Did the Titanic have any sister ships?
Yes. The White Star line decided to build three identical ships, from the one set of plans that the Harland and Wolff company was preparing. These ships were later given the names “Titanic”, “Olympic”, and “Britannic”. It was common for steamship companies to build several ships from the same plans. A lot of money was saved since the engineers only had to draw up one set of drawings. And more important, it allowed steamship lines to offer “balanced weekly service”. Of course, as the ships are built, the newer ships are modified to improve on the earlier ones. Olympic came out in 1911, and when the Titanic made her maiden voyage in 1912, several changes were made in the latter ship’s design including the addition of more luxury suites and enclosing the forward Promenade deck. The third ship, named Britannic, was heavily modified in light of the Titanic disaster, with additional watertight bulkheads and new lifeboat arrangements.
Yes, the Olympic and the Britannic The Olympic made her maiden voyage in June of 1911 and served on the Southampton New York run until the outbreak of the First World War in August of 1914. During the war, the Olympic served principally as a troop transport, carrying American and Australian men to the front lines in Europe. At the end of the war in 1918, the process was reversed and Olympic returned the troops to their country of origin. In 1919, the Olympic resumed her transatlantic passenger crossings but by the 1930s, the ships age and changing economic conditions were catching up with her. In 1934 the great British rivals, the Cunard and the White Star Lines, merged in an attempt to survive the world depression. The new company, now called Cunard White Star, carefully reviewed its ships for “superannuated and redundant tonnage”. A decision was then made to sell off all the older ships in the fleet, eight in all, and among them was the venerable, old Olympic. The fate of obsolete Br
