Collision: RMS Olympic and HMS Hawke

[@DevilSurvivor69]

HMS Hawke wreck was very recently found and it's getting more attention now, so this video is right on time.

[@domsphotography]

The most remarkable fact about the Olympic class ships is that Violet Jessop was stewardess for the White Star line and was on the Olympic when the Hawk hit it and both Titanic and Britainic when they sunk and lived to the ripe old age of 83 in 1971

[@glenchapman3899]

And if I recall was the only survivor of a life boat that was hit by the Britanic's propeller as it was sinking

[@michaelplunkett8059]

And yet she went back to work at sea till she retired.

[@jodij2366]

There was one better than that - Arthur John Priest was a stoker on all three vessels as well as on three other vessels that had incidents!

[@truthsRsung]

You think that the victims that survived the reckless attitudes of Smith and Boyer is more remarkable than the decisions that created the incidents in the first place? Gaslight me please!

[@glenchapman3899]

@@jodij2366 Thanks for that. I just looked this guy up. He survived 4 sinkings, and 2 major collisions. And retired because no one would work with him....gee I wonder why lol

[@ronjones1077]

Even though these two ships have had the most coverage of want other ship in history, this presentation is Excellent! The small details that are often left out and the none AI voice go a long way in support of this great history channel. Thank you!

[@andypandy9013]

The fittings of the first-class lounge and part of the aft grand staircase of the RMS Olympic can be found in the White Swan Hotel, in Alnwick, Northumberland, England. I have seen them first hand and they really are magnificent. 🙂

[@ianallan8005]

The dining room was stripped out and ended up as the canteen of a paint factory in Haltwistle. An acquaintance of mine (not a friend, strange chap) stripped it out and sold it piecemeal as a Titanic relics.

[@Shaggyshadric]

Olympic is by far the most interesting sister, she rammed and sank a uboat, rammed and sank a lightship, was hit by a torpedo(didn’t detonate), was rammed by a warship, served as a troopship, and went on to have a very long career as a luxury passenger liner. Her scrapping provided jobs for hundreds of struggling people in the depression, it’s a shame she could not be saved as a museum ship

[@cleverusername9369]

You left out an important detail: not only did she ram and sink a German U-Boat, she just up and Irish Goodbye'd out of there and dipped like a gangster, without bothering to help the Germans.

[@stevewixom9311]

I sure agree with you about the museum ship part but i really don't think people thought that way alot back then.

[@BNuts]

@@stevewixom9311 They didn't, generally, however you would think they'd see the value of saving the last of the Olympic-class ocean liners, especially as _Olympic_ was already giving people 'the Titanic experience' after the middle sister sunk. But mostly they were concerned with operating costs. They determined those to be too expensive, despite her being fit for continuing services, and scrapped her right behind _Mauretania_ . Control of White Star-Cunard was determined by hull tonnage, and Cunard had the advantage. It wouldn't take long for 'White Star' to be dropped, and _Oceanic III_ would be replaced by _Queen Mary_ .

[@Phaaschh]

At least a large part of her interior survives as the dining room of the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick, Northumberland. ​@@stevewixom9311

[@BrandNaz]

Don’t forget to add the fact she received Titanic’s distress and she was 500 miles away from Titanic when she was sinking and was making way to her sister but wouldn’t make it

[@rcair123]

Although I have known this story for many years and have read about it many times as always your telling of this bit of history has left me better informed and entertained. Thank you for your consistently excellent work, history deserves to be remembered.

[@RetiredSailor60]

Good morning History Guy and everyone watching. Have a great weekend. When I was stationed on USS Semmes DDG 18 in 1983, the ship came very close to colliding with USS America CV 66 while providing plane guard in the Caribbean.

[@farmwife7944]

Thank-you for your service young man.

[@RetiredSailor60]

@@farmwife7944 You're welcome ma'am. I wish I was a younger man! Lol

[@lancerevell5979]

In the early 1980s, my Navy frigate USS Ainsworth FF-1090 was anchored in the bay outside Norfolk Navy Base, Va.due to thick fog. Too unsafe to proceed in to port. I was on lookout duty on the signal bridge that night. We had lights on and the fog horn sounding as per regs. Suddenly the aft lookout gave an alarm - "It's coming right at us! It's BIG!" I swung my "big eyes" (large deck mounted binocs) to look aft. A HUGE container ship was coming up on us at full speed! Luckily the ship passed along our port side, close enough we rocked in her wake. Using my binocs I could see the bridge was brightly lit and EMPTY. Both against reg and common sense. That vessel continued to rocket in towards Norfolk. I don't know for sure but that ship should have been reported to authorities for breaking maritime rules. That Captain, I hope, lost his captaincy. Had he struck us we likely would have been sunk. That ship was many times our displacement and some three times our length. 😮

[@farmwife7944]

@@RetiredSailor60 age is relative. You know the saying that you are only as old as you feel. 😂🤣😭. Somedays I feel every bit of my 72 years, other days I think I feel closer to 90+ then other days when I am listening to music from the Woodstock Festival and I am back in my teen hippie years. It’s all relative.

