RMS Olympic

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General Characteristics
Image:RMS Olympic.jpg RMS Olympic, sister ship of infamous RMS Titanic.
Owner:	White Star Line
Builder:	Harland and Wolff yards in Belfast, Ireland
Laid down:	December 16, 1908
Launched:	October 20, 1910
Christened:	Not Christened
Maiden voyage:	June 14, 1911
Fate:	Served for 24 years from 1911 to 1935. Scrapped.
Tonnage:	45,324 (46,439 after repairs)
Length:	882 ft, 9 in
Beam:	92.5 feet
Power:	29 boilers.Two four cylinder triple expansion reciprocating engines each producing 16000 hp for outer two propellers. One low pressure turbine producing 18000 hp for the center propeller. Total 50,000 hp.
Propulsion:	Two bronze triple blade side propellers.One bronze quadruple blade central propeller.
Speed:	21 knots

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 (1911 to 1935), 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. With a gross tonnage of 45,324 (46,439 following repairs), she was 882 ft 9 in (269 m) long and could maintain a service speed of 21 knots (39 km/h).

One notable incident in Olympic's record is a 1911 collision with a British warship, HMS Hawke. Immediately following the collision, which left two of her water-tight 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. One crew member, Violet Jessop, survived not only the collision, but also the later sinking of Titanic, and the sinking of the other of Olympic 's sisters, Britannic (1916).

During World War I, Olympic was converted into a troopship. On May 12, 1918, she rammed and sank the German U-boat U103, 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 à la carte restaurant.

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