Posted by Scott Andrews on October 26, 1999 at 14:44:23 in 192.11.221.98:
In Reply to: Ship built in Titanic's slip posted by Blake on October 26, 1999 at 01:07:07:
: Ok, I have been looking at my Britannic section of Sisters, and in the building pictures of Britannic I saw a much smaller ship being built in Titanic's slip, I can prove this if I have to, what ship is it?
: ~Blake
Blake,
The ship under construction in Titanic's former slip is the Holand America Line's Statendam, yard number 436. This ship was completed for transport service during WWI and operated by the White Star Line for the Admiralty as SS Justicia. Like the Britannic, she never saw commercial service, having been torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat. This ship was also propelled by triple screw combination machinery like the Olympic-class liners. In photos of the Britannic's engines in the shops, some of her machinery may be seen as well. Look for the number "436" stencilled on the castings (433 is Britannic's yard number).
In a similar vain, a small ship may be seen under construction next to the Titanic in Olympic's former, and Britannic's future slip. In between construction of the first and last O-class ships, H&W managed to sneak in construction of the hull of Royal Mail Steam Packet Co's. RMS Arlanza, yard number 415. And, as with the Brit and the Statendam, in shop photos of Titanic's reciprocating engines, the Arlanza's engines are visible in the foreground. In both cases, these photos make interesting comparisons, because the machinery for both the Arlanza and Statendam are of the average size of large ship engines. Yet, in both cases these engines are dwarfed by the monstrous machinery of the Olympic-class ships.
Scott