[@guernica4262]

I always find it interesting how you can trace a chain of events back through history. The last bit about Olympic's accident postponing Titanic's launch and thus her accident, is case in point.

[@BNuts]

_Titanic_ was also delayed a day for weather, and again when _Olympic_ threw a propeller, and had to return to replace it. The part, again, came from _Titanic_ . _Titanic_ was further delayed an hour by nearly colliding into _City of New York_ , a much older ocean liner that got pulled toward _Titanic_ by the ship's suction as she passed. Captain Smith ordered all-astern, buying tugs the time they needed to recover the smaller ship and pull her back.

[@jliller]

"History does not happen in a vacuum." -Indy Neidell

[@SynchronizorVideos]

Minor note at 12:06, Olympic displaced around 52,000 tons. The 45,000 ton figure was her register tonnage, which was a measure of enclosed volume, not actual weight/displacement.

[@trooperdgb9722]

GRT - Gross registered tonnage where 100 cubic feet of enclosed space equals "1 ton GRT"- has always struck me as a bit of a fraud. Modern Cruise ship lines love it of course because given that their ships ae essentially huge boxes, its hardly surprising that THAT measure gives them impressive figures. I'm ex Navy and so of course I am most familiar with DISPLACEMENT.. which seems to be an honest measure of a ships "size"...although Deadweight tonnage for cargo ships also seems pretty honest... including the cargo weight for cargo ships seems entirely reasonable.

[@SynchronizorVideos]

@@trooperdgb9722 The old register tonnage and modern tonnage are meant to be a measure of a ships capacity, and used for things like port fees. They weren't meant to be a measure of a ship's actual displacement, and anyone using it as such probably doesn't understand the difference.

[@trooperdgb9722]

@@SynchronizorVideos Or care.

[@spectrotekservices]

Always well researched and presented. Thank you so much for being a voice of clarity in the fog of history.

[@Irish381]

Violet Jesop was aboard RMS OLYMPIC , RMS TITANIC and HMHS Britainic

[@mdit21]

_RMS Olympic_ collisions: Tugboat _OL Hallenbach_ Protected Cruiser _HMS Hawke_ U-boat (submarine) _U-103*_ Passenger-cargo steamship _Fort St. George_ Lightvessel (Lightship) _Lightship 117 Nantucket_ *rammed on purpose during hostilities in WWI Side note: Also struck underwater obstacle in Atlantic throwing a propeller blade. Upon leaving Belfast (after repair), struck harbor bottom (no damage).

[@daveerhardt1879]

I like your theory that the Titanic may not have sunk if this accident hadn't occurred because of it's delay in it's construction. Great history as usual.

[@KevinJRogers]

Great episode, Lance. I know the story well, but I've never heard it put so clearly. Terrific job.

[@alanharper2734]

Thank you for this excellent account. Clear, credible sources well referenced. Well up to your usual standards.

[@truthsRsung]

Which source was credible, the millionaire that paused lunch to glance out a window or the judge that was charged with saving the Royal Navy money?

[@jasonhenderson8441]

I am glad this story is out there. I hope people that are in the shipping business are still learning from Olimpic story.

[@mattgeorge90]

Great episode!

[@raycast6277]

Another awesome video! H.G. always does a great job of telling the stories inside the story! Thanks you Sir. Keep being You!!

[@51WCDodge]

What's brown ,steams and comes out of Cowes? The Isle of Wight Ferry! (I'll get my coat)

[@jeffsutherland1602]

The things one finds on the internet: Someone sent me a copy of a military document, a passenger manifest for the Olympic. My grandfather, a US Army officer in WW-I, sailed to France on the Olympic in 1918.

[@NVRAMboi]

Thanks Lance. Your content is always "first class"..

[@jamesbrown4092]

HMS Hawke - the biggest butterfly in history. Another strike that I have heard against the ship swap conspiracy is that many passengers of the Titanic also sailed on Olympic, yet not of them seemed to think the public spaces of Titanic were identical to Olympic, as the decor of the ships were different. One of the placed a ship swap might take place is in Titanic documentaries. Almost any newsreel footage and many pictures of 'Titanic' are actually Olympic because of her novelty when she first sailed and her long career, there was a lot of pictures and film of her. Titanic didn't get as much photographic attention because they already had photos and film of an Olympic class ship.

[@andrewstackpool4911]

The main strike concerns the miners' strike. TITANIC coaled ship, including coal left by Olympic after she sailed two days earlier.

