Launched as the pride of British shipbuilding and the largest
vessel in the world, Olympic was more than 40 per cent larger than
her nearest rivals: almost 900ft long and the first ship to exceed
40,000 tons. She was built for comfort rather than speed and
equipped with an array of facilities, including Turkish and
electric baths (one of the first ships to have them), a swimming
pool, gymnasium, squash court, a la carte restaurant, large
first-class staterooms and plush public rooms. Surviving from 1911
until 1935, she was a firm favourite with the travelling public -
carrying hundreds of thousands of fare-paying passengers - and
retained a style and opulence even into her twilight years. During
the First World War, she carried more troops than any other
comparable steamship and was the only passenger liner ever to sink
an enemy submarine by ramming it. Overshadowed frequently by her
sister ships Titanic and Britannic, Olympic's history deserves more
attention than it has received. She was evolutionary in design
rather than revolutionary, but marked an ambition for the White
Star Line to dominate the North Atlantic express route. Rivals
immediately began trying to match her in size and luxury. The
optimism that led to her conception was rewarded, whereas her
doomed sisters never fulfilled their creators' dreams. This revised
and expanded edition of the critically acclaimed RMS Olympic:
Titanic's Sister uses new images and further original research to
tell the story of this remarkable ship 80 years after her career
ended.
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