Titanic: What Caused the Ship to Crash

[EvilRocketeer]

I came across this article online a few minutes ago and wondered if this is just a publicity stunt to promote her book or is it actual truth...


The granddaughter of Lighttoller (the senior surviving officer and second officer) says that her grandfather kept it a secret that the ships steering crew member turned the ship in the wrong direction when the look out crew spotted the iceberg...

She has a fictional book coming out soon about a banker who survive the titanic and she was going to incorporate her grandfather's secrets into the book.

Officer's Granddaughter, Novelist Louise Patten, Says Steering Error Sank Titanic

 

[Treadwell]

Re: Titanic: What Caused the Ship to Sink

The answer is water. Water caused the ship to sink.

 

[EvilRocketeer]

Re: Titanic: What Caused the Ship to Sink

The answer is water. Water caused the ship to sink.

haha, maybe I will just edit the title to say crash instead

 

[NakedMoleRat]

Re: Titanic: What Caused the Ship to Sink

I've always thought that had they put the engines in full reverse and hit the ice berg head-on, they would not have sunk! Just my theory. Anyone want to build another Titanic and prove it for me? :lol You know, remote control of course.

 

[.:MirrorminD:.]

Saw the article as well. Id say its a publicity stunt, since she happens to have a book coming out. Its all hearsay since no one can confirm it. Who knows in a few yrs a book will come out saying it was Chtulhu

 

[micdavis]

Some considered the rudder on the Titanic to be undersized. Therefore when the iceberg was spotted the reaction was to go all back full on the engines. Due to the undersized rudder the ship lost maneuverability as it lost speed.

 

[PHArchivist]

Re: Titanic: What Caused the Ship to Sink

Answer to the thread title: Water

I actuality, with regards to steering, the fatal error was steering it at all.

It is theorized that had it hit the berg head on, only one or two water-tight compartments would have been compromised, and the ship likely would have stayed afloat.

Also, reversing the motors turned the drive system into a giant aerator, reducing the effect of the already-too-small rudder, lessening the efficiency of the ship's turning abilities.

By turning and scraping along five-plus such compartments, enough of the hull was compromised to doom the ship.

I think we all know this, but its still intriguing to talk about.

 

[PHArchivist]

Re: Titanic: What Caused the Ship to Sink

The answer is water. Water caused the ship to sink.

Ha! Posting before reading! Tread beat me to it!

 

[Cutest_Sandgirl]

Re: Titanic: What Caused the Ship to Sink

I've always thought that had they put the engines in full reverse and hit the ice berg head-on, they would not have sunk! Just my theory. Anyone want to build another Titanic and prove it for me? :lol You know, remote control of course.

I've seen shows where they study this theory. I think they have theorized that if they hit it head on vs swerving and trying to miss, they either could of prevented sinking or at least kept it from sinking as fast. They had stock footage of other ships that had smooshed in bows from hitting iceburgs head on but were otherwise still intact and still afloat.

haha! PH beat me too it.

 

[themanwoaname]

i always thought it was the iceberg that caused it to sink.

 

[Treadwell]

I remember there being something about that if the engines had been left in forward, maneuverability would not have been lost, and they could've done one of those dealies where you kinda "skid around" the obstacle (I'm obviously not a sailor!), or, as has been said, hit it in a less damaging way.

By going full reverse, the engines were taking longer to overcome momentum than they could afford.

 

[.:MirrorminD:.]

I still think it was Chtulhu

 

[PHArchivist]

Re: Titanic: What Caused the Ship to Sink

I've seen shows where they study this theory. I think they have theorized that if they hit it head on vs swerving and trying to miss, they either could of prevented sinking or at least kept it from sinking as fast. They had stock footage of other ships that had smooshed in bows from hitting iceburgs head on but were otherwise still intact and still afloat.

haha! PH beat me too it.

That happened to the Queen Mary during WWII. She steam-rolled one of her destryer escorts in a fog, sank it, and crunched the hell out of her bow. But stayed afloat.

 

[Wolvster1]

I know another thing I read a long time ago
they had commented that pretty much ANY
kind of impact would have sunk her because of
VERY cheap metal used in her construction !

:unsure

They said the ship yard that was responsible for
building the Titanic was so rushed to get it done
they used substandard metal for the plates and bolts.

They had Engineers that theorized with the below
freezing water add on top of the substandard metal
the hull would have buckled with any kind of impact...

 

[PHArchivist]

Here it is - the QM bow...

 

[Lancer]

I know another thing I read a long time ago
they had commented that pretty much ANY
kind of impact would have sunk her because of
VERY cheap metal used in her construction !

:unsure

They said the ship yard that was responsible for
building the Titanic was so rushed to get it done
they used substandard metal for the plates and bolts.

They had Engineers that theorized with the below
freezing water add on top of the substandard metal
the hull would have buckled with any kind of impact...

interesting theory but got debunked a few years ago on a documentary when they tested the tensile strenght of some of the steel plates recovered from titantics debris field and found they were actually as strong as they should have been.

 

[micdavis]

Some sample rivets that have been raised from the wreck have demonstrated and supported some of the cheaper metals theories.

 

[PHArchivist]

The disaster was a text book exaple of the Gestalt theory - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

There were many, many contributing factors to the net result of the accident, bridging from management of the ship itself, to the engineering of the vessel, weather conditions, and even maritime law.

There are feasibly 10-20 factors one could list that all contributed to the end result, each one of which - alone - would be insignificant. But combined with the other elements, resulted in what is now tragic history.

Classic recipe for disasters...

 

[EvilRocketeer]

here is another picture of the Queen Mary damage

 

[Betamin]

I heard that one of the crew ran up to the bridge and distracted everyone telling them how he happened to peek through a side door of a female passengers room and saw her naked on a couch and wearing a whopper of a diamond necklace while some scruffy young fellow did a drawing of her. If they hadn't been listing to his story, they could have reacted faster and possibly turned the ship enough to save it.