RMS Titanic: Factors of Destruction

for over a century the sinking of the royal mail ship titanic on the night of april 15 1912 has captured people's imaginations the circumstances under which the vessel founded and the tragic loss of over 1500 souls out of a complement of 2200 passengers and crew has been documented and detailed through books and films capturing minute after minute as the unsinkable ships slipped beneath the waves however the reality is that the sinking of the titanic was a story decades in the making a perfect storm of social and economic factors together with horrible coincidence that conspired against this pinnacle of man's innovation but also man's hubris the sheer dogged belief that nothing so vast could possibly be destroyed the story of the titanic begins nearly a century before its maiden voyage when in june 1819 the ss savannah a steamer sailing ship hybrid made the first crossing of the atlantic using a steam engine combined with a paddle wheel prior to the savannah transatlantic voyages were made by slow cumbersome sailing vessels the progress of which was dictated entirely by the prevailing weather conditions making them extremely unreliable unfortunately while the savannah provided a means of superior propulsion allowing the crossing time to be both quicker and more dependable its somewhat primitive technology meant its feat was not one held in high esteem and thus the concept of transatlantic steam ships was dropped it wasn't until 1838 that steam-powered transatlantic voyages were revived with the launch of izambard kingdom brunel's ss great weston the first purpose-built ocean-going steamer the vessel commenced work on services between bristol and new york and quickly demonstrated the reliability and performance a steam paddle ocean liner had to offer over contemporary sailing vessels with continued developments throughout the remainder of the 1800s by the end of the century sail power had essentially given way completely to steamships and with improved propulsion came increases in size and capacity to exploit the exponential increase in migrant traffic across the atlantic in the mid to late 1800s the white star line a shipping company founded in 1845 shifted its policies from supplying the british colonies of australia and canada to the much more profitable transatlantic service between liverpool and new york after changing its corporate direction to almost exclusively serve the liverpool to new york run the company underwent a sweeping refurbishment of its fleet to replace its earlier sailing vessels in clippers financed through a loan from the royal bank of liverpool with this the line bought 13 new and second-hand ships between 1860 and 1865 but this over-enthusiastic decision combined with dwindling profits from migrant traffic due to the american civil war resulted in the company's bankruptcy in october 1867 owing a debt of 527 000 pounds or 51 million in 2020 in january 1868 british businessman and manager of the rival national line thomas ismay purchased the ailing white star for 1 000 pounds and dedicated the more recognizable white star brand to the operation of larger vessels on primary passenger services across the atlantic while the national line would handle freight to complement this change and with ismae's backing the white star entered into an exclusive agreement with the harland and wolf shipbuilding company of belfast the deal stipulating that harland and wolf would build the line ships at cost plus a fixed percentage while not constructing vessels for any of the white star's rivals from this came the line's first steam steamships the oceanic the atlantic the baltic the tropic and the asiatic in 1871 vessels that could compete favorably with the cunard line's own fleet of steamships but also presented pioneering accommodation and features to help endear themselves to the gradually re-emerging migrant market however in order to ensure that shipping lines maintained attractiveness to both wealthy and poor travelers alike captains and crews from all companies were to exhibit a minimum degree of prestige in the operation of their vessels such prestige was a contributing factor in the first major loss of the renewed white star line the sinking of the ss atlantic in april 1873 after battling extreme weather for several days the atlantic was feared to be running severely short of coal and the ship's captain james agnew williams was presented with an unhappy choice his first option was to divert course and sail to halifax in nova scotia in order to recoal but this would incur a significant delay the second option was to continue towards new york but at the risk of running out of coal and thus being left adrift in the north atlantic until another vessel came to tow the liner to the nearest port in both cases the outcome of either decision would reflect poorly on his reputation as a captain being considered a sign of mismanagement on his part and a potentially career-ending circumstance therefore he chose the letter of two evils and turned the atlantic north to halifax but through miscalculations and strong winds the vessel ended up crashing onto rocks 12 miles west of halifax resulting in the deaths of 535 people with only 371 survivors the loss of the ss atlantic however was not an isolated incident and there were many instances where the demands of prestige being placed on the captains and crew of ocean liners were fundamental factors as to their loss throughout the remainder of the 1800s the size and speed of ocean line has continued to increase and the rivalry of shipping companies against each other became more and more desperate compounded further by the coveted blue ribbon an unofficial award given to the fastest transatlantic crossing of a contemporary passenger liner in september 1897 the bar was set higher when nord deutsche lloyd a german shipping company introduced the ss kaiser wilhelm the gossa on their services between bremerhaven and new york via southampton the first ocean liner to sport four funnels thus acquiring the nickname of superliner while its performance was comparable to rival ocean liners the visual fortitude of four funnels captured the attention of passengers from all social circles and thus the trend was quickly set to introduce bigger liners with four smoke stacks its success emphasized further when the kaiser wilhelm de grossa took home the blue ribbon on the westbound voyage in 1898 while british liners didn't match the german ones for speed the cunard and white star lines invested heavily in vessels that were much larger thereby earning more profits through higher passenger numbers between 1901 and 1906 the white star line introduced a quartet of new vessels that were the largest luxury ocean liners on the water these being known as the big four and christened the celtic the cedric