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Harland & Wolf, Belfast is the Birth place of the White Star Liners Titanic & the Olympic. The Titanic was built at the side of her sister ship the Olympic, whose keel was laid on 1st January 1909, the keel of the Titanic being laid on 31st March 1910. Work continued on both ships with Harland & Wolf doubling the work force to over 11,300 in order to cope with the building and fitting out, until the Olympic was launched on 20th October 1910. The Titanic would not be ready to be launched until 31st May 1911. These Giant ships with an overall length of 882 feet 9 inches were the longest liners in the world beating the previous best of the Cunard Liner Mauretania by 92 feet 6 inches. The Gross tonnage of the Olympic was 45,324 while the Titanic weighed in at 46,328 making it the largest Liner in the world. The Titanic was launched on 31st May 1911, the same day the Olympic was handed over to White Star, and for the double occasion about a 100,000 people had gathered.
During fitting out she would have 29 boilers and her reciprocating engines fitted along with her four funnels and two masts with a look out cage on the foremast. Inside the ship carpenters and joiners were busy fitting the elegant wood panelling and laying of decks, the fitters and plumbers were fitting baths and plumbing pipes, first and second class elevators were fitted. Among the other luxuries were two first class stairways, a swimming pool, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium, and the Cafe` Parisian. Although these luxuries were for mainly first class passengers, second class on the Titanic was like first class on any other Liner, even the third class steerage passengers had it better than ever. When the Titanic was nearing completion there was a last minute design change, due to experience of the Olympic, the open windows on the forward end of A deck were replaced by new sliding glass windows. This gave the Titanic a very distinct and noticeable difference between her and her two sisters. The sea trials were to commence on 1st April 1912 at 10 am but a very strong wind caused a delay to the next day, her sea trials were short and she would be in Southampton on 3rd April ready to take on supplies, coal and crew for her fateful journey into destiny.
See also:
Other landmarks: Christ the Redeemer, Colossus, Delhi pillar, Eiffel tower, Golden Gate bridge, Great Buddha, Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao), Guggenheim Museum (NYC), Normandy bridge, Oresund crossing, Quebec Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Thames Barrier, Titanic, Tower of the Orologio, Washington Monument
