Today, April 14th 1912, 110 years ago, the most famous ship in the world, the R.M.S Titanic struck an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and sank on April 15th in about two hours. The resulting disaster cost 1,504 people their lives. I wanted to share this because Titanic had two sister ships, the R.M.S Olympic and the R.M.S Britannic, and both ships were used during World War I. The Olympic was the ”older sister” of Titanic, the first edition of the White Star Line Olympic class steamships. The Olympic was originally used as a commercial service ship up until the beginning of the war. So she was used to carry troops across Europe during the war and even performed a few war acts. The Britannic was the third edition of White Star Line’s ships and the ”youngest sister” of the Olympic and the Titanic. Since the Britannic wouldn’t finish construction until 1915, the Britannic was immediately commissioned to be used as a hospital ship to carry injured troops.

Yes, all three ships look very similar, but each ship had uniquely different traits. The Olympic survived the war, even earning the the nickname ”old reliable.” However, the Britannic followed the same fate as the Titanic and sank after only a year of service. Thankfully, the Britannic sank in warmer water and closer to the shore, resulting in almost everyone surviving the sinking. A handful of passengers died due to their lifeboat being to close to the ships exposed propellers. However, an even more interesting fact is that after the Titanic disaster, The White Star Line made major safety changes to their ships to present another disaster. Even with all the safety changes, the Britannic sank in about one hour, the Titanic without these safety changes, sank in about two hours.

Anyway, I just thought this would be a fun thing to share as April 15th is the anniversary of the Titanic disaster and because Titanic’s sister ships where part of the war. I am a Titanic history nut so I wanted to share some of my knowledge.