Olympic was the largest ocean liner in the world for two periods during 1911–13, interrupted only by the brief tenure of the slightly larger Titanic (which had the same dimensions but higher gross tonnage owing to revised interior configurations), before she was then surpassed by SS Imperator. Olympic also retained the title of the largest British-built liner until RMS Queen Mary was launched in 1934, interrupted only by the short careers of her slightly larger sister ships.^[2][3]

By contrast with Olympic, the other two ships in the class, Titanic and Britannic, did not have long service lives. Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage, while Britannic struck a mine and sank in the Kea Channel off Greece in 1916.

Decorative elements of Olympic were recovered before she was scrapped and now adorn buildings and even a cruise ship.