Olympic-class ocean liner so, the "Olympic"-class ships were built to surpass rival Cunard's largest ships, "Lusitania" and "Mauretania", in size and luxury. "Olympic", along with "Titanic" and the soon to be built "Britannic", were intended to be the largest and most luxurious ships to operate on the North Atlantic, but not the fastest, as the White Star Line had already switched from high speed to size and luxury. The three vessels were designed by Thomas Andrews and Alexander Carlisle. Construction of "Olympic" started in December 1908 and "Titanic" in March 1909. The two ships were built side by side. The construction of "Britannic"
Explorer-class general-purpose vessel Explorer-class general-purpose vessel The Explorer class was a two-ship class of general purpose vessels of the Royal Australian Navy that served between 1960 and 1995. The Explorer class was a two-ship class of general purpose vessels built for the RAN. The ships had a displacement of 207 tons at standard load and 260 tons at full load. Each was long between perpendiculars and long overall, had a beam of , and a draught of . Propulsion machinery consisted of GM diesels, which supplied to the two propeller screws, and allowed the vessel to reach . The ship's company consisted of