Olympic’s collision with the Hawke The RMS Olympic was a transatlantic ocean liner and the lead ship of the White Star Line’s trio of Olympic class liners. On September 20, 1911 she collided with a British warship, the HMS Hawke off the Isle of Wright, in the English Channel. Both ships were running parallel to each other. Then Olympic turned starboard and the wide radius of her turn surprised the Hawke and she was unable to avoid the Olympic. The Hawke’s bow (designed to sink ships by ramming them) collided with the starboard side of the Olympic, tearing two large holes in the hull, below and above the waterline. Two watertight compartments were flooded and propeller shaft was twisted. Still the Olympic returned to Southampton by herself to be repaired. The Hawke, on the other hand, suffered severe damage to the bow and nearly capsized. Despite the accident, the Olympic remained afloat and this vindicated the design of the Olympic-class liners and reinforced their “unsinkable” reputation. The pictures show a reenactment of the accident and the damage of both ships. ~Alexandria
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 16:08:01 +0000
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