Why did the Titanic hit an iceberg? Was there something wrong with the rudder? Or they didn't see it? Or what?

Answer 1

They didn't see it...there was no radar in 1912

Answer 2

There were so many factors at work. As others have pointed out, the icebergs broke up a lot sooner that year and The Titanic was not warned. The captain also wanted to set a record time on that run so he was pushing the engines. The rudder was too small to turn a ship the size of The Titanic in the time alloted and let's not forget that the designers of the ship had jinxed it by removing lifeboats from the ship's design to give rich passengers a promenade.

Basically, Murphy was at work. The lookouts didn't see the berg in time, the radioman didn't get a warning, the Captain made a bad decision.... and those lifeboats.

Answer 3

Actually, the Titantic was on what was considered a normal route for that time of year. What was unknown was that the ice had begun breaking up sooner, and moving south when it usually did not do so, at that time of year. There was no Coast Guard then, nor any other government agency to keep track of such things. The rudder of the Titantic was to small for the size of ship that the Titantic was. The captain had the ship moving to fast for the conditions they were in, they were operating on the belief that the Titantic was unsinkable. Actually the news story about her was that she was ALMOST, unsinkable. Human error and pride left out the "almost", and the belief was that the ship was "unsinkable".This should be a lesson to all about reading and comprehending the complete story, and not just the part we like about anything. The iceberg was seen to late for the speed the ship was traveling, and for the crippling of her ability to turn because of a rudder that was to small. The whole tragedy was a result of human error, and pride. The captain wanted to get to New York as soon as they could to set a crossing time record. That cost him his ship, and many lives. If he had given up on that effort just that 1 time, and stopped his head long rush to New York, history for the Titantic would be much different. The same is true if the Titantic had been built with watertight compartments and spacing bulkheads (walls) that went all the way to the top deck. The Titantic could also have been saved if the crew had simply forced air into the right areas to drive water out, and keep it out until help arrived.

Answer 4

The ship was going too fast. At that time, competing cruise liners company were trying to break one another's trans-atlantic record & the captain was under pressure to do just that.

Coupled to the fact that the iceberg wasn't spotted till too late, there wasn't enough time & space for the ship to slow down or stop even when the full reverse & hard port order was given

Answer 5

They were pushing along pretty fast, in the dark, and it takes a heck of a long time for something that big to respond to the rudder.

Answer 6

They didn't see it in time, and it's said that the rudder was too small for a ship that size, so it turned very slowly. There was just not enough time to avoid it.

Answer 7

Some say that the rudder was too small for the boat. Plus, there was little visibility.

Answer 8

the ship was too big for the rudder, for the rudder was too small, the ship was going to fast to make a turn like the one needed, and the lookouts did not have their binoculars

Answer 9

Because they did not see it and they did hit the iceberg, The Titanic had a small hole in its hull that why it submerged

Answer 10

They were sailing too far north and had received reports that there were ice flows in the area, but decided to press on anyway.
The lookout did not see the fatal iceberg in time.

Answer 11

they know there were icebergs in the area but they said the titanic was unsink able stupid idiots