Well, I know this is a little off the normal subject matter but I
thought since we have been talking about RMS Titanic I would post a
little information and timelines on her sister ships for those
interested.

In July 1908 contracts were given to Harland & Wolff shipyards by White
Star Lines to build three new Olympic-class superliners.  The first was
the Olympic; the keel was laid in December 1908 and she set sail on her
maiden voyage in June 1911.  In March 1909 keels were laid for two more
ships, the Titanic and the Britannic.  The Titanic set sail on her
maiden voyage April 10, 1912 and sank on April 15, 1912.

After Titanic sank a lot was learned about her construction flaws,
work on the Britannic was stopped and the Olympic was called to return
to port to be refitted.  The watertight bulkheads were extended up to
the top decks and the hulls were fitted with a double skin of steel.
This was easy to do on Britannic because she was still under
construction, but Olympic remained in port for 6 months before
returning to sea.

The Britannic never saw commercial trade as it was called to be a
hospital ship before her maiden voyage.  The Britannic set sail in
February 1914 and was sunk by a German sub November 1916.  Ironically
the first ship of the trio was the last to survive.  After 24 years
of service and crossing the Atlantic 500 times the Olympic was scrapped
in 1935.

I also recall that the original name for the Britannic was to be called
Gigantic, but this was thought to be a little too bold and thus was
changed to Britannic.

Thomas Grace