The White Star Line decided to build three ships that would dominate the north atlantic route. A few years back another shipping company, Cunard, had taken over the north atlantic with Mauretania and Lusitania. Cunard's oceanliners was faster than anything the world had yet seen. But The White Star Line made the decision to not focus on speed, but on luxery and comfort. To bring their vision to life The White Star Line choosed to build their liners at the shipyard Harland & Wolff in Belfast, Ireland.


Olympic was laid down in 1908 and launched in 1910. When her sister Titanic was launched, Olympic was still number one. She became a triumph for White Star Line and known as the "old reliable". In 1911, Olympic collided with another ship (known as the "Hawke" incident) and was badly damaged on the starbord side and Olympic was brought back to Belfast for repairs. Workers transferred from Titanic to Olympic, wich delayed Titanic's maiden voyage from the origial march to april. Olympic was quickly restored and taken back in service. But after the loss of Titanic in 1912, Olympic's stokers instigated a strike demanding that lifeboats would be available for everyone. During WWI she served as a troopship and survived four torpedo attacks. When the war ended in 1918 she resumed her role as an oceanliner. But during the 30's, Olympic was getting old. In 1935 was Olympic gone, and sold as scrap metal.


Titanic is most famous of the three sisters, but it was not always like that. Titanic was number two, in shadow of Olympic. Yes, Titanic was the largest ship in the world in April 1912. But one month later a bigger german ship was launched. Titanic was in the papers talked about as "Unsinkcable" with waterproof doors that could be managed from the bridge. But, history proved the papers wrong. The fate of Titanic forced the world to change their views on nature and the confidence on technology. Titanic did no sink because of bad weather or war, and that is what still makes it so fascinating.


When Titanic sunk in 1912, the third sister was still in the making. The White Star Line was forced to take severe actions and safety was now the highest priority. The name intended for the ship was Gigantic, but in the end she was named Britannic. But Britannic never crossed the atlantic, WWI came between and Britannic was called in as a hospital ship. On June 6th 1916, Britannic was hit by either a torpedo or a mine and sunk in the mediteranian sea. Around 60 people was killed.

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