[@Nat3ski]

Always smooth sailing with the History Guy, unfortunately the same can't be said for these two vessels.

[@BNuts]

Ismay tested out whether he could get passengers for a slower, but more economical ship, earlier than with _Teutonic_ and _Majestic_ , the previous _Oceanic_ and another ship were early test beds. And then the Big Four were this in full-scale. _Celtic_ , _Cedric_ , _Baltic_ , and _Adriatic_ all focused on luxury, and were each, in sequence, the largest ships of their time. They also each had different luxuries aboard, all of which would be brought together within a single hull for the first time with the Olympic-class. Both Cunard and White Star performed similar tests to compare the trusty triple-expansion team engine against Parson's new steam turbine. Cunard was satisfied with the turbine's 2-knot advantage, however White Star was also looking at fuel consumption so they could pass the more affordable option on to potential customers. They saw that the ship with the turbine consumed almost twice as much coal as the one running on triple-expansion engines. But they threw in one further trick: The Olympic-class would use triple-expansion engines for its outboard propellers. Once the steam had finished passing through all three stages of these engines, the waste stream would then pass, at low pressure, into a low-pressure steam turbine that drove the central propeller, giving the Olympic-class a little more speed. The class was significantly larger than the Lusitania-class, but not significantly slower. In response to this, Cunard made their third sister more of a half-sister to the _Lusitania_ , while a cousin to the _Olympic_ . _Aquitania_ was much larger, more focused on luxury, more similar to her competition in capacity. Meanwhile, in Germany, Albert Ballin created the Imperator-class for NDL to be the new 'largest ship.' They sort of panicked because there was a rumour _Aquitania_ would be longer than _Imperator_ , so they stuck an eagle figure on the front of the ship. _Aquitania_ was not longer.

[@bobthecomputerguy]

It's interesting that passengers would state it couldn't have been suction, a statement that would require working knowledge about esoteric facts on fluid-dynamics, which presumably none of them had. Perhaps the ship was filled with engineers heading to a conference on fluid-dynamics, but I highly doubt that.

[@robertjensen1438]

A ship carrying blue paint collided with a ship carrying red paint. 50 sailors were marooned.

[@tobyeperkins697]

Oh my🤭

[@the80hdgaming]

Bah dum tiss! 😂😂😂

[@rebeccaLIATM]

Lol

[@kathryngoff7089]

😝

[@John-g6x1h]

LMAO

[@ronniewatkins]

Thank you, Professor Geiger, for this wonderful presentation! It's definitely history that deserves to be remembered!

[@chrislittlepage5416]

Another suggestion for one of your videos Sir is the 1925 Church Hill Tunnel cave in which buried on locomotive 10 flat cars in several railroad workers. Thank you for your time

[@superdupercooper5826]

Thank you for covering this. I hope it brings more people into the fascinating world of the transatlantic liners.

[@Jack-xo2zp]

So, if the Olympic hadn't had its accident, then Titanic wouldn't have had its accident, and the submersible Titan wouldn't have had its accident.

[@stargazer5784]

Maybe, but Rush still would have eventually gotten himself or someone else killed.

[@BNuts]

There were other delays.

[@IncredibleEdibleCake]

"She's the pride of the White Star Line, may her engines never stall! Her sisters died from 'berg and mine, but she'll run for decades more. She'll run for decades more!"

[@DicedIceBaby314]

Thanks again for the great content!

[@jackgreene8769]

“Man let’s hope this is the biggest tragedy that ever befalls this class of ship!”

[@ellisonms]

In the US Navy, large ships often sail within 150 feet of one another for hours during underway replenishment operations. The helmsmen of both participating vessels must vigilantly steer SLIGHTLY away from the other ship in order to counteract what is known as the Venturi Effect, where the hydrodynamics of the water passing between the ships' hulls tends to suck the ships together. And the relative size of the ships makes no difference. The Venturi Effect is a concern if the ships involved are a large tanker refueling an aircraft carrier or an aircraft carrier refueling a small destroyer. It is always there. But I can categorically state that the Venturi Effect will never, EVER be enough to make one ship essentially turn almost 90 degrees to crash into the other. At the VERY most, the ships would bump sides! In this case it is painfully obvious that the conning officer of the Hawke made an error in judgement while trying to pass astern of the Olympic and caused the accident. And who am I? I spent years as the Sea Detail Officer of the Deck on a US Navy cruiser, conning the ship for hours within 150 feet of aircraft carriers and destroyers during underway replenishment operations. Of course, history says the courts ruled otherwise. But nautical courts are notorious for ruling that both parties in a nautical collision bear some responsibility as, in this case, the conning officer of the Olympic COULD have sped up, or turned her stern away from the approaching Hawke. The key is the DEGREE of culpability. I am guessing that the nautical court assigned the degree of culpabilities in this case to be 10% or less to the Olympic and 90% or more to the Hawke. (Rightly or wrongly, that is how nautical courts work. Think about driving your car. You have a green light at an intersection and somebody on the cross street runs their red light and hits your car. If you had been alert, you COULD have stopped or sped up to avoid being hit by the other vehicle. But since you were NOT alert (and who would be in this case?) a nautical court would assign a small part of the culpability in the accident to you!) Thanks for all of your good work. In this case I am what one who could be call a "specialist" reviewing a specialized situation. The conclusions you reached are most understandable unless one has actually "been there, done that".

