Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > History
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 04-15-2008, 07:07 AM
 
Location: Michigan
29,391 posts, read 55,421,387 times
Reputation: 22042

Advertisements

Researchers have discovered that the builder of the Titanic struggled for years to obtain enough good rivets and riveters and ultimately settled on faulty materials that doomed the ship, which sank 96 years ago Tuesday.

In Weak Rivets, a Possible Key to Titanic’s Doom - New York Times
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 04-15-2008, 10:05 AM
 
Location: Colorado
444 posts, read 1,209,157 times
Reputation: 286
Was that the same problem with it's sister ship britanic?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-15-2008, 12:31 PM
 
594 posts, read 1,774,108 times
Reputation: 754
According to an article I read, the Titanic was traveling at 23 knots (approx. 26.5 mph) and probably attempting to set a new Atlantic crossing record. The 100 ft iceberg was sighted less than a quarter mile away, too late to avert a collision. There is speculation that Captain Smith knew of the iceberg danger at least an hour before the collision. However, the ship had been called "unsinkable" by its designers, so there was little thought to reducing speed. Apparently the boat had a double-skinned bottom but not the hull. Later luxury liners were built with a double bottom and double hull that that extended up over the water line. It would seem that speed and negligence contributed much to the disaster.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-15-2008, 02:24 PM
 
14,984 posts, read 23,775,922 times
Reputation: 26473
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Walmsley View Post
According to an article I read, the Titanic was traveling at 23 knots (approx. 26.5 mph) and probably attempting to set a new Atlantic crossing record. The 100 ft iceberg was sighted less than a quarter mile away, too late to avert a collision. There is speculation that Captain Smith knew of the iceberg danger at least an hour before the collision. However, the ship had been called "unsinkable" by its designers, so there was little thought to reducing speed. Apparently the boat had a double-skinned bottom but not the hull. Later luxury liners were built with a double bottom and double hull that that extended up over the water line. It would seem that speed and negligence contributed much to the disaster.
Yes and, ironically, if they hit the iceberg dead on they would have stayed afloat.

As for the article, only an engineer with all given specifics (which of course are unknown) can determine if the problem were the rivits or not. One would have to know the size and mass and shape of the iceberg, and the angle that they hit the iceberg at. Otherwise it's just speculation. There are alot of what if's in the Titanic event -

-what if the tramp steamer that was 10 miles away reacted to the Titanic distress signals.
-what if they hit the iceberg at a different angle, or speed.
-what if the watertight compartments were built just a little higher.
-what if the hull was breached in one less compartment (in reading, the breach was just in one watertight compartment too many, one less and it would have stayed afloat).
-what if their were enough life boats,
-what if the titanic lookouts saw the iceberg a second sooner, or a second later for that matter.

all factors could have resulted in the titanic staying afloat or reduced the great loss of life.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > History

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top