- Yes
- No
Here I present one of the craziest ships that could be added to War Thunder. That’s right, this is the RMS Titan-… Not quite. This is a longer-lived sister ship of the famous Titanic, the RMS (or HMT for wartime) Olympic.
Oh yes, we’re really doing this.
I will be talking a lot about the history of this ship, but you can skip to the end to see a basic summary of what it would be like in-game.
To give you some background, the RMS Olympic was on of three “Olympic” class ocean liners, the others being the Titanic and Britannic. The Titanic needs no introduction, it was a massive ship that infamously sunk on its maiden voyage in 1912. The HMHS Britannic was initially launched in 1914 and was turned into a hospital ship, but would sadly sink in 1916 after striking a naval mine. The RMS Olympic was actually the first of this class, being completed about a year before the Titanic and launched on October 20, 1910. I want to talk about the Olympic because it is, in my opinion, highly underappreciated. Despite its much longer service life, it gets far less recognition than its sister ships, ironically probably because she was the only member of her class that did not sink.
The RMS Olympic was enormous, and even the largest ocean liner at the time she was launched, but she would be outdone just barely not long after by her sister ship, the Titanic. The Olympic had a displacement of 52,310 tons, and weighed 46,439 tons during the war years, the version this suggestion will focus on. It was 269 m long, had a breadth of 28.2 m, and a draught of 10.54 m. It had coal fired steam engines and a low-pressure turbine engine for the middle propeller, and had a top speed of 22.5 knots (41.67 kph). She had a total engine power of 51,000 IHP. Notably, the HMS Hawke would collide with her on September 20, 1911, but fortunately, both ships were able to be repaired. Also, following the Titanic disaster, the Olympic would be modified to carry more life boats, have the watertight bulkheads extended and additional ones added, and a watertight skin added to the boiler and engine rooms. Along with some other modifications during this refit, this made her surpass the Titanic in tonnage.
Now, I need to address the elephant in the room. This is an ocean liner, so how could it be added as a warship to War Thunder? Well, during WWI, the Olympic was used as a troop ship, and was fitted with cannons. At first, it only had a 4.7-inch and a 12 pounder gun, but it would later be refitted in 1917 to have six 6-inch guns. She also received a gray paint scheme at first, which would be changed to “dazzle” camouflages. It seems she had multiple similar but different “dazzle” camouflages during the war.
As the “HMT Olympic” rather than the “RMS Olympic”, she would have an impressive service record during the Great War. She carried around 200,000 troops in total and traveled about 184,000 miles. She even earned the nickname “Old Reliable”. One of her most impressive moments was when the Olympic sunk a U-Boat by, of all things, ramming. On May 12, 1918, the German U-103 was attempting to torpedo the Olympic, but it was spotted 1,600 feet away. The gunners on the Olympic opened fire, and the ship turned and rammed the U-103. The propeller breached the submarine’s hull, which would crash dive, and the U-103 was scuttled by the crew and abandoned.
Although her sister ship Titanic was doomed to sink from hitting the iceberg, it would seem the Olympic had the last laugh in this case. The Olympic had only sustained dented hull plates and a twisted prow, it hadn’t even been breached.
After the war, “Old Reliable” would be refitted into an ocean liner again and return to regular service. She would only meet her end when she was sadly scrapped in 1937. However, out of the three members of her class, the Olympic was truly the unsinkable one.
In War Thunder, the HMT Olympic would be quite the sight, and an oddity compared to other ships in game. This absolute behemoth would be heavier than most battleships, but would lack the same kind of armor. It would also be less well-armed, with the 1917 version only having 6-inch (152mm) guns. These would still be sufficient for likely middle-ranked ships. Unfortunately, she would also lack an AA armament, which would leave here vulnerable to planes. The crew count of the wartime version is a bit less clear, but the RMS Olympic had a crew of 860. As she was used as a troop carrier, there might be some room to interpret on if additional troops would be on board who could serve as crew, but this really depends on how troop carrying ships would be modeled.
In terms of mobility, the Olympic would probably not be as bad as you expect. It had a top speed of 41.67 kph and was nimble enough to steer into a U-Boat. I wouldn’t expect it to have stellar mobility, but it would be workable.
I suspect the Olympic would fit around middle ranks, where its armament would not be that impressive but usable, and similarly other ships would exist with better mobility, but again, the Olympic would still have usable mobility. The Olympic would lack armor protection and be vulnerable to aircraft, but it would make up for this in sheer size and crew count. Even if going off the standard Olympic’s crew count of 860, the Olympic would still have more crew than most cruisers. Overall I think the Olympic would be very bizarre, both in how it would play and even just seeing it in-game, but I think it would make for a very unique and fun ship that would be very iconic and reminiscent of other ocean liners, with a spin.
Thank you for reading my suggestrion.
Sources:
Spoiler
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/02/02/51089/
RMS Olympic & RMS Britannic | Titanic's 2 Famous Sister Ships
White Star Line - RMS Olympic - The Sucsessful Story
RMS Olympic | Atlantic Liners
RMS Olympic | Maiden Voyage and Career"
RMS Olympic: The Old Reliable | PDF | White Star Line | Rms Titanic
https://www.titanicconnections.com/olympics-career/