Save your money: Titanic semi-replica to set sail in 2018

[High octane]

Current condition of the SS United States

That will "buff out,"

[Harry P.]

Another interesting factoid... (yeah, I'm sort of a Titanic afficionado)...

Titanic was thought to be "unsinkable" because of the design of the ship. The hull was divided into a series of bulkheads from stem to stern, each bulkhead considered "waterproof," so if one of the bulkheads was compromised, the rest would hold strong.

But the walls that separated the bulkheads only reached part way up to the deck! If one bulkhead was compromised, it would fill with water, and then the water would splash over the top of the bulkhead wall into the next bulkhead... and so on! Which is exactly what happened and why Titanic sank.

What were the designers thinking???

[Joe Handley]

Where's the casino?

I'm more concerned by where THE Iceberg is.......................

[Ace-Garageguy]

Another interesting factoid... (yeah, I'm sort of a Titanic afficionado)...

Titanic was thought to be "unsinkable" because of the design of the ship. The hull was divided into a series of bulkheads from stem to stern, each bulkhead considered "waterproof," so if one of the bulkheads was compromised, the rest would hold strong.

But the walls that separated the bulkheads only reached part way up to the deck! If one bulkhead was compromised, it would fill with water, and then the water would splash over the top of the bulkhead wall into the next bulkhead... and so on! Which is exactly what happened and why Titanic sank.

What were the designers thinking???

Same cost-engineering crew that saved a few bucks on carp rivets figured they could save a LOT by leaving off the tops of the watertight compartments. 

Edited February 28, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Harry P.]

The theory was that the bulkheads had to only rise up above the water line (which they did), not necessarily go all the way up to create a true "watertight" compartment. The idea was that if any of the "watertight" compartments were somehow compromised, any water flowing into the compartment could only rise to the level of the water outside the ship. "Water seeks its own level," as they say. Any water flooding a given compartment couldn't possibly rise any higher than the general water level of the ocean, so as long as the tops of the bulkheads were well above the water line, everything was ok.

But what happened is that Titanic grazed the iceberg for quite a distance, and several compartments were compromised. As the water rushed in and filled the compromised compartments, the weight of all that water forced the front of the ship down. And the further down the front of the ship went, the higher the water rose (actually the water didn't rise... it can only rise to its own level...but as the front of the ship went further and further down, the relative level of the water in the compartments rose). Finally the front of the ship went down so far that water spilled over the top of the bulkhead wall and began to flood the next compartment... and a chain reaction occurred as one compartment after another filled with water spilling over the tops of the bulkhead walls.

Apparently the ship's designers and engineers never addressed the possibility of more than one compartment being compromised.

Just before it sank, Titanic was nearly vertical, with all the forward compartments flooded. Obviously the ship was not designed to be vertical, and the stresses caused the ship to snap in two. The front and rear half of the ship sank separately and rest on the ocean floor several miles apart from one another.

[Harry P.]

Yet another Titanic fun fact...

After Titanic hit the iceberg, the radio man sent out a "CQD" distress signal, CQD being commonly used on British ships. But CQD had never been adopted as the universal distress call; in fact SOS had become the international Morse Code distress signal in 1906.

Junior radio man Harold Bride suggested to senior radio man Jack Phillips that he might want to try using the fairly new SOS signal instead of CQD.

Had Titanic sent out SOS in the first place instead of CQD, who knows what might have happened.

[Petetrucker07]

The Carpathia was still to far away, I believe 4 hours or so. I can't remember if the distress call went out immediately or shortly after the hit. But even if they were closer, they MIGHT have been able to save more people. But,

Yet another Titanic fun fact...

After Titanic hit the iceberg, the radio man sent out a "CQD" distress signal, CQD being commonly used on British ships. But CQD had never been adopted as the universal distress call; in fact SOS had become the international Morse Code distress signal in 1906.

Junior radio man Harold Bride suggested to senior radio man Jack Phillips that he might want to try using the fairly new SOS signal instead of CQD.

Had Titanic sent out SOS in the first place instead of CQD, who knows what might have happened.

Titanic was doomed even if the nearest ship was a few minutes away.

[Harry P.]

Titanic was doomed even if the nearest ship was a few minutes away.

Supposedly a ship named "Californian" saw Titanic's distress rockets and was close enough to respond, but didn't. Apparently Californian was stuck amid ice and the captain had decided to stay put overnight.

[Petetrucker07]

I was just reading the story about the Californian. It's a big controversy. The crew said they could see the lights of the Titanic, sent ice warnings to her as well. It's said that they sent one last message about shutting down for the night, 10 minutes before the Titanic struck the berge. The captain of the Californian was interviewed after, with conflicting and different recounts of what happened. The crew said they saw several flares from the Titanic location, alerted the captain and did nothing. The official log from the Californian that night doesn't state anything about the flares. The scrap log mysteriously disappeared somehow from the wreckage field to Boston where it was headed. 

Supposedly a ship named "Californian" saw Titanic's distress rockets and was close enough to respond, but didn't. Apparently Californian was stuck amid ice and the captain had decided to stay put overnight.

[Harry P.]

Yeah, it's a controversial story with several "explanations."

[russosborne]

My only connection to the Titanic.

I was out at sea on the submarine I served on  and had a really eerie feeling. About ten seconds later the C.O. came on the 1MC to announce that we were passing directly under the last known position of the Titanic. This was a few years before the wreckage was found by Ballard.

Russ
 

 

[Harry P.]

Yet another Titanic fun fact...

Technically her name was "RMS Titanic." RMS stood for Royal Mail Ship (or steamship), a title that was given to ships that were officially designated to carry mail across the Atlantic.

