A few Titanic questions?

Question

1. what design elements were supposed to make the titanic unsinkable?

2.What were some facts contributing to the titanic hitting the ice burg?




Thank you

Answer 1

Structurally, there wasn't a whole lot to give people the idea that the ship was unsinkable. It did have watertight areas, and they assumed that IF there was damage to the ship, the watertight areas would keep the problem contained. Also, the front part of the ship was structurally sound. The main reasons people called it "Unsinkable", though, was its size (they didn't think an iceberg or another ship could cause real damage to it, similar to the way a small ship would have been demolished and the Titanic would be unharmed if they collided), and that was a part of the marketing by the media (I don't think, but I'm not positive, the White Star Line ever made such claims, but the media speculated that it was unsinkable).

There were several factors that led to them hitting the iceberg. Even though they knew they were getting into icy areas, they picked up speed to make the headlines of the paper by getting in a day earlier. Similarly, they ignored warnings of icebergs in the area. The rudder was too small for a ship that big, so it wasn't able to turn around or slow down significantly when they saw the iceberg (incidentally, if they had hit the berg head-on, the ship probably would have survived, and they would have been able to make it to safety). For some reason, the lookouts had no binoculars. There was no moonlight, and the lights were turned off around the lookouts so they could see out into the darkness more clearly. The weather that year caused the ice to be further south than it usually was for that time of year. The weather also resulted in the iceburg flipping over, so that that white cap wasn't showing, and the black area normally under water was showing, making it almost impossible to see at night from a distance.

Then, of course, there were reasons the sinking was as tragic as it was. As I said before, the damage was worse because the side of the ship, not the front, was hit, and it was less structurally sound. There weren't enough lifeboats. The third class passengers weren't permitted to go up on deck and try to get on the lifeboats that were there. To keep from being over-crowded, almost all the boats were filled to less than half capacity. To avoid panic, many passengers weren't told the full story of what had happened, so they didn't take it seriously when they were told to put on lifevests and go up on deck. To avoid being sucked down into the current, almost all the lifeboats went too far out and waited too long to come back, if they came back at all. Then, of course, there were the claims of bribery, to either take men on the boats when the rule was women and children only, or to not go back to look for survivors still in the water.

Answer 2

In the bottom of the Titanic there were like 9 compartments with steel doors to block the water if something were to happen so that it wouldn't spread. It was suppose to only fill one up to like three compartments and still be able to float. The fact is though when the ship hit the ice burg it opened up into four compartments and they couldn't contain the water even though they closed the doors. Now the contributing factors include stupidity and negligence. The night watch guards weren't paying attention to their job so they didn't see the ice burg as soon as they should have. But the fault really falls to the captain who let some guy (I forget his name but he was like the designer or promoter or something) convince him that it would be a grand idea if the Titanic were to arrive in the port 2-3 days early. That in turn meant that they had to make the ship go faster than safe in waters with ice burgs. They ultimately paid the price for that decision. Unfortunately lives were lost unnecessarily because their was a boat about 4 miles away that could have saved everyone however they mistook the flares of distress for fireworks and a party.

Answer 3

Well, let’s start with the word "Ice Burg. It is Iceberg.. (wink...) what made it unsinkable is the "flooding compartments", a new novelty that delayed” flooding" and sinking by distributing the weight from one compartment to the next. In other words, like an ice cube tray, when one tray cube is full water spills into the next cube and so one. This buys time for rescue and it buys time for repair. It also distributes the weight of the water load thus keeping it stable. The metal plates and welding types were an innovation of its era. I think the plates were like 4 inches thick? Correct me, I might be wrong.... THE only fact contributing to the titanic hitting the iceberg, was ignorance. Rules were broken, relaxed and bang! You hit a light pole when you don’t pay attention how you drive right? human error.

Answer 4

The ship had multiple sealed compartments in the hull. If one was damaged the rest would keep the ship afloat. The fog was terrible, the captain and designer onboard were overconfident that nothing could ever sink it. It sunk because it did not hit the iceberg head on but scraped a hole in most of the compartments down one side.

Answer 5

I recommend the programs on National Geographic. However:

1) Watertight componants, electrically controlled flood doors.

2) The weather (dark, moonless night, cold), lack of communication, more pieces of ice than usual in the Atlantic for the time of year, bad luck.

Answer 6

1. The water-tight compartments, supposed to seal off certain sections of the ship from water overflow

2. They were travelling very fast, at night, in a northern shipping lane. I think they also ignored iceberg warnings from other ships.

Answer 7

1. I think it had a rudimentary double hull design

2. everyone was so amazed that Victor Newman was in a movie, that they weren't paying attention. That, and Kate Winslet's smoking hot figure.