RMS Olympic was a British ocean liner and the lead ship of the White Star Line's trio of Olympic-class liners. Olympic had a career spanning 24 years from 1911 to 1935, in contrast to her short-lived sister ships, Titanic and Britannic. This included service as a troopship during the First World War, which gained her the nickname "Old Reliable", and during which she rammed and sank the U-boat U-103. She returned to civilian service after the war, and served successfully as an ocean liner throughout the 1920s and into the first half of the 1930s, although increased competition, and the slump in trade during the Great Depression after 1930, made her operation increasingly unprofitable. Olympic was withdrawn from service and sold for scrapping on 12 April 1935 which was completed in 1937.
The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between the British Empire and the United States. While many other shipping lines focused primarily on speed, White Star branded their services by focusing more on providing comfortable passages for both upper class travellers and immigrants.
RMS Adriatic was a British ocean liner of the White Star Line. She was the fourth of a quartet of ships of more than 20,000 GRT, dubbed The Big Four. The ship was the only one of the four which was never the world's largest ship. However, she was the largest, the fastest, and the most luxurious of the Big Four, being the first ocean liner to have an indoor swimming pool and a Turkish bath.
The first RMS Windsor Castle, along with her sister, RMS Arundel Castle, was an ocean liner laid down by the Union-Castle Line for service from the United Kingdom to South Africa. During World War 2 the Windsor Castle was requisitioned as a troopship and on 23 March 1943 was sunk by an aerial torpedo off the coast of Algeria.
SS Minnewaska was a 21,716-ton ocean liner in the service of the Atlantic Transport Line and the Red Star Line from 1923–1933
MV Georgic was the last ship built for the White Star Line before its merger with the Cunard Line. Built at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, she was the running mate of MV Britannic. Like Britannic, Georgic was a motorship, and not a steamer, fitted with a diesel powerplant. At the time of her launch in 1931, she was the largest British motorship.
RMS Arundel Castle was a British ocean liner and Royal Mail Ship which entered service in 1921 for the Union-Castle Line. A previous vessel of the same name was built in 1864 by Donald Currie & Co. and sold in 1883, whereupon it was renamed Chittagong. Originally laid down as the Amroth Castle in 1915, building was delayed by the First World War. She was eventually launched on 11 September 1919. She was completed on 8 April 1921 and in 22 April 1921 the ship departed from Southampton on her maiden voyage to Cape Town. During World War 2 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as a troopship. After the war she resumed passenger service, eventually being scrapped in 1959.
SS Traffic was a tender of the White Star Line, and the fleetmate to the Nomadic. She was built for the White Star Line by Harland and Wolff, at Belfast, to serve the Olympic-class ocean liners. In Cherbourg, her role was to transport Third Class passengers and mails between the port and the liners anchored in the harbour, while the Nomadic was tasked with transporting First Class and Second Class passengers.
SS Ionic was a steam-powered ocean liner built in 1902 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line. She was the second White Star Liner to be named Ionic and served on the United Kingdom – New Zealand route. Her sister ships were SS Athenic and SS Corinthic.
RMS Orion was an ocean liner launched by the Orient Steam Navigation Company in 1934 and retired from the water in 1963 after carrying about 500,000 passengers. A 23,371 ton passenger ship, the Orion was built to carry 486 first class, 653 tourist class passengers and 466 crew from Europe through the Pacific to Australia. The construction of the ship was documented in Paul Rotha's 1935 film Shipyard.
The Athenic-class ocean liners were a three ship class of ocean liners built by the Harland & Wolff shipyard for the White Star Line in the early 20th century.
SS Lapland was a steam ocean liner built in Ireland for the Belgian Red Star Line, as Red Star's flagship, similar in appearance to the fellow liners SS Samland, SS Gothland and SS Poland, but far larger. She was a half sister to White Star Line's "Big Four." They were similar in many ways, such as the island bridge, 4 masts, 2 funnels. But Lapland had a less luxurious interior.
SS Doric was a British ocean liner operated by White Star Line. She was put into service in 1883. Built by the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast, she was the sister ship of the Ionic which was put into service a few months earlier. Although the original purpose of the construction of the two ships was not known with certainty, both began their careers chartered by the New Zealand Shipping Co. which operated them on the route from London to Wellington.
SS Corinthic was a British passenger ship, built in 1902 by Harland & Wolff and launched for the British shipping companies White Star Line and Shaw, Savill & Albion Line. She was the second of the Athenic-class ocean liners built for passenger and cargo service between Britain and New Zealand. Her sister ships were SS Athenic (1902) and SS Ionic (1903).
SS Nomadic was a steamship of the White Star Line. She was laid down in 1891, in yard 236 at Harland and Wolff Shipyards, Belfast, as a livestock carrier and completed on 14 April 1891.
SS Delphic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line, built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast and completed on 15 May 1897. She worked the New Zealand trade. She was a fairly slow ship primarily intended for transporting emigrants and goods to New Zealand. Despite this, she made her first crossings on the New York route before joining the route to New Zealand. For twenty years, her service on this route was uneventful, with the exception of troop transport missions during the Second Boer War.
SS Afric was a steamship built for White Star Line by Harland and Wolff shipyards. She was of the Jubilee class, had a reported gross register tonnage of 11,948, and had a port of registry of Liverpool, England. Afric was launched on November 16, 1898, and was involved in shipping between Liverpool and Australia.
The SS Runic was a steamship built at Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line which entered service in 1901. Runic was the fourth of five Jubilee-class ocean liners built for White Star's Australia service along with her sister ship SS Suevic, where she ran on the Liverpool–Cape Town–Sydney route. She served this route until she was requisitioned for use as a war transport between 1915 and 1919, before returning to the Australia service.
The SS Scandinavian was a steamship built at Harland & Wolff in Belfast which entered service as an ocean liner in 1898. The ship changed names and owners several times; she was originally built for the Dominion Line and was known as New England, in 1903 she was transferred to the White Star Line and renamed Romanic. In 1912 she was sold to the Allan Line and renamed Scandinavian, the name which she retained for the rest of her career.
The Jubilee class were a group of five passenger and cargo ocean liners built by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, for the White Star Line, specifically for the White Star Line's service from the UK to Australia on the Liverpool–Cape Town–Sydney route. The five ships in order of the dates they entered service were:
United Kingdom; Norway
