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Writer's pictureTitanictalksMillie

Titanic Connections : Olympic's Crash With The Hawke

September 21st, 2019 marks 108 years since Titanic’s older sister RMS Olympic crashed with the cruiser HMS Hawke. So, to commemorate the anniversary let’s go back in time and examine what happened to Titanic’s older sister.


RMS Olympic, later nicknamed the ‘old reliable’, was built in Harland and Wolff, Belfast’s biggest shipyard. Construction on the ship began in December 1908, just a year before Titanic’s own keel was laid. Olympics’ maiden voyage began on June 14th, 1911 and sailed from Southampton, England to New York, Olympic took the exact same route as her ill-fated younger sister; RMS Titanic. Another striking similarity between Olympic and Titanic is that she was skippered by Captain Edward John Smith, the same man who would go on to sail on the Titanic as her Captain.


Two sisters: Olympic (on the left) and her ill-fated younger sister Titanic (on the right), pictured in Harland and Wolff circa. 1911


RMS Olympic had successfully been sailing on the Liverpool route after the completion of her maiden voyage. However, on September 21st 1911 Olympic was to have her own disaster. Olympic was sailing up the Southampton Solent under the command of Captain Smith when the HMS Hawke ran into the side of Olympic. The damage done to the Olympic was minor when compared with the Hawke. Olympic had manged to escape with a gash on the starboard side which had then burst open two of the watertight compartments that Olympic had contained.


Watertight compartments

A watertight compartment is essentially a door located at the entrance to each of Olympics’ six boiler rooms which are designed to close if the vessel comes under serious impact and avoid drowning any of the firemen, stokers or trimmers who are working below decks and also prevent water spreading to the rest of the ship. Slightly going off course. Titanic and Olympic had been designed with 16 watertight compartments and could survive with four of the compartments being completely flooded. Titanic, unlike the Olympic couldn’t have been saved even with the watertight doors as just minutes after Titanic hit the iceberg nearly all 6 of the compartments had been flooded.


The HMS Hawke after her collision with the RMS Olympic, as you can see from the picture the bow has been completely crushed.


The Damage To The Hawke

HMS Hawke didn’t come off as lightly as the Olympic had done. Picture sources show the bow of the Hawke being completely crushed in and flattened by the White Star vessel. All conspiracies aside as to why the accident happened. A theory I personally like to support is that at the time of the crash. Captain Smith, who had been the skipper of Olympic at the time of the collision, wasn’t fully aware of how hard both Olympic and her sister were to command. After all, Olympic and Titanic were the largest moving objects in the world at this stage in time both weighed roughly 45,000 tonnes, stood at 175 ft and measured at 882 ft in length It could be argued that because the Olympic class was relatively new to the waters that Smith hadn’t anticipated the sheer force of the new titans that the White Star Line had produced.


The damage done to Titanic's older sister RMS Olympic after her crash with the HMS Hawke in the Southampton Solent

A closer look at the rip in the steel plate.


Like most disasters and accidents at sea an inquiry had been held about Olympics’ accident. The court had decided that the Olympic had been responsible for the crash with the Hawke. However, Bruce Ismay, Managing Director of the White Star Line had protested against this decision and declared his faith in Captain Smith. According to www.williammurdoch.net Ismay had concluded this in his testimony.


Senator Smith: Did the collision which occurred between the Olympic and the Hawke in any way shake your confidence in Capt. Smith?

Mr. Ismay: No, sir.

Senator Smith: If it had, he would probably not have been appointed as commander of the Titanic?

Mr. Ismay: Quite true." (Page 957)

This wouldn’t be the last time Ismay would come under serious scrutiny for his relationship with Titanic’s future skipper. This excerpt is taken from the Bruce Ismay’s testimony for the Titanic Inquiry.

Senator SMITH: Did the captain remain on the bridge?

Mr. ISMAY: That I could not tell you, sir.

Senator SMITH: Did you leave him on the bridge?

Mr. ISMAY: Yes, sir.

Senator SMITH: His first statement to you was that he felt she was seriously damaged?

Mr. ISMAY: Yes, sir.

Senator SMITH: And the next statement of the chief engineer was what?

Mr. ISMAY: To the same effect.

(later on in the inquiry)

Senator SMITH: Were you aware of the proximity of icebergs on Sunday?

Mr. ISMAY: On Sunday? No; I did not know on Sunday. I knew that we would be in the ice region that night sometime.

Senator SMITH: That you would be or were?

Mr. ISMAY: That we would be in the ice region on Sunday night.

Senator SMITH: Did you have any consultation with the captain regarding the matter?

Mr. ISMAY: Absolutely none.

Senator SMITH: Or with any other officer of the ship?

Mr. ISMAY: With no officer at all, sir. It was absolutely out of my province. I am not a navigator. I was simply a passenger on board the ship.

All inquires regarding Bruce Ismay and the sinking of Titanic were recorded by the Titanic Inquiry Project.


Going back to the Olympic the court eventually disregarded the evidence against Olympic and Captain Smith and after a short trip to the floating Southampton dry dock Olympic was soon sailing again. The next disaster for the White Star Line wouldn’t be until the following April.


As always, I’ll leave a few external links to a few sources relating to Olympics’ crash with the HMS Hawke and a website I frequently use is the Titanic Inquiry Project. They have all the testimonies from both the US Senate and British Board of Trade. It’s a very handy website I like to use a lot. Feel free to add any evidence about the crash. Likewise, if you have any questions either; leave a message or send an email to titanictalksmillie@mail.com .


Have a titanic rest of your day, Millie.

Titanic Inquiry Project ( Ismay’s testimony, day 1, US Senate) : https://www.titanicinquiry.org/USInq/AmInq01Ismay02.php

Olympic’s collison with the Hawke (Encyclopaedia Titanica) : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/olympic-hawke-collision.html

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