RMS Olympic Ismay had previously planned to build a ship named "Olympic" as a sister ship to . The senior Ismay died in 1899 and the order for the ship was cancelled. Construction of "Olympic" began three months before "Titanic" to ease pressures on the shipyard. Several years would pass before "Britannic" would be launched. In order to accommodate the construction of the class, Harland and Wolff upgraded their facility in Belfast; the most dramatic change was the combining of three slipways into two larger ones. "Olympic" and "Titanic" were constructed side by side. "Olympic"s keel was laid on 16 December 1908
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