The Titanic was built at Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. It took exactly 3 years to go from a keel to a completed ship.
Early stages
Titanic's keel was laid on the unoccupied spot on the Arrol Gantry, the other spot was then still occupied by the Olympic. It took 6 weeks just to lay the keel. For two years and two months, that keel was being built up to a hull, complete with bulkheads, boilers, and engines.
Launching
The ship was launched on May 31st, 1911, over 7 months after Olympic's launch. It was a non-paid holiday for the workers, forcing them to spend some of their weekly £2 wages. It was even a double holiday for Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line, because the Olympic would be delivered the same day. She was completed, had finished her sea trials and was now anchored under steam in Belfast Lough, waiting for the White Star Line's special guests to bring them back to England. The company had scheduled for Titanic's launch to be on the same day as her sister's delivery, as a clever publicity stunt.
Lots of people came to look at the launch, mainly because the clear spring skies, which was already quite rare in Belfast. As soon as 11:00 A.M. came, Corporation Street was clogged with cars and pedestrians all heading to the Albert Quay. The authorities closed part of the quay and charged a few shillings for entrance. Many people diverted to Spencer Basin, which also gave a good (and free) view on the Titanic, while ignoring the piles of wood and coal, which made the place nasty and dusty. Among those people were the thousands of employees who weren't invited, to watch their work slide into the water.
The ladies and gentlemen who were invited were able to wait for the launch with more luxury and elegance. Especially for them, a massive tribune had been placed with room for a few hundred. Most of those people were Harland and Wolff's designers, drawers and engineers. The leading crewmen were only allowed in if they showed their exclusive invitation.
The press was given a second tribune. They were early at the scene, even though the launch was going to be exactly like Olympic's launch 7 months ago, without even a bottle of champagne, as this wasn't a trait shared by the White Star Line to any of their ships.
After 62 seconds, the hull was already in the water.
.jpg "Launch Day (image only).jpg (1.1 MB)")
Completion
There was still a long way to go before the freshly launched hull became the RMS Titanic like her designers envisioned her. She still had to be painted, furnished, her boilers needed to be installed as well as her engines, the masts were yet to be erected and later they would add the funnels, to name just a few things. Part of this process was done in the Thompson Dry Dock. Titanic was originally going on its maiden voyage at March 20th, 1912. But due to RMS Olympic's mishaps, this pushed its maiden voyage to April 10th, 1912.
