Create an Olympic Class Liner

[Gabriel Gerard Scotto]

Why don't we have a little bit of fun, and create our own "Olympic" class liners? The 3 sisters were great, but I'm sure we all would have loved to see a fourth ship. Maybe one with the best bits in engineering, cosmetically, or comfort wise of the other ships. Each Entry will include a basic history and description of the liner, including changes made, the date launched, completed, and when the keel was laid. Oh, and the name. It doesn't have to be shot down by WWI, or the fact that they were four stackers(Or anything really, after all, it's just for fun!). I wasn't too happy with "Homeric," so I wondered, "What if there was a fourth 'Olympic' class liner instead?"

Name:RMS Republic(II)
Keel laid:March 5th, 1914.
Date of Completion:June 16,1921
Length:885 and 1/2ft.
Tonnage:49,550
Width:94ft
Improvements:Aft Gantry Davits moved just in front of the second funnel(due to the lifeboat launching/propellor problems with HMHS "Britannic"),an Onboard cinema, 2nd class Café Parisien, Lengthening by 2ft for greater passenger capacity and tonnage, modified double skin, complete with isolation chambers for water, to prevent "Britannic" style flooding and sinking, oil burning furnaces.

 

[Richard Stover]

Maybe trim/ballast tanks for counterflooding in case of damage to the ship? (More of a warship thing i know tho)

 

[Brent Holt]

<<<modified>>>

I am confused as to what you mean by this. Britannic & Olympic's double skin was itself subdivided into smaller compartments to prevent water from flooding the whole side of the ship and casing a severe list and possible capsizing.
I do think it is regrettable that WS did not order another Olympic Class liner after Titanic's loss. WWI might possibly have cancelled construction, but perhaps they could have got her to at least the launching stage.

Brent

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Don't fall too in love with the double skin. Double hulls are a preservation and upkeep nightmare and they don't always work as advertised. The one the Britannic had didn't stop the ship from rolling over and may well have aggravated the problem.

 

[Brent Holt]

I am aware of the arguments for and against wing watertight compartments. It certainly did not help Lusitania. I was making the point that the Britannic's inner skin was subdivided into smaller sections, which the first poster did not seem to know.

 

[Rocky Whiteside]

Name:Baltic (III)
Keel laid:November 8, 1914
Date of Completion:April 28 1919
Length:890 ft
Tonnage:49,887
Width:97ft
Improvements:Grander cabins for each class, a Ritz Restaurant for 2nd class, grander pool and steam bath that would be located on the Boat Deck, Elevators down to E Deck, more maneuverable deck plans for decks E-G, three smoke stacks, bulk-heads that go up to C Deck, Oil burning.

Soon I'll add a picture.

 

[Rocky Whiteside]

Heres what my Baltic III would look like. I also added 4 life boats davits that can hold 3 lifeboats each to the stern section (you can see them in my picture) and theres 16 life boat davits around the boat deck that can hold tree but only hold 2 during peace time (you cant see these) and theres 6 collapsibles (you cant see those in my picture either)

[Oversized image removed. MAB]

 

[Mark Baber]

Nice job, Rocky, but you might want to consider a different name. Baltic II was still very much alive and had many good years left in her in both 1914 and 1919 and White Star wouldn't have renamed her just to give the name to a newer ship. Might I suggest Gaelic, a tried and true White Star name that wasn't used after Gaelic II left the fleet in 1905, instead?

I'd also suggest that you reconsider the November 1914 "laid down" date; not much of anything in the way of merchant ship tonnage was being started once the war began.

Finally, I've resized your image so that it fits on the page.

 

[Rocky Whiteside]

How about R.M.S. Cufic III

keel laid: June 8, 1913

 

[Mark Baber]

Cufic II was also still in service.

A pre-war keel-laying, I think, makes the April 1919 completion date unrealistic. If laid down in June 1913, she would still have been months from launching when the war started in August 1914. (Recall that Olympic took two months short of two years to go from keel-laying to launch, and Titanic, two months over two years.) She would then either have been laid up for the duration, unfinished and unlaunched, at H&W or (more likely) finished as a troop carrier (a la Belgenland) or hospital ship with only bare-bones finishing. In either event, a completion date of April 1919, only four months after the war ended, doesn't sound realistic.

A post-war laying-down (late 1919 or early 1920, perhaps) and a completion date about two and a half years later would work (and would also make it more likely that she'd be built as an oil-burner from the get-go, rather than as a pre-war coal-burner that would need to be converted).

 

[Rocky Whiteside]

Celtic II

completion: May 8th 1920

In 1935 she was refitted to have a art-deco look.

In 1942 She was serving as a troop carrier and had sank a u-boat. After the war she was refitted to have a more modern look, and her speed was boosted up a knot. On July 8, 1952, She sank in the middle of the Atlantic from a small explosion off the port-bow in the engine room around noon, she sank in three hours. Only two life's were lost from the explosion. Everybody else was saved in the life boats. She now lays at the bottom of the ocean, standing upwards in wonderful condition, she even has her funnels unmoved. The only flaws are a few shattered windows, a 10 foot gap from the explosion, and the basic things that happen to a ship from being under water. To this day it is unknown why the water tight doors refused to close that day.

 

[Mark Baber]

Rocky, the real Celtic II was also still around.

 

[Rocky Whiteside]

oh, I must have the wrong information. Well enough, Ill just make a name up. The R.M.S. Epic.

