Olympic/Titanic conspiracy

My friend is trying to convince me the Titanic was the Olympic and despite me having my initial disbelief. She is saying some things that make sense. Is this conspiracy true or does it sink?
 
It sinks.

Follow the money Titanic was under insured, White Star had insurance for 1 million pounds the Titanic had probably cost double that by the time she sailed and a replacement vessel would have cost more because of inflation in shipbuilding costs.
 
It sinks. If you notice A-deck, it's partly enclosed on the Titanic but not on the Olympic.
The Titanic conspiracy is much deeper than that, and I've done a lot of research on it, and I've come to the conclusion that ir is, in fact, false.
The conspiracy is based around when the Olympic collided with the HMS Hawke in 1911.
Officially, it punched a large hole in Olympic's stern, and flooded two compartments.
However, according to the theory,The collision actually buckled her keel. This meant that the ships maintenance would be increasingly costly as she aged, such that she would be unprofitable.
At the time, Titanic was about half way through fitting out at Belfast, but they needed to repair Olympic, so Titanic fitting out had to be stopped.
SI Olympic was repaired, and Titanic went back to being fitted out.
Then, in February 1912, just 2 months before Titanic's maiden voyage, Olympic lost a propeller, and was brought back to Belfast again for repairs.
Apparently, this was when the two ships were switched, with lifeboats, nameplates, delf, etc all being switched too.
The plan was then to sink Olympic, say she hit an iceberg, and claim insurance.
The Californian was on standby, ready to pick up the passengers.
Now, the main evidence that they were switched was that, at launch, Titanic had 14 portholes in the Forecastle deck, and even window spacings on B deck, but on her maiden voyage, she had 16 portholes (like Olympic) and uneven window spacings (like Olympic)
But any pictures of Olympic shoes that she didn't have uneven window spacing,ever.
She did have 16 portholes however.
However, anyone who bothers they're arse to look at Titanic in her early stages of fitting out, can see that these changes were made long before Olympic returned to Belfast for repairs.
The other claim in this theory was that during her maiden voyage, passengers noticed a very slight, 3 degree list. According to the theory, this was because it was Olympic, and the list was because of her buckled keel.
However, the real reason for this is because there was a fire in Titanic's coal bunkers.
So the rest of the coal was put on the other side of the ship, to prevent the fire from spreading.
Also, even if it did buckle the keel, H&W workers could fix it.
For example, rms Suevic ran hard aground on rocks. While the bow section was ruined, the rest of the ship was in good condition, so the cut the ship in two, towed her to Southampton, built a new bow, and fitted it.
The ship stayed on service for over 20 years after that incident.
But one of the main problems with this theory is it ruins what white star was trying to promote, that their ships could take a shitton of damage, and survive. It doesn't seem like an intelligent idea.
 
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Titanic at launch, note, even spacings, 14 portholes.
completed-titanic-pictures-6.jpg

Titanic in early stages of fitting out. 16 portholes, and uneven window spacing on B deck.
titanic-construction-13.jpg
 
How does anyone notice a 3 degree list on a ship.
You'd be surprised.
If you were looking at a glass of water, or dropping a spherical object that rolled to one side, you'd notice it.
In fairness, very few passengers actually did notice it.
I think one that did was Laurence Besley
 

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Banned
Yeah, that theory is complete and utter rubbish. A few things to consider: various pieces of Titanic's wreck have been photographed/recovered and ALL are marked with Titanic's yard number, not Olympic's. Second, paneling from Olympic still survives today. Particularly at the White Swan Inn. On the back of that paneling is Olympic's yard number, not Titanic's. To believe the switch theory, you have to believe that the of thousands of items were removed, switched and installed on each ship. In about a week. Because the only time you could do this was while Olympic was in Belfast to have her propeller replaced. And this brings up another issue. To successfully pull this off, Harland and Wolff and White Star would have had to pay off THOUSANDS of people. The people who built and fited out the ships, the men who sailed them and anybody who who happened to pass by the fitting out basin while extensive structural changes were made to each ship. None of it adds up and the theory falls apart with literally 5 minutes of research. The other damming proof of it being fake is as @Hood1944 said: Titanic was underinsured by nearly 50%. The loses White Star sustained from the disaster were a key reason for White Star going under and being forced into a merger with Cunard less than 20 years later.

Edit: you also have to believe that either the crew all took massive payoffs and NEVER squeeled, or that the crew was made up of nothing but dead, dumb and blind idiots who never noticed that the ship they were on had been in service for over a year and WASN'T brand new like it was supposed to be.
 
My friend is trying to convince me the Titanic was the Olympic and despite me having my initial disbelief. She is saying some things that make sense. Is this conspiracy true or does it sink?
You should probably mention WHAT she is telling you. Easier to take them apart. Is it that insurance fraud nonsense that I read was once brought up in a book? A book that went over the whole idea before dismissing it. If there was going to be some scam of switching ships, changing them, whatever then it would have been far better to do it before J.P. Morgan (who, despite being a big time financier, was not personally robber baron rich) and some others bought the White Star Line.
 
