Olympic, the first of the three Olympic-class ships, and the only one not to sink. In 1907, the Curnard Line was getting more sails than the White Star Line. Curnard had just released two new ships, Lusitania and Mauritania. Curnard also planed to build a third sister Aquitania (this ship, however, didn't enter service until 1914). Both ships could carry 2000 passengers and had a top speed of 24 knots. The White Star Line was losing people to their rival. The fact was that the two new Curnard ships were very luxurious, very fast, and steady. People would rather sail on these ships than any others. So, the same year Lusitania and Mauritania came out, White Star decided to do something never done before.

Superintendent of the White Star Line, Bruce Ismay went to the house of Lord Perrie (a really rich guy) who was a member of the Harland & Wolff firm. There they planned to build three ships. Over 100 feet longer than the Curnard ships, they would be very fast, big enough to carry 3500 people, and as luxurious as can be. Their names were chosen. Olympic to be the first, Titanic the second, and Gigantic (later changed to Britannic) the third. They would be the largest steamers, and the largest moving objects, in the world!

Compared to the very short lives of her sisters the Olympic's career lasted a quarter century. Following the disaster of her sister, she spent six months at Harland & Wolff to get better safety features and also to fit extra life boats. She was ready by the spring of 1913 and was back in service on the North Atlantic passenger route.

The first few voyages of Olympic were uneventful but disaster struck on the fifth. On the morning of September 20th 1911, the Olympic departed Southampton with Captain E.J. Smith (who was captain of Titanic when she sunk). Shortly after noon she was rounding the Bramble Bank at a speed of 19 knots when she encountered the 7350 ton British Cruiser HMS Hawke. Both ships turned and began to proceed down the Spithead Channel. Reports stated they were about 200 - 300 yards apart when suddenly the Hawke began to get pulled in toward the larger caused by her props and collision was unavoidable, and she slammed into the starboard rear of the Olympic about 85 feet from the stern.

The bow of the Hawke was very badly damaged, and two gashes were left in the side of the Olympic, one above the water line and one below. The starboard propeller was badly damaged and required replacing. Luckily there was no loss of life on either ship, and both made it back to port. In many following court cases and appeals, the Olympic was held totally responsible for the accident.

Even after the outbreak of World War One, she remained in commercial service and even rescued the crew of a British battleship Audacious that had struck a mine off the coast of Ireland. In 1915 she was commissioned as a naval transport and spent the rest of the war transporting soldiers. She was painted in very dazzling colors, with very bright geometric shapes on a yellow background, to confuse enemy submarines. Click here to see a picture from Nic Wilson's TITANIC OLYMPIC & BRITANNIC Home Page.

She survived four submarine attacks, and in March 1916 she was returned temporarily to the White Star Line. During this time she was fitted with six inch guns for submarine defense. It was in May 1918 during her 22nd troop carrying voyage the Olympic met her greatest challenge and adventure of the war. She was attacked by the German submarine U-103. The torpedo shot at Olympic missed due to evasive action, but then Olympic did an incredibly brave thing. She turned on the U-boat and rammed it! U-103 quickly began to sink and some of her crew managed to escape and were picked up by a passing American war ship.