[@andrewstackpool4911]

I would suggest that OLYMPIC as the hold-on ship would have held course and speed, while HAWKE as the obliged (overtaking) vessel should have been either slowed or kept more than a cable clear. I suspect that by the time Smith realized he was in a dangerous close quarters situation, it would have been too late to increase speed, and he may well have been constrained by his draft. I do have one question which is at what angle was Hawke at the collision; imagery seems to suggest almost right angles, but if she was still abaft, she may well have impacted on a bearing, and with the proximity of OLYMPIC's starboard and central propellers that would make sense as she would be in the suction vice pressure zone. I suspect there is another factor. We see how the size of ships increased dramatically during the late 19th/early 20th Century. I suggest that knowledge did not keep up with the changes and technology (e.g. triple screws). How well was the Venturi affect understood with increasing size and power? How well was advance and transfer in course alterations understood? How well was paddle wheel affect understood (Murdoch acted correctly per training aboard TITANIC; could different engine orders changed the situation)? And so on. I had a valuable lesson on Venturi early in my career. I had command of a triple screw Torpedo Recovery Vessel (great job and life). We were doing OOW Manoeuvers in Jervis Bay, NSW, with an ATTACK class patrol boat, fitted with powerful engines (I forget which). We were alongside for a practice transfer (about 40feet out) and Guide. On conclusion, the PB wound up clearing speed and forged away. We caught the suction zone forward and my boat altered rapidly for their quarterdeck. Some fast helm work and stopping starboard saved the situation. Later, I found our RIVER class DE to be great for UNREPS, especially with a fast backdown approach. Heaps of horsepower and response. 26-28kts in, stop engines just abaft their stern, if you had it spot on, you hit the pressure zone as you stopped, half ahead at just over stationing speed and steer a degree or two out. At break away, start about five degrees out and wind up to about 22-24 knots. That took time to come on, but you were well clear when it kicked in.

[@lorettawilson1599]

This is a very interesting story...I never knew anything ever about the Olympic and the other ship !!!😊

[@David-wy9jl]

Interesting conclusion. Thanks.

[@HM2SGT]

*Thank you, yet again. Your presentations are always simultaneously intriguing, interesting, educational and entertaining.*

[@markhodge7]

You never fail to tell a tale that I knew none or little of.

[@theoldgrowler3489]

Interesting conclusion!

[@KiowaOH58]

another great story

[@nelsonbergman7706]

So some of Titanic's parts were "pirated"🏴‍☠ for use on the Olympic?

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

That is true.

[@BNuts]

Hull plating, a propeller shaft, and later a propeller that _Olympic_ threw.

[@billthetraveler51]

I always enjoy these minuscule historical moments that completely change the course, [ pun intended], of the timeline of history. We would have totally forgotten both of these giant liners had Captain Smith not been on the bridge.

[@thestrangechannelofjeff7426]

Could you imagine if they kept the Olympic and it became a museum ship !

[@Lillimelight]

Great video! Just FYI Titanic's original voyage was scheduled for March of 1912. The collision only set her back about a month. Titanic's maiden voyage ended up as what should have been her second crossing!

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

@@Lillimelight in May of 1911 the papers were writing that Titanic would sail in 1911. Titanic took, on whole, four months longer to complete than Olympic, though nearly the same design. That is to say, the March 20 date already seems to have represented a delay, further delayed because shipyard resources were shifted to Olympic. I think it possible that the Olympic accident delayed Titanic’s sailing by more than the eventual month listed.

[@Lillimelight]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel while I understand why that would be a fair conclusion, it's important to know where Titanic was in the construction process when Olympic had her accident. Olympic's keel was laid down December 1908, and she was launched (the first time her hull touched water) in October 1910. That's approximately one year and 10 months between her keel being laid down and her launch. Titanic's keel was laid down March 31st 1909, and she was launched May 31st 1911. That's approximately 2 years and 2 months between her keel being laid and her launch. Titanic is already about 4 months behind her sister at this point in the construction, well before Olympics collision.

[@bigmikeg84]

It is true, we only ever remember the ships that sank

[@jamesaustralian9829]

Pretty sure USS enterprise never sank....