You'd be surprised.
If you were looking at a glass of water, or dropping a spherical object that rolled to one side, you'd notice it.
In fairness, very few passengers actually did notice it.
I think one that did was Laurence Besley
Though it was a clear night, with calm waters preventing much splashing on the base of icebergs, I would say there still might be a light sway to the ship. Everyone probably had sea legs by then. People did notice the enginges stop, though. One of those 'it's quiet, too quiet' situations.
 
Though it was a clear night, with calm waters preventing much splashing on the base of icebergs, I would say there still might be a light sway to the ship. Everyone probably had sea legs by then. People did notice the enginges stop, though. One of those 'it's quiet, too quiet' situations.
Of course, but it also explains why Titanic went down without a heavy list, like Britannic or Lusitania.
 
Of course, but it also explains why Titanic went down without a heavy list, like Britannic or Lusitania.
The water came in pretty steadily, and before it could rise over one watertight compartment it would have to fill the previous ones. I imagine the firemen/coal stokers down there also had a good deal to do with keeping things from capsizing or whatnot. The Titanic stayed above water an hour longer than the officers thought, due to the men down below shoveling more coal into the boilers to work the pumps. Unsung heroes, compared to some aristocrats who were praised for not making a fuss when they were declined the ability to go into the lifeboats. Ahh romantic night. In the old fashioned genre, not the love stuff. But yes, this reminds me about the lifeboats. The Titanic did have more than they needed by law, but even if they had more they might not have saved many more people. They didn't even manage to launch all of them, with a collapsible lifeboat needing to be washed off the ship. That and the people in the lifeboats rowed off when they were supposed to wait beneath the ships for people to enter by rope ladders...
 
You'd be surprised.

I would be very surprised in fact I would be bloody amazed I have been in dozens of ships and boats and none of them have had a perpendicular bulkhead or level deck. Ships in most of the 20th C were built with Sheer, Camber and Flare it is only quite recently that vessels have been built with right angles and that lasts till there launched as a ship is flexible designed to twist and flex.

Sheer = Curve in the deck from the bow to the stern, the middle of the vessel is lower than the bow and usually lower than the stern.
Camber = Curve in the deck from side to side, the centreline of the deck is higher than the sides.
Flare = Curve in the sides of the vessel, the weather deck is wider than the waterline.

A 3 degree list is nothing 99.99% of vessels list slightly hell my house probably leans 3 degrees. Anyone who claims a ship lists 3 degrees is talking rubbish

If you were looking at a glass of water, or dropping a spherical object that rolled to one side, you'd notice it.

Pick a ship any ship and I can guarantee a glass of water will not be level

In fairness, very few passengers actually did notice it.
I think one that did was Laurence Besley

I bet people only noticed it after the sinking and I also bet most of those people wouldnt know Port from Starboard. Not arguing with you just trying to say a 3 degree list is a complete Red Herring and means nothing when talking about ships.

Video showing a ship flexing
 
The water came in pretty steadily, and before it could rise over one watertight compartment it would have to fill the previous ones. I imagine the firemen/coal stokers down there also had a good deal to do with keeping things from capsizing or whatnot. The Titanic stayed above water an hour longer than the officers thought, due to the men down below shoveling more coal into the boilers to work the pumps. Unsung heroes, compared to some aristocrats who were praised for not making a fuss when they were declined the ability to go into the lifeboats. Ahh romantic night. In the old fashioned genre, not the love stuff. But yes, this reminds me about the lifeboats. The Titanic did have more than they needed by law, but even if they had more they might not have saved many more people. They didn't even manage to launch all of them, with a collapsible lifeboat needing to be washed off the ship. That and the people in the lifeboats rowed off when they were supposed to wait beneath the ships for people to enter by rope ladders...
Quite true.
However, the ship was listing slightly to port during her early stages of sinking.
When flooding evened out in the ship, she listed to starboard, due to the coal on the other side of the ship.
 
I would be very surprised in fact I would be bloody amazed I have been in dozens of ships and boats and none of them have had a perpendicular bulkhead or level deck. Ships in most of the 20th C were built with Sheer, Camber and Flare it is only quite recently that vessels have been built with right angles and that lasts till there launched as a ship is flexible designed to twist and flex.

Sheer = Curve in the deck from the bow to the stern, the middle of the vessel is lower than the bow and usually lower than the stern.
Camber = Curve in the deck from side to side, the centreline of the deck is higher than the sides.
Flare = Curve in the sides of the vessel, the weather deck is wider than the waterline.
And most of the things you have mentioned would have been made to be a subtle as possible. Titanic did have a sheer from bow to stern, which is quite visible when one looks at the Superstructure, but even if Titanic's list wasn't noticeable, it was there, as shifting thousands of tons of coal to one side of a ship will have an effect. This has been well documented. Of course Besley could be talking out of his ass, or maybe he heard it from someone in the crew, I don't know.
Edit:what Titanic's list was, according to Besley's testimony
heel.jpg
 
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