Olympic–Hawke collision

On 20 September 1911, while travelling down the Solent, the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke collided with the White Star ocean liner RMS Olympic.

Due to the financial blow suffered from collision, the White Star Line was eager to get Olympic back into service and diverted workers from the still-under-construction Titanic to help with the repairs.

At the subsequent inquiry the Royal Navy blamed Olympic for the incident, alleging that her large displacement generated a suction that pulled Hawke into her side.

[3][14][15] However, the fact that Olympic endured such a serious collision and stayed afloat appeared to vindicate the design of the Olympic-class liners, and reinforced their "unsinkable" reputation.

However, on 24 February 1912, the Olympic suffered another setback when she lost a propeller blade on an eastbound voyage from New York, and once again returned to her builder for repairs.

Damage to the Olympic under the waterline.
Olympic (left) being manoeuvred into dry dock in Belfast for repairs on the morning of 2 March 1912 after throwing a propeller blade. Titanic (right) is moored at the fitting-out wharf. This was the last time the two sisters ships were photographed together.