 

[Mark Baber]

That'll work.

 

[Alexander John Cooley]

Name: R.M.S. Proteussic
Derives from the Greek God Proteus
Wiki link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus
length: 890 feet
width: 98 feet
Keel laid: February 16th 2017
Launch date: June 15th 2023
Completion date: November 7th 2024
Sea Trials date: December 6th - 12th 2024
Maiden voyage series date's, location's, and start - end dates:

January 14th 2025 Bon voyage departure from England due to arrive in Iceland January 18th 2025
From Iceland to Miami Florida (USA) February 1st 2025 due to arrive February 14th 2025

Departure from Miami Florida to New york February 25th same year due to arrive March 1st same year

Return voyage back to England March 10th same year due to arrive March 17th same year

Improvements:
3rd class rooms and cabins have their own facilities/bathe rooms and more comfortably accommodated with noise cancellation shielding to make for a quiet voyage.
2nd class brought up to near 1st class conditions also including each state room having what 3rd class now has with family sized hot tubs for every state room.
1st class With everything mentioned mentioned above.
swimming pool now has 3 added lanes for swimming and now is 9 feet deep.
All classes and officers and crew has satellite television, satellite internet, and A PA system.

Safety measures Tipple bottom with double sides sectioned off in a "honeycomb" pattern with removable watertight hatchways for maintenance access. Bulkheads go up to B-Deck with life boats for everyone.

Structural material used in construction Galvanized stainless Titanium of the finest kind for shipbuilding with bow and aft thrusters.

Fuel consumption Bio matter found in landfills which burns hot and bright and clean.

Radio now able to reach from new york to panama to Italy

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Structural material used in construction Galvanized stainless Titanium of the finest kind for shipbuilding with bow and aft thrusters.<<

Sounds almost like This Ship.

 

[Brent Holt]

I am not sure this is an "Olympic Class" liner anymore........

Brent

 

[Evgueni Mlodik]

RMS "Atlantic"
Keel laid: December 2nd, 1918
Launched: July 25th, 1920
Maiden Voyage: March 15th, 1921

Built as a replacement for yet another lost Olympic-class liner, Britannic and as a running mate for both the Olympic and the recently acquired SS Bismarck-cum-Majestic to provide a weekly express liner service to compete with Cunard Line's "Mauretania-Aquitania-Berengaria" trio.

Tonnage: 53,403 gross tons
Length: 909.45 feet
Beam: 96.5 feet
Decks: 12
Speed: 23 knots (service) 25.5 knots (top)

Built with a bit more emphasis on speed than the previous Olympic-class liners, the Atlantic had the old fashioned reciprocating engines replaced entirely with state of the art turbines, but she still couldn't compete with the Mauretania due to her propeller configuration.

Improvements include:

1st Class:
Removal of the A-deck cabins and replacing them with an expanded gymnasium and a small souvenir shop.

Placing the popular Cafe Parisien on the boat deck, where the
gymnasium would usually be.

With the absence of Cafe Parisien, there is room for an expanded Ala Carte Restaurant and reception area.

Complete re-configuration of the B-deck cabins, providing an extra set of private promenade suites.

Addition on many more private bathrooms for most of the cabins on A, B and C decks with extra shared wash rooms for the cheap first class cabins on D deck.

An expanded swimming pool, done in tile and mother of pearl, ornate windows and a small grand staircase leading into the water.

Extra massage parlours and steam rooms in the Turkish baths, now also with a beautician salon for the female passengers and the barber salon for the male passengers moved down alongside.

An enclosed winter garden on the forward A-deck promenade.

A small extra squash court on aft A-deck promenade, used in good weather.

Sacrificing some of the C-deck cabins to create a more spacious dining and reception area on D-deck.

A small theatre on E deck, providing vaudeville shows and serving as a part-time cinema at night.

Adjacent to the theatre is a children's play room staffed with full time nurses and nannies.

The usual chandelier in the 1st Class lounge is now replaced with an ornate elongated skylight. This, along with lighter panelling gives the room a more spacious feel.

The lounge now boasts a grand piano.

2nd Class:

The "dead space" area around the staircase on A-deck is now augmented with an access to the 1st Class palm court pantry, thus turning the small space into a tiny tea room.

The enclosed promenades on C-deck have been shortened in exchange of two 2nd Class verandah cafes, one on each side.

The dining room now has a reception area and features more elaborate light fixtures, along with more intimate seating arrangements and alcoves similar to the 1st Class dining saloon.

An extra deck house on the aft boat deck now provides the 2nd Class passengers with a small gymnasium.

Same deckhouse also provides a tiny playroom for the children.

Some of the pricier 2nd Class cabins now feature private bathrooms.

3rd Class:

Many extra washrooms and bathrooms have been added.

Some of the staterooms have been sacrificed in order to make the other cabins more spacious.

The ultra cheap (and unsanitary) open berth area is now completely gone, replaced with a few cheaper cabins and an extra lounge area.

 

[Rocky Whiteside]

That's a nice ship, Evgueni!

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>the Atlantic had the old fashioned reciprocating engines replaced entirely with state of the art turbines, but she still couldn't compete with the Mauretania due to her propeller configuration.<<

With turbines, I expect that would change and the propellors would be adapted to match. The Olympics were large ships but not so large that the greater power and efficiencies of a turbine plant couldn't have made them a few knots faster then they actually were. Throw in some well designed reduction gears and I suspect you could have had a record breaker.