Talk:RMS Olympic

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[edit] E.J. Smith

The Edward (E.J.) Smith and White Star Line (Company) links in Olympic and Titanic articles should have the same label. What's the best way to do this? They are currently unpopulated. Skeetch

Edward Smith commanded both vessels, both the Olympic on her maiden voyage to New York, and back to Southhampton. Then commanded the Titanic on her fateful voyage. Perhaps create a section regarding E.J. Smith captaining both vessels?

Should they put in the fact that there are many conspiracy theories and that they could change things majorly on the way we see things? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomtob1 (talk • contribs) 16:31, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Nantucket Lightship

The Nantucket Lightship that Olympic rammed and sank in 1934, was that the actual name of the ship or only a class-name designation?

This is addressed in the linked page at Lightship Nantucket. Kablammo 13:03, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Date of maiden voyage

It says that the Olympic's maiden voyage was on May 31, 1911. This is incorrect. That it the date the the liner went on its sea trials. The Olympic's date of maiden voyage was June 14, 1911, so I changed it.

[edit] Redundancy

The information on surviving screens and fittings appears in both the table and the text, to which it was recently added. It has been removed it from the table. Kablammo 07:35, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The launch

I've added some information about the launch of the Olympic, ie. the date and that her hull was painted grey for the occasion. It would perhaps be of interest to add some launch pictures, but unfortunately I'm not familiar with any pictures that are in the public domain. --SincereGuy 20:20, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] World War I

This section has recently been edited to read:

With a speed of 22 knots, Olympic was fast enough to evade German U-boats. However, her crew took extra precaution when Lusitania, which was much faster than Olympic, was torpedoed by a U-Boat in April of 1915.

While Lusitania was capable of higher speeds, when lost it was operating with one of its boiler rooms shut down, and at a maximum speed of 21k, so I'm not sure of the relevance of the comparision with Olympic. Kablammo 13:00, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

You are right, I delete it before I read this...Olympic was fast enough to outrun a U-boat, but a much faster lusitania was nailed by U-boat later some assumed that Lusitania wasnt immune after all? After further reading, Lusitania slowed down less than 18 knots because of some kind of fog and did not use zig zag pattern making her an easy kill.

[edit] Post-war

I have included some additional information from my own research regarding Olympic 's later refits, her speed performance and the decline in passenger numbers. In point of fact, Olympic averaged 2,255 passengers on her westbound crossings in 1920 but I just included her best passenger list as I don't think it's appropriate to flood the article with facts and figures. Olympic enthusiasts may find them interesting but the general user will not!

Mark Chirnside 17:41, 24 October 2006 (UTC)Mark Chirnside

[edit] Photograph from Nantucket lightship

The article contains a photograph of Olympic passing Lightvessel 117 in 1934. The caption stated that it was taken in April 1934, a date coming from the source from which the photograph was obtained, the U.S. Coast Guard, into which the Lighthouse Service was merged.[1] An editor changed the month to January 1934, apparently in reliance on a secondary source.[2] (There were two unsourced edits to the same effect last fall.) The photograph, taken from onboard the lightvessel, is a graphic illustration of how close liners passed anchored lightships, including Olympic passing the very vessel she later struck only a few weeks or months prior to that disaster. As the actual month is irrelevant the caption has been edited to delete the reference to a specific month. Kablammo 19:05, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The "retaliation" against the U-boat

This bit from the article doesn't quite make sense to me:

...she was attacked by a U-boat U-103; Olympic Under the command of Captain Bertram Fox-Hayes managed to avoid the torpedo and then rammed the U-boat and sank it, the only known sinking of a warship by a merchant vessel during World War I. Despite this heroic effort, not everyone was thrilled. Some people criticised her crew for risking thousands of lives to retaliate against the U-boat

The word "retaliate" seems kind of silly, as does any criticism. Presumably, the U-boat would have continued to try and sink its target, making the ramming an act of self defense. Who are the "some people" who criticised this? 70.20.232.141 01:26, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Can a ship be "infamous"?

Olympic is compared to her "infamous" sister ship Titanic. Not fair, and anyway, how can a ship, an inanimate object, have attached to it a human trait? Well, maybe, but Titanic was mistreated, and was not at fault. I have removed the descriptive adjective. JohnClarknew 06:08, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 86.134.102.187

86.134.102.187 left the following note on my talk page which seems to include some sources. Hopefully someone can integrate them into the article (if no one else does, I may, but I figured it might be faster to leave a note here).

The information you deleted from the Olympic article was entirely correct, ableit unreferenced. The figure of 50,000 horsepower comes from various sources, but Olympic's Chief Engineer confirmed (in 1911) that the engines could produce 59,000 horsepower at full speed. As revolutions increase, so does the power developed. Although a little known fact, it is entirely accurate and factual. In terms of Olympic's full speed, she regularly recorded speeds of between 23 and 24 knots in service. Once, prior to 1915, she averaged 24.2 knots over a 24 hour period according to the White Star Line's Harold Sanderson. See Mark Chirnside, 'The Olympic Class Ships' (page 72 for the 59,000 figure) and 'RMS Olympic' (both books Tempus Publishing, 2004). http://www.markchirnside.co.uk

[edit] Hawke incident

The description of the Hawke incident doesn’t make sense. It gives the impression that the Titanic was involved in a near collision in 1917, five years after she sank. Does anyone know what it should say? Thunderbird2 18:32, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Ok, I've clarified the text...does it help? AKRadeckiSpeaketh 20:49, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it helps a little, but I'm still not sure about the timing. It now gives the impression that the Titanic was involved in a near collision in September 1912 ... Thunderbird2 21:06, 12 August 2007 (UTC) ... that's still five months after she sank. Thunderbird2 08:47, 13 August 2007 (UTC)