Obviously, Titanic was designed and built as a luxury liner, meant to carry passengers, but technically she was a mail ship.

[slusher]

The theory was that the bulkheads had to only rise up above the water line (which they did), not necessarily go all the way up to create a true "watertight" compartment. The idea was that if any of the "watertight" compartments were somehow compromised, any water flowing into the compartment could only rise to the level of the water outside the ship. "Water seeks its own level," as they say. Any water flooding a given compartment couldn't possibly rise any higher than the general water level of the ocean, so as long as the tops of the bulkheads were well above the water line, everything was ok.

But what happened is that Titanic grazed the iceberg for quite a distance, and several compartments were compromised. As the water rushed in and filled the compromised compartments, the weight of all that water forced the front of the ship down. And the further down the front of the ship went, the higher the water rose (actually the water didn't rise... it can only rise to its own level...but as the front of the ship went further and further down, the relative level of the water in the compartments rose). Finally the front of the ship went down so far that water spilled over the top of the bulkhead wall and began to flood the next compartment... and a chain reaction occurred as one compartment after another filled with water spilling over the tops of the bulkhead walls.

Apparently the ship's designers and engineers never addressed the possibility of more than one compartment being compromised.

Just before it sank, Titanic was nearly vertical, with all the forward compartments flooded. Obviously the ship was not designed to be vertical, and the stresses caused the ship to snap in two. The front and rear half of the ship sank separately and rest on the ocean floor several miles apart from one another.

If the ship would have hit the iceberg head on it would have not sank.  I know they save money with cheaper rivets but at the time they did not know they was of poor quality like they was.. The Titanic has always fascinated me.

[Atmobil]

Current condition of the SS United States

Thank you very much for that videolink
That would be a great weathering project on my 1:400 kit from Glencoe Models. I did almost finish a Micro Models paper model of this some years ago. I bought it on Ebay and scanned it and printed it out on a A4 photopaper so it would be a more manageble size. I was infact glueing together the funnels on it when my wife was in labour before our son was born
My dream modelling project of this type is the SS America after she ended up at Fuerteventura. This has been my desktopbackground on my pc for the last 5 years or so:

[drummerdad]

The Titanic sunk because of a series of bad decisions. The engineers, the captain, even the crew just made bad decisions. There is a show on Netflix about Titanics final mystery, and it makes sense. The Titanic sailed into the ice storm. The conditions decayed so fast, the crew didnt react fast enough. The temperature dropped several degrees, causing an inverse mirage, much like you see on the road when its hot. This caused the horizon to distort, which caused the iceberg to stay hidden until the last minute. Then when the iceberg was visible, it was too late. The crew tried to steer a 1000ft boat around an object, at around 20 knots. They also botched the rescue effort, because of poor training. Other ships either didnt see the distress call, or thought it was random, again because of the mirage effect. 

Heres a random fact for ya: The Titanic used a new type of flooring, never before used, and was very expensive at the time. It was linoleum. 

[Agent G]

One more factoid.

Titanic sailed with a fire in one of her coal bunkers.

It was quite common back then. Trouble was, the only good way to extinguish the fire was to empty the bunker. You then had to hose it down then refill with coal. Time consuming for sure.  

The decision was made to sail on time, thus no bad press for the White Star Line.

G

[CometMan]

Interesting factoid...

The original Titanic had way too few lifeboats... not nearly enough to evacuate all the passengers and crew. But it did have enough lifeboats to meet the legal requirements of the day.

Apparently the powers that were figured saving everyone wasn't too important...

The Titanic also carried a kedge anchor in the forecastle area to maneuver around tight areas to meet legal requirements,Harry, although there was no possible way a ship of that size could possibly have been kedged. Also, how about RMS Lusitania while on the subject of ill-fated liners?

[Harry P.]

The temperature dropped several degrees, causing an inverse mirage, much like you see on the road when its hot. This caused the horizon to distort, which caused the iceberg to stay hidden until the last minute.

Never heard that story before. Where did you get that from?

[Petetrucker07]

Yeah always heard it eerily dead calm, cold and clear.

[drummerdad]

Never heard that story before. Where did you get that from?

Its a Netflix show, I think its called Titanics final mystery. Its pretty interesting. The host even went through the ship logs of other ships in the area, and they reported the temperature drops, and the mirage effect as well. It explains why they didnt see the iceberg until it was too late. Typically they would have seen it against the horizon, with plenty of time. 

[Harry P.]

Interesting. I thought I knew pretty much all the details of the sinking, never heard that before, ever.

[Harry P.]

Ok, googled it. It appears that is a theory based on one guy's hypothesis. No wonder I never heard that story.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Here's a link to a Titanic forum. Who knew.    http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/forums/forum.php

[Roadrunner]

Interesting factoid...

The original Titanic had way too few lifeboats... not nearly enough to evacuate all the passengers and crew. But it did have enough lifeboats to meet the legal requirements of the day.

Apparently the powers that were figured saving everyone wasn't too important...

Like yourself, I have a keen interest in the Titanic, though I'm certainly no authority on the subject. I understand that a decision was made to limit the lifeboat configuration so that it met only minimal standards, as the designers didn't want to hang lifeboats all over what was touted as an unsinkable ship, believing that would convey an undesirable impression.

[Harry P.]

Actually, even though Titanic had way too few lifeboats on board, it actually had more lifeboats than the law at the time required! So I can't fault Titanic's designers or the White Star Line. They met the requirements of the day and then some.

Now, the cheap rivets, on the other hand...