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"
RMS Olympic York on "Olympic" on 21 July 1920 on the same voyage on which Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were celebrating their honeymoon. One of the attractions of "Olympic" was the fact that she was nearly identical to "Titanic", and many passengers sailed on "Olympic" as a way of vicariously experiencing the voyage of "Olympic"s sister ship. On 22 March 1924, "Olympic" was involved in another collision with a ship, this time at New York. As "Olympic" was reversing from her berth at New York harbour, her stern collided with the smaller liner "Fort St George", which had crossed into her