Olympic-class ocean liner a dining room. "Britannic" provided third-class passengers more comfort than its two sister ships. First of the "Olympic"-class liners, "Olympic" was launched on 20 October 1910 and commissioned on 14 June 1911. She made her maiden voyage on 14 June 1911, under the command of Captain Edward J. Smith to great fanfare and acclaim. On 20 September of the same year, while under the command of a harbour pilot she was involved in a collision with the cruiser in the port of Southampton, leading to her repair back at Harland and Wolff and delaying the launch of her sister "Titanic".
RMS Oceanic (1899) "Nothing but the very finest", was Ismay’s policy toward this new venture, and she was constructed at Harland and Wolff’s Queen's Island yard at Belfast, as was the tradition with White Star Line ships. "Oceanic" was built to accommodate slightly over 1,700 passengers, with 349 crew. In his autobiography, "Titanic and Other Ships", Charles Lightoller gives an account of what it was like to be an officer on this vessel. As White Star typically ordered ships in pairs, a sister ship for "Oceanic" to be named "Olympic" was proposed. However following the death of Thomas Ismay in November 1899 the