[@jliller]

@@jamesaustralian9829 In some alternate history where USS Enterprise is sunk at Santa Cruz instead of USS Hornet does Captain Kirk explore space aboard the NCC-1701 USS Hornet?

[@kellybasham3113]

Love your videos

[@orbyfan]

According to Wikipedia, Teutonic's gross registered tonnage was 9,984--in which case, shouldn't it have been named Tenthousandtonic?

[@markgarin6355]

Apparently this episode has brought out the puns...ha

[@ricksaint2000]

Thank you History Guy

[@BasicDrumming]

I appreciate you and thank you for making content.

[@cristiancristi9384]

So sad the Olympic was scrapped instead of being preserved.... I just wonder how awesome it would have been visiting it in the Titanic museum, to feel the real experience of those mighty ships.... It was so unbeliveable seeing the little Titanic's tender ship preserved outside the Titanic museum in Belfast ... How still more awesome it would have been seeing the Olympic at its side too....😊

[@DK-gy7ll]

The problem with saving ships like the Olympic was the fact that nobody was thinking to preserve historic old ships until well after WW2, and until then her value was only as scrap metal. An addition public interest the Titanic disaster wasn't even a thing until 1958 when the movie A Night to Remember came out.

[@SynchronizorVideos]

Keep in mind this was during the Great Depression. Olympic was losing money as an actual functioning ocean liner; restoring her to her 1910s furnishings and setting her up as a museum ship would have been a real hard sell.

[@jrd2102]

Of all the material I have managed to find on this incident. I have never been able to find anywhere it gives which two compartments were flooded

[@jasonwomack4064]

You present an interesting question. I believe without Titanic's tragedy, the entire era of transatlantic steamship travel would be forgotten. It would be like how the glamorous air travel age with Pan Am has been mostly forgotten. Which wouldn't be the case if the planes had more capacity when their accidents occurred.

[@jon9021]

Good point.

[@jamesyoungblood1176]

Thanks a lot for this today. My wife and I are getting on a cruise ship today and she has never been on one before. Needless to say, this did not exactly make her feel good.

[@elcastorgrande]

Most cruise ships today are more than twice the size of Titanic.

[@SynchronizorVideos]

If anything, this story demonstrates that even back then, large ships can take a lot of damage and still stay afloat.

[@Matt02341]

May you never need one but you Both are guaranteed a seat on a lifeboat

[@jimjolly4560]

Don't let her watch anything by Oceanliner Designs then!

[@billbeyatte]

Intriguing

[@raycast6277]

Whats crazy is Captain Smith was on both ships !

[@aldenconsolver3428]

Excellent as always, Now I do not think I missed any comment on this but I find myself forced to consider that the sinking of the Titanic might be related (not by any silly ship swapping plot or by space aliens or any of that noise ) to this collision with Hawke . One wonders if maybe since Olympic more or less shrugged off a big hit by a ship with a ram bow and It was not that long before this accident . I do not think it would be unexpected that this led Captain Haddock to be more at ease with sailing at speed through an ice field than was really justified. Hawke was a fairly powerful warship with the British navy being the strongest in the world. If it was possible to just sail back to port under your own power that would almost have to make the unsinkable comments sound reasonable (and a few years (1893) before a British battleship HMS Victoria was rammed and sank in 7 minutes by the battleship HMS Camperdown)

[@aliciabrinkofski386]

They recently discovered the wreck of the Hawk.

[@DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

Interesting. Maybe they’ll find the wreck of the Mount Temple or the Californian next.

[@K9TheFirst1]

Titanic's maiden voyage would have been in March 1912 had the collision not occurred if i am not mistaken. Either that or had Olympic not thrown a propeller blade during that winter if 1911/12 not delayed her then as well.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

In May of 1911 newspapers were reporting that Titanic would be sailing later in 1911.

[@HistoryNut-1701]

Captain Smith’s first name was Edward, not Edwin. 😊

[@RichNotWealthy]

This vaguely reminds me of the June 1966 midair collision between an XB-70 bomber and an F-104 fighter that was flying in formation with it. The crash investigation pointed to the wingtip vortices from the XB-70 causing the F-104 to be pulled in and rolled suddenly into the bomber. Both planes were destroyed but one of the pilots of the XB-70 ejected and survived. The danger of wake turbulence from large aircraft has become well known. Ive already read all the comments so I know that many viewers don't believe that "suction" caused the Hawke collision. Duely noted.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Death of a Valkyrie: The 1966 XB-70 Midair Collision kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3XdlmCEft9mh9U

[@RichNotWealthy]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Excellent! I started binge watching your vids and hadn't found that one yet😁 Thank you THG!

[@charleseldridge9365]

My grandfather, Lieutenant Victor E. Eldridge C.E.F. returned home after WW1 on the Olympic!

[@brianpesci]

There are no coincidences!

