performed in nearly every way the olympic was finally ready to return to passenger service and live out the dream she was designed for [Music] in a refit after the war the olympic was converted from coal burning to oil significantly boosting her efficiency and reducing her turnover time which used to take days this also reduced her required engine room crew from 350 to just 60. she returned to passenger service on june 25th 1920 and proved more popular with passengers than ever this was her heyday she carried a number of celebrities and was considered one of the most fashionable ways to cross the atlantic she was refitted a number of times over the 1920s to remain competitive in the ever-changing market in response to new immigration laws in the united states her third class was converted to tourist class in 1927 to attract tourists looking for comfortable and affordable travel options in a haunting coincidence on november 18 1929 the olympic began to violently vibrate near the site of the titanic disaster for around 2 minutes the strange occurrence was later found to have been caused by the 1929 grand banks earthquake the 1930s proved challenging for older liners and the olympic was no exception the great depression greatly reduced travel and the market was saturated with a generation of new miners with modern features that made the olympic and her contemporaries feel increasingly outdated her passenger numbers took a major hit and on many voyages she sailed less than half full the white star line attempted to keep her up to date carrying out a major refit in 1932 but despite these efforts she continued operating at a loss in 1933 she carried just 9 000 passengers then in 1934 the olympic played a part in one last tragedy on may 15th in heavy fog as the olympic headed to new york she passed too close to the nantucket light ship failing to turn in time the giant liners sliced through the tiny vessel killing four of the light ship's crew members instantly three more died from their injuries later on leaving just four survivors that same year the white star line merged with cunard to form the cunard white star line with the queen mary and queen elizabeth slated to soon enter service older liners like the olympic majestic and mauritania were all retired the olympic left new york for the last time on april 5th 1935 and after a brief layup in southampton she was transported to yarrow for scrapping it was reported that her engines and hull were as sound as ever as they were torn apart over the course of her career she completed 257 round trips across the atlantic and traveled over 1.8 million miles she carried over 430 000 commercial passengers and was widely regarded as one of the most successful and beloved liners to sail the atlantic during the war the olympic earned the nickname old reliable which is somewhat ironic given that her nearly identical sister is now synonymous with disaster i know this might be a slightly controversial opinion but to me the olympic proves that most of the misconceptions about titanic's design and safety are exaggerated or flatly untrue the olympic trio were marvels of design and engineering they were deeply pragmatic ships that made passenger comfort and safety a top priority the olympic-made ships built only a few years before look ancient her long career and loyal passenger base only demonstrate her achievement the titanic was unlucky and she suffered a situation that would have taken down most any of her contemporaries in many ships today sometimes when you're sure that you thought of everything something unexpected throws everything into chaos sometimes what you think is the best just isn't good enough but we keep trying we learn from our mistakes and we keep sailing on the olympic had a long and reliable career she exemplified the best of ocean travel and overshadowed by tragedy she carried on and she triumphed [Music] all right that's the rms olympic if you can't tell i absolutely love this ship and honestly if i was given the chance i could probably talk about her for six or seven or three thousand hours if you like this video go ahead and give it a like leave a comment and if you're one of those lurkers why not give me a follow and if you want to do a little bit more to help out this channel go ahead and check out that donation link down at the bottom but of course only give if you want to alright everyone hope you enjoyed this one until the next one be nice to people [Music] you

Channel: Big Old Boats

Views: 281,995

Keywords: titanic sinking, rms olympic, titanic, olympic, White Star Line, Ocean Liner History, Ocean Liners, RMS Titanic, Titanics sister, what happened to titanics sister ship?, great ocean liners, titanic survivors, titanic iceberg, titanic sister ships, facts about titanic, transatlantic, titanic truth, world war one, troopship, u-103 sinking, u-103 u boat, hms hawke, olympic collision, nantucket lightship, nantucket lightship wreck, Olympic ship

Id: a4Sq75RhWhE

Length: 28min 4sec (1684 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 14 2022