Designing a White Star Liner: A Creative Miracle
Above: Olympic‘s iconic four funnels were displayed proudly on the front cover. This issue is from September 1933, shortly before the merger between Cunard and White Star. (Author’s collection)
Note: This article is reproduced verbatim from the inaugural issue of White Star Magazine, published in September 1923. It gives a good generic insight into the various ship design considerations when the White Star Line were planning new tonnage. It was intended to be reproduced as an appendix in Olympic & Titanic: Triumph and Disaster (History Press; April 2026), however it was cut to save space. The book itself contains extensive details about the process specific to the ‘Olympic‘ class ships.
The actual beginning of a ship! How does she really start? In this article it is proposed to remove, as far as possible, the veil which hides from most people the very beginnings of large passenger steamers like those for which the White Star Line has acquired so high a reputation.
Assume that a moment arrives when the managers of the line, in considering their various ocean services, reach a decision that further tonnage is necessary for the requirements of the present, or of the near future. Having become clear in their own minds as to the class of ship likely to form the most valuable asset to the working of their business, the managers approach the directors in order to gain their consent for such a vessel to be built. ‘We need a ship generally similar to the ____, but with modifications to meet the growing demands of the trade. In our opinion, she should be a little longer and a little faster’, may perhaps be the gist of their views, and they may add for the consideration of the directors suggestions as to improvements considered desirable to embody. The whole matter is discussed, often at great length. Eventually an instruction is given by the board to Messrs. Harland & Wolff, asking them to prepare a design for the vessel on the basis which has been discussed, and embodying all information gained from previous tonnage for that particular trade.
Almost the most important feature (and certainly the most troublesome) in any design is the speed. This is stated, and a general idea given on the question of size, together with any special requirements which have been decided upon in the course of discussion.
At this stage, then, the Belfast headquarters of Messrs. Harland & Wolff begin to take a hand. The firm concentrates all designing work at Belfast, and here exist unique records of the requirements of the different services of the White Star Line so far as matters of construction are concerned.
The designing now becomes a question of approximate calculation; experts embark upon a series of calculations relating to weights, displacements, and speeds in order that it may be certain that the requirements put forward by the White Star Line can be satisfactorily embodied within the limits of a ship suitable for the trade. Such practical points as the depth of water in the St. Lawrence or in the approaches to Southampton or at Melborne have to be borne in mind. When a ship of the large size required by the White Star Line is in contemplation, the question of the size of the available dry docks may be a determining factor.
Approximate calculations having been settled, the question of the size of the necessary machinery to obtain the desired speed is investigated, and a preliminary arrangement of its parts and distribution of its weights is made to fit within the dimensions of the hull on the one hand, and, on the other hand, not to interfere with such matters as the arrangement of dining saloons, lounges, and galleys and pantries. At this stage it is at length possible to place on paper, in concrete form, the ideas which have been shaping themselves regarding the fashioning of the ship.
Now that the drawing office starts its labours, other points arise. For example, there must be investigation as to the safety of the vessel so far as floatation and stability are concerned (this enquiry will as yet be of a provisional character), and the arrangement of machinery to be fitted into the hull must be considered.
No small amount of ingenuity has to be expended in alternative variations in the manner in which the various requirements can be satisfactorily incorporated within a ship-shape form at the same time complying with the innumerable regulations applying to all ships. At this period the meeting of such requirements is not the least pressing of the problems with which the designer has to deal. The nature of them often brings about a clashing with some of the proposals of the owners whose desire is to make the new vessel attractive from the passenger viewpoint, and usually a balance has to be struck across a number of more or less conflicting legal and technical requirements.
At first sight it may appear puzzling to state that the larger the ship, the more difficult it is to find room in her for any given requirement! This mainly arises because the arrangement to be carried out on one deck affects what it is possible to do on the deck above and on that below. Hence from the among the schemes which have been discussed and weighed, one or two which seem the most promising are selected for development, and these are next worked out in detail embodying the various legal requirements, for example, of the United Kingdom and the United States; and with rough sketch designs so prepared, a detailed examination is made of the various technical particulars and qualities of the ship.
Additionally, one or two alternative schemes dealing with some individual feature will be made out, and, when this stage has been accomplished, a complete, small ‘General Arrangement’ plan, on a scale of about 1/200th of the full size of the vessel is prepared and sent forward for the consideration of the directors and managers of the White Star Line. An effort is made to show what the general layout of the ship will be, and calculations and enumerations are made from which the cost of the ship and possible expenses and profits can be studied in detail.
The ‘General Arrangement’ plans referred to include a rigging plan indicating the general external appearance, together with plans of each of the decks and such sections of the ship as may be necessary to illustrate the various points where difficulty in working or building may arise.
It may frankly be said that it is never possible to get everything that is desirable into any one ship, so that the management have now to consider and criticise the effect on each other of their various proposals, and when they have done this, a conference with the builders can be held and more definitive instructions given as to the final form the design is to take. ‘This we like’, say the directors of the White Star Line, ‘and that we like. We are of the opinion that such-and-such a feature is undesirable. We would wish you to consider if the result we seek cannot be secured in some other way’. At this stage instructions to the builders may cover a hundred or more items, and back to the plans to Belfast for another design embodying the outcome of the discussion.
How often this process will repeat itself depends on many and varying circumstances, but eventually there comes a time when the needs of the owners have been reduced to a form which the builders believe will give a satisfactory ship capable of meeting the restrictions, and fulfilling the requirements which have been put to them.
Now at this stage records are turned up to see if there is on file any detailed requirement noted from previous tonnage upon which special care is to be taken in view of the particular service involved, and the preliminary plans to determine the distribution of the steel fabric of the ship are put in hand. These have to be carefully gone into and compared with other ships and the requirements of various regulations to ensure an ample margin of strength for the size of the ship as well as for the service involved.
A model to give the shape of the vessel is prepared and critically studied so as to make certain that the appearance of the hull will accord with the traditions and requirements of the White Star Line. This, together with the final revision of the small ‘General Arrangement’ plan will be discussed with the owners. Then, and not till then does it become possible for the owners to instruct the builders that they are in order in going ahead with the work for the ship, and working plans can be started from which the ship will actually be built, and the first material ordered from the steel manufacturer.
All these various matters involve considerable time and necessitate the closest relationship between owner and builder if the project, involving as it does, very great expenditure, is to be successful.
The fitting-together of the various requirements of the owners for passengers, cargo, and crew, complicated by the regulations both for passengers and crew of the various departments of the different governments concerned, resembles in many ways the piercing-together of a jigsaw puzzle. Moreover, this piercing-together is additionally involved because the puzzle is in quite a number of layers and no one layer can proceed independently of another!
The details of the whole process for any two ships are rarely the same. Nevertheless this sketch should give enlightenment to the lay reader, and it undoubtedly reveals the methods usually followed, and makes it abundantly evident that enormous care is inexorably put forth in the preliminary stages, as later, of the making of a White Star liner.
