Four-funnel liners were already an established prestige type when White Star built Olympic and Titanic. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was launched for North German Lloyd in 1897, followed by Deutschland, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Kronprinzessin Cecilie. Cunard's Lusitania became the first British example in 1906, followed by Mauretania, Olympic, SS France, Titanic, Aquitania, and Britannic. After World War I, Arundel Castle and Windsor Castle carried the arrangement onto the Africa route rather than transatlantic service. Funnel counts fell as machinery grew more efficient. Their number became a visible clue to a liner's engineering and prestige image.
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Four-funnel liners before Titanic
Titanic and Olympic entered an international four-funnel liner tradition that began with German ships in the late 1890s.