[@EricDKaufman]

I woke up thi smorning and seriously said to myself, didn't Hawke hit Olympic today?!?!?! I shit showered and shaved and sat down at the comput eto go to work and LOW AND BEHOLD!!!! Keep up the great work, History Guy!!!

[@dannyjones3840]

So basically- if the Hawke didn't hit the Olympic- the Titanic wouldn't have been delayed- and most likely wouldn't hand hit an iceberg and history would've been way more different.....

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

That is a possibility.

[@futsuu]

The History Guy: A man, or a 2003 Chrysler Pacifica? The world will never know.

[@jliller]

In 1934, RMS Olympic rammed and sank the Nantucket Shoals Lightship (LV-117).

[@whoever6458]

These random events where, if something would have happened slightly differently, larger and more unfortunate events wouldn't have happened as they did at all are exactly the kinds of things I've been thinking about lately since it was just over ten years ago when I went from being physically and mentally healthy to having a drunk driver take me down on my motorcycle. After that, everything in my life was broken and I can't help but think that if I had just taken another way home, I wouldn't have crashed at all. Also, though, if I hadn't been coming from a meditation, I would have been going fast enough to not be here today on the same road and at the same time. It causes me to have difficulty deciding what to do because it's clear that even the decisions that don't seem like a big deal at all can hold the key to life or death for any one of us. One thing that's clear is that being paralyzed to decide only seems to lead to a slower death but, then again, the only thing one can do is try to postpone death since we all must face it.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

I always mix up the lives of the Titanic 's two sisters the Olympic and Britannic.The Titanic 's fate is well known but the Olympic was the only surviving one of the sisters as the Britannic struck a German mine whilst being used as a hospital ship in 1916 and sank.

[@bradfry5403]

Didn't mention that they actually found the wreck of the Hawke quite recently.

[@jeffbangkok]

Good night

[@civillady13]

What is a protected class of cruiser?

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

It meant it had an armored deck.

[@civillady13]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel thank you!

[@davidrenton]

it's weird we always see a disruption to the space time Continuum as a postive effect. I.e had the crash not occured, Titantic would have launched earlier and of course if would have still set sail for that trip, but it would have been say it's 5th voyage in April 1912, but it might have slighty affected the performance lets say, in that the titantic and the iceberg do not meet, because of minor differences because it was not stripped of parts, is slighty operationally older. Of course it could mean they do meet in a slighty different fashion on that April night and it's more catastrophic, i.e it hits it at worse position and it goes down in 10 minutes, because of a slighty adjusted speed due to operational history, 5th v 1st trip I always think about the baby austrian painter dilema, go back in time do the act and maybe WW2 is prevented, but maybe it's just delayed , and a more capable leader assumes power, maybe it starts in 1945 instead and this time Germany under this alternative leader has the atom bomb, makes you think, or i just spend 2 much time thinking about this stuff.

[@davidrenton]

oh here i go, see would the accident happening or not, in some way affect the position and composition of the iceberg in any way, i.e some weird butterfly effect. Surely whether it occured or not , that iceberg is in the x, y, z position in world space at that angle, at that vector, at that same mass irrespective. So the variable is titantic , is it at the same position,the same angle, velocity , weight , operational performance in the real timelime and the alternative timeline or is it changed Lets presume it does'nt sink prior to April 1912, and the schedules are the same (maybe not) either way, has the Hawk incident saved , doomed, or did nothing to the fate of the Titantic further down the line. Maybe Smith made actions based on the Hawk incident that lessened or increased the severity of the real history sinking, had that not occured, would he made a different choice, no matter how minor Did the Hawk incident slighty changed the sea conditions in a minor way, that months down the line slighty affected the trajectory of the Iceberg or did it affect nothing at all don't mind me just rambling nonsense with my inner monologue.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

It is all fair speculation. Historians call it “counterfactual.” I think there are many reasons to think that Titanic going into service six months earlier might have impacted its fate. One hour difference and the ship and berg do not intersect.

[@davidrenton]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel i always thought the Titantic sank well, with no list and slowly in contrast to many other ships. While the loses where great, they could have been far worse than many of a similar ship that goes down in 30 mins with a similar type of collision

[@jst7714]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannelit could also be argued that if the Titanic had not sunk when it did, Safety of Life at Sea laws would have been delayed and an even bigger ship with more passengers could have had an even worse catastrophe without the lifeboats mandated after Titanic.

[@rwarren58]

Without the appropriated parts… Then the movie, Titanic is never made…Thanks Olympic. What could’ve been… 😌

[@Law0086]

Man the Olympic caused a whole mess of trouble. More than just here lol! Also I hope they had an IHOP on the Princess Ilene.

