37 The Titanic’s Sisters

These days everyone knows about the Titanic, the gigantic luxury liner that sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage. Fewer people, however, have heard of the Titanic's two sister ships, the Olympic and the Britannic, and what fate befell them.

The Olympic was the first of the three liners that were built. Originally launched in 1910, it was the largest ship in the world at the time to be retrofitted with additional lifeboats and would be stronger. After the Titanic disaster the ship was transformed into a naval transport ship. The Olympic was again sent back into passenger service. Not long after World War I began, the Olympic was attacked by German U-boats four separate times, but managed to escape. One time she even turned and rammed an attacking submarine in the process.

After the war the Olympic returned to passenger service. By the time she was scrapped in 1935, she had transported over 40,000 passengers and about 66,000 troops.

In contrast to the reliable Olympic, the Britannic's history is more like the Titanic. Completed in 1914, the ship had many safety features that the Titanic lacked. But on its fourth voyage as a troop transport—the only type of passenger it ever carried—the Britannic sank less than an hour after an explosion caused by a mine or torpedo, ripped open its bow. Thanks to its many sliding libeorts, nearly all aboard escaped, but unfortunately left were the doors dividing hulls into watertight compartments. Might the Britannic have survived had they been closed?

37 泰坦尼克号的姐妹船

如今，每个人都知道泰坦尼克号——这艘巨型豪华客轮在1912年的处女航中沉没。然而，很少有人听说过它的两艘姐妹船：奥林匹克号和不列颠尼克号，以及它们的命运。

奥林匹克号是三艘客轮中最先建造的。它最初于1910年下水，是当时世界上最大的船，后来加装了更多救生艇，也变得更坚固。泰坦尼克号灾难后，它被改造成海军运输船，之后又重新投入客运。第一次世界大战开始后不久，奥林匹克号四次遭到德国U型潜艇袭击，但都成功逃脱，甚至有一次它掉头撞击了一艘来袭的潜艇。

战后，奥林匹克号重返客运。到1935年被拆解时，它已运送了超过4万名乘客和约6.6万名士兵。

与可靠的奥林匹克号不同，不列颠尼克号的历史更像泰坦尼克号。它于1914年完工，拥有许多泰坦尼克号没有的安全设施。但在它作为 troop transport 的第四次航行（这是它唯一搭载的乘客类型）中，一枚水雷或鱼雷引发的爆炸撕开了船首，不到一小时后它就沉没了。多亏了船上的滑动水密门，几乎所有乘客都逃脱了，但不幸的是，分隔船体的水密舱门被打开了——如果这些门关闭的话，不列颠尼克号是否能幸存下来？