Titanic: Building the Worlds largest ship
Discussion
A pretty good article, that. But this bit bugs me:
The only 'flaw' in her construction was that she happened to encounter a situation which - barely- exceeded her design's survivability factor. Five compartments flooding (at a rate greater than that which allowed the ship to 'float on her pumps') and she still took over 2.5 hours to sink, and did so on a largely even keel in a stable fashion. No ship had encountered Titanic's situation (a collision with an iceberg causing flooding over a large length of hull) before, and no ship has encountered it since.
The article's framing of the Titanic sinking 'within three hours because of the height of the bulkheads' implies that the sinking was rapid in some way. When it wasn't. It was - and remains - highly unusual in large ship sinkings in taking place over so much time and with the ship going down steadily by the head. Most sinkings end with the ship developing a list and capsizing. Imagine if the Titanic had developed an Andrea Doria-style list that rendered half the lifeboats unusable, or just rolled over like the Lusitania.
BBC article said:
Design flaws
Many of the structural changes made in response to the Titanic’s demise are still with us today. The ship sank within three hours because of the height of its bulkheads, the upright partitions positioned within the hull to stop any breaches from flooding the rest of the ship. Like ships before it, the Titanic's bulkheads did not reach the deck above, extending only 10 ft (3m) above the waterline. When it struck the iceberg, five of Titanic's 16 compartments breached, causing the bow to dip, which in turn forced water into the remaining compartments.
The height/location/number of the Titanic's bulkheads and the arrangement of her double bottom were not 'flawed'. The ship was designed to a specification to meet a stated amount of survivability which encompassed all reasonable scenarios - she could float with any two adjacent compartments breached (allowing for a worst-case collision with another ship). In fact in many cases she would float with three adjacent compartments flooded. The double bottom prevented flooding in a grounding situation. She would also float if the front four or the aftmost four compartments were flooded (allowing for a sideswipe collision). She was by no means an unsafe or 'flawed' ship, and her watertight subdivision and flood-resistance was significantly better than many modern cruise ships. Many of the structural changes made in response to the Titanic’s demise are still with us today. The ship sank within three hours because of the height of its bulkheads, the upright partitions positioned within the hull to stop any breaches from flooding the rest of the ship. Like ships before it, the Titanic's bulkheads did not reach the deck above, extending only 10 ft (3m) above the waterline. When it struck the iceberg, five of Titanic's 16 compartments breached, causing the bow to dip, which in turn forced water into the remaining compartments.
The only 'flaw' in her construction was that she happened to encounter a situation which - barely- exceeded her design's survivability factor. Five compartments flooding (at a rate greater than that which allowed the ship to 'float on her pumps') and she still took over 2.5 hours to sink, and did so on a largely even keel in a stable fashion. No ship had encountered Titanic's situation (a collision with an iceberg causing flooding over a large length of hull) before, and no ship has encountered it since.
The article's framing of the Titanic sinking 'within three hours because of the height of the bulkheads' implies that the sinking was rapid in some way. When it wasn't. It was - and remains - highly unusual in large ship sinkings in taking place over so much time and with the ship going down steadily by the head. Most sinkings end with the ship developing a list and capsizing. Imagine if the Titanic had developed an Andrea Doria-style list that rendered half the lifeboats unusable, or just rolled over like the Lusitania.
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