[@stevencooper2464]

A very good presentation, but to nit-pick just a little, Captains Smith's first name was "Edward" not "Edwin". BTW: If Prince Ferdinand had not been assassinated, would Britanic have lived to see the scrap yard?

[@terryturman8495]

I’ve watched quite a few stories on the conspiracy theory They had me convinced that the titanic was sunk for insurance purposes . But the guy over at Ocean liner designs answered a lot of those questions .

[@Mr.Bigfoot-e2q]

No one ever talks about RMS Olympic, only titanic and brititanic she was the only sister ship to live out her owl live to 1930s.😢 sad she was scraped. She also served a torpedo it never detonated or exploded.

[@DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

She was also one of the ships that picked up the Titanic’s distress call and tried to dash to her rescue!

[@johneverson2433]

If the captain of the Titanic had only heeded the warnings of icebergs in the area and slowed down it would probably have been forgotten history

[@tomcurda4203]

Don't feel too bad Captain Smith. The SM U-9 send the Hawke to the bottom.

[@kevinlesch9656]

A story about ships and no mention of pirates? Do you feel ok Lance?

[@DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

Pirate stories were much bigger from the late Middle Ages through the Industrial Ages. These ships were the Early Modern Times.

[@jahyoda]

Union Jack Cufflinks !! I'm a Pomi Brat 😌

[@thomassalois3508]

This reminds me of when the RMS Queen Mary rammed the cruiser Curacao

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

@@thomassalois3508 HMS Curacoa and Queen Mary kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5XFoX6hd9mJjrM

[@MausMasher54]

Reprise Titanic/Olympic comparisons....and the conspiracy of the Two Ships????

[@MikeHarris1984]

The HMS Hawk-TU-a

[@joegordon5117]

Sadly, just this week Olympic's makers, Harland and Wolff, was put into administration after any monetary pressures

[@fatboyrowing]

Feeding the algorithm

[@DEATH7712]

Wait a minute , is Edwin smith Edward smith’s brothers? He looks identical to Edward who went down and was also the captain of the titanic? Crazy weird

[@DEATH7712]

Ok I figured it out I swear he said 1914 and had me all confused lol had to rewatch to check your dates

[@merlinwizard1000]

20th, 20 September 2024

[@garyclark3843]

That conspiracy theory was ripped up pretty well by Simon Whistler and his team on "Decoding the Unknown".

[@sameyers2670]

I wonder if Lieutenant Nixon was any relation to President Nixon

[@johnjones9886]

Isn't there a conspiracy theory, that the Olympic was exchanged for the titanic , this interesting that they were struck in similar areas

[@DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

Yes, but that theory is wrong. The Titanic sank, whereas the Olympic picked up her distress call and tried to dash to her rescue.

[@tz8785]

Inverting the end: if the accident had been more serious, the first lifeboats of Titanic probably wouldn't have been half empty and she might have been kitted out with more of them.

[@loraweems8712]

How can the Titanic have been launched in May, when it sank in April?

[@change_your_oil_regularly4287]

Because they don't launch complete ready to sail

[@nelsonbergman7706]

A year earlier if the Olympic hadn't needed her parts.

[@danijelujcic8644]

1911. Titanic was launched in 1911.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Titanic was launched in May, 1911 and its maiden voyage was in April 1912. There is a wide gap between when the ship is launched and when it is completed.

[@JanaTeague-r3c]

Perez John Robinson Anthony Jones Betty

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Back in the Saddle Again Naturally

[@michaelwallbrown3726]

not watertight compartments unless they are all the way up to the main deck

[@msmeyersmd8]

I thought an insurance fraud scheme (common in shipping in the early 20th Cdntury) caused the severely damaged Olympic to be easily switched to the Titanic name back in the construction yard in Belfast, Ireland. The "real" Olympic then sank after hitting an iceberg. The failure of a nearby prepositioned rescue ship to respond in time resulted in the large loss of life. The undamaged actual Titanic (then renamed the Olympic) went on for a long successful career. I thought this was common historical knowledge.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

You thought wrong. I am sorry, but the replacement theory is thoroughly debunked. “Easily switched” is simply not true- the two were dissimilar in ways that could not be masked. The original part markings, mentioned in the episode, should be sufficient evidence, but there is much more. It was, a mountain of evidence demonstrates, Titanic that sunk.

[@msmeyersmd8]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel I can easily accept that I may be wrong about this. The reliability of the history of the mid- to late-20th Century up to the present has left me very, very skeptical and dissappointed. I have felt very betrayed, to be honest. There are things that are still presented as historical fact, that I, personally, know are wrong. And several are incredibly important historical facts. It is a continuous source of irritation and demoralization to me. It leaves me susceptible to history explanations that I can't really confirm. As in this case. I don't know enough about the detailed history of the Olympic/Titanic to really be able to form a correct assessment. You must admit, however, that there were many unusual things that happened before Titanic's first trans-Atlantic crossing. I've never seen all of them adequately addressed. Please use your channel to do so. Although I know you do not usually do long, in depth videos. And that's fine. Actually, I really like that. I've learned a lot of things on your channel over the years. Thank You.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

@@msmeyersmd8 There are many ways to see history. But there are some verifiable facts. The numbers on the materials should be ample enough evidence to put this particular conspiracy theory to rest.

