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Launch of the 'Olympic'...



Item # 612880

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November 12, 1910

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, New York, November 12, 1910

* RMS Olympic launch
* White Star Line


Full front page photo: "The Launch Of The 60,000-Ton 'Olympic,' The Largest Ship In The World".

Inside has a report and two more photos about the launch of the Olympic.

Other topics throughout with many photos. This issue has mends at the right margin of the front page on the reverse side but also does have some damage to the front illustration as well, otherwise in good condition.

wikipedia notes: J. Bruce Ismay, the chairman of White Star Line, and William Pirrie, the chairman of Harland and Wolff shipyard, intended the Olympic-class ships to surpass rival Cunard's largest ships, the RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania in size and luxury. Olympic was to be built first, followed by Titanic and Gigantic (the latter renamed Britannic after Titanic's sinking). In order to accommodate the construction of the class, Harland and Wolff upgraded their facility in Belfast; the most dramatic change was the combining of three slipways into two larger ones. Olympic's keel was laid in December 1908 and she was launched on 20 October 1910. For her launch, the hull was painted in a light grey colour for photographic purposes (a common practice of the day for the first ship in a new class, as it made the lines of the ship clearer in the black and white photographs). Her hull was repainted following the launch.

Her maiden voyage commenced on 14 June 1911. Designer Thomas Andrews was present for the passage to New York and return, along with a number of engineers, as part of Harland and Wolff's "Guarantee Group" to spot areas for improvement. Olympic had a cleaner, sleeker look than other ships of the day: rather than fitting her with bulky exterior air vents, Harland and Wolff used smaller air vents with electric fans, with a "dummy" fourth funnel used for additional ventilation. For the powerplant Harland and Wolff employed a combination of reciprocating engines with a centre low-pressure turbine, as opposed to the steam turbines used on Cunard's Lusitania and Mauretania. White Star claimed the Olympic class's engine set-up to be more economical than expansion engines or turbines alone. Olympic consumed about 650 tons of coal per twenty four hours with an average speed of 21.7 knots on her maiden voyage, compared to 1000 tons of coal per twenty four hours for both the Lusitania and Mauretania.

Category: The 20th Century