[@Tozzpot500]

​​@@msmeyersmd8For some added information ive listed most of the big reasons as to why the switch is physically impossible here: When Olympic was hit by HMS Hawke two water tight compartments flooded but she was far from sinking. Olympic returned to Southampton for rudimentary repairs and the proceeded to sail back to belfast alone under her own power to H&W. Her repairs cost a total of £25,000 and consisted of replacement hull plates in a 15ft wide by 30ft tall section of her stern as well as reinforcement of the hull ribs at the location of the impact. The actual damage to Olympic dealt by Hawke has often been massively over exagerated by people who have no idea about what it is they are talking about. The most common claim is that Olympic's keel was warped, this is just blatant fallacy with the damage report from the royal navy stating the damagd was as follows: “Two major watertight compartments were flooded, hull plating gashed from the Orlop deck to E deck, and the starboard propeller shafting damaged.” There was no mention of keel damage and even still, if the keel had been damaged it would have been repaired, just a few years prior SS Suevic ran aground and had her entire bow dynamited off and a new one constructed, a warped keel would be nothing by comparison. Olympic's repairs took 44 days, during this time Titanic was sat in a siding with a skeleton crew at work cutting out her original B-Deck walls to prepare for her new 1st class suites and Cafe Parisien which would be unique to Titanic at this time. She had no engines, was waiting on her last four boilers to be installed, had no interiors, electrics and her props wouldnt be manufactured until late December of 1911. She was 6-8 months from completion and the only facility able to accomodate her fitting out was currently occupied by Olympic making the switch physically impossible. As for the name plates, the names were engraved into the hull and would require around 10ft of the bow to be dissmantled in order to change them. This very obviously did not happen. As for the insurance claim: Titanic and Olympic were insured for two thirds of their £1.5 million building costs. As a result the sinking of Titanic placed WSL and IMMC into near bankrupcy overnight as not only did they have to pay the victims and their families but also had their entire reputation killed overnight. It was so bad that the sinking of Titanic was directly blamed for the cunard merger in 1935, some 23 years after she sank. But the biggest killer of this theory? Yard numbers. Titanic was built as yard 401 and Olympic was 400. This number was on every fitting, hull plate etc. If the wreck was indeed Olympic then yard number 400 would be found everywhere on the wreck. Its not, but yard number 401, the one belonging to Titanic is. Thus confirming, without room for error, that the wreck is Titanic and not Olympic. If you have any other questions or want further clarrification on anything please ask id be more than happy to answer them.

[@jaynorris3722]

She also ran over a Nazi sub.

[@BuriedUnkind]

So RMS Olympic survived a collision with another ship. Yet RMS Olympics sister ship RMS Titanic couldn't survive a collision with a iceberg??

[@jst7714]

The Olympic had one hole in one watertight compartment. The Titanic had many holes over 6 compartments, or about a third the length of the ship. Two very different types of collision.

[@BuriedUnkind]

@@jst7714 My point is the Olympic as hit by another ship. The Titanic was hit with ice. Steel on steel vs steel on ice.

[@sabretooth1997]

An iceberg is far larger and far more rigid than any ship. It might as well be a floating chunk of rock or even an island.

[@ajax5622]

​@@sabretooth1997I have a colleague at work thinks like that. How did ice really sink the titanic, how did they build the pyramids. We work in construction, It hurts my soul explaining anything to him.

[@jamess4869]

The Olympic and Titanic names were swapped over a weekend in Belfast. The Olympic went down...

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

@@jamess4869 lol. No, that didn’t happen.

[@Tozzpot500]

No, thats not true at all. The names were engraved into the hull and were almost impossible to swap. Besides, Titanic was build yard 401, that number was stamped into every single component that she was built from, including hull plates. 401 is the only yard number on the wreck thus confirming that the wreck is Titanic.

[@jamess4869]

@@Tozzpot500 Why were the Olympics Life boats on the Titanic?

[@Tozzpot500]

​​@@jamess4869Dont know where you heard that from considering Olympic was at sea with her full lifeboat compliment at the time of Titanic's sinking. Titanic had her own lifeboats aboard, not Olympic's. The switch didnt happen, there is concrete proof debunking it and literally nothing that supports it.

[@DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

@@jamess4869 They would’ve had to swap a lot more than just their names and if that was to have happened, everyone would’ve found out about it back in 1912 when the disaster happened.