the baltic and the adriatic however while the achievement of the big four in terms of physical size was impressive they were quickly superseded as larger ocean liners were introduced by rival companies such as cunard nord deutsche lloyd and the hamburg america line in 1907 the cunard christened two new four funnel ocean liners that were both larger and faster than the preceding german designs the lusitania and the mauritania both ships being the largest passenger vessels afloat and both winning the blue ribbon on their maiden voyages the launch of the lusitania and the mauritania put the white star line on the back foot and they needed to respond quickly thus in late 1907 j bruce ismey president of the white star line and son of former president thomas ismae met with harland and wolf director william j pirie to discuss the creation of three new ocean liners which would be the largest and most luxurious ever made these vessels being christened the olympic the titanic and the gigantic later to be renamed the britannic contrary to popular belief the olympic class of vessels weren't built to win the blue ribbon for speed but instead went over passengers through exceptional levels of luxury for first-class travelers and revolutionary accommodation for migrants that was much more sanitary and comfortable than what had come before the first two olympic class vessels the eponymous rms olympic and rms titanic were 882 foot 9 inches long and 92 foot 6 inches wide while also being 104 feet high from keel to bridge weighing 46 328 gross registered tons while displacing 52 310 tons of water both vessels had 10 decks comprised 2 000 steel plates to form the hull were powered by two reciprocating four-cylinder triple expansion steam engines and one centrally placed low pressure parsons turbine producing a cumulative power output of fifty thousand horsepower and were fitted with four funnels although only the first three funnels were operational the fourth being a non-functioning prop used to ventilate the kitchens the olympic class of vessels despite their incredible size did present a series of significant flaws both in terms of their design but also with regard to wider legislation relating to the safety of passenger liners as mentioned the hulls were comprised of two thousand steel plates that were six feet wide and thirty feet long with a thickness varying between one and one and a half inches the plate fitting was done in a clinkered overlapping fashion from the keel to the bilge fitted using hydraulic machines or hammered in by hand but the steel plates used became brittle when cold inside the vessels were split up into 16 primary compartments divided by 15 vertical bulkheads that could be sealed using automatic watertight doors and the design ensured that the liners could potentially remain afloat should between two and four of these compartments be fully flooded the use of vertical bulkheads was a design choice that differed from the rival lusitania and mauritania where the bulkheads were longitudinal running stem to stern this decision being made on the theory that longitudinal bulkheads increased the possibility of capsizing furthermore the vertical bulkheads didn't climb all the way to the boat deck the highest only reaching as far as d-deck while others only reached e-deck these bulkheads weren't sealed at the top and while the olympic class liners could theoretically float indefinitely with up to four compartments fully flooded this was entirely dependent on the position of these compartments for instance if water was flooding compartments at the front and rear of the ship evenly or in the center the vessel would be low in the water but could remain on the surface however if flooding occurred at either the front or rear of the vessel exclusively the liner would only be able to survive with two compartments fully flooded beyond which the weight of the water would drag either the prowl or the stern of the ship further into the sea and caused them to overspill into the next compartment beginning an unstoppable chain reaction that would ultimately doom the ship the next problem was the titanic's propulsion comprising two reciprocating engines and one steam turbine engine conventional reciprocating steam engines had been the backbone of ocean liners for over half a century but steam turbine engines were a new concept that had been most notably introduced on the lusitania and the mauritania steam turbine engines while very powerful had a tendency to cause uncomfortable vibrations across the ship while reciprocating engines on their own weren't powerful enough to drive ocean line as the size of the olympic class instead the power of a steam turbine engine was combined with the comparative comfort of reciprocating engines a perfect mixture of speed and performance that had been previously proven to work on the sslarentic of 1908 the issue was that the steam turbine which powered the center propeller could not be reversed while the reciprocating engines in order to perform an emergency stop known as a crash stop maneuver had to be slowed put into reverse and then gradually restarted a lengthy operation that meant that the olympic liners would only come to a complete hold after a distance of half a mile and over three minutes after the order was given another floor was the ship's gigantic tiller which even with a steam driven steering mechanism was so large and heavy it would take up to 30 seconds to move from full port to full starboard and vice versa the most glaring concern regarding the olympic class liners though was their inability to provide an adequate number of lifeboats for the vessels complement of 3547 passengers and crew a problem caused by both the ship's designers and builders but also by the outdated regulations of the time the olympic line has provided 20 boats comprised of 14 standard wooden harland wolf lifeboats with a capacity of 65 people each and four engle heart collapsible lifeboats with a capacity of 47 people each providing a cumulative refuge for 1178 people only 33 percent of the ship's total complement at the time regulations dictated by the board of trade stipulated that british vessels over 10 000 tons need only carry a minimum of 16 david lifeboats with a capacity of 550 occupants or approximately 34 persons per boat an outdated figure that had not been updated in light of the ever increasing size of liners in this the olympic class vessels provided more than what the regulations required but still not enough to carry every person aboard the vessel the white star line reasoned that providing only the bare minimum was done in order to ensure the boat deck wasn't cluttered with lifeboats and that in the event of the vessel becoming a total loss this would likely occur in close proximity to other ships that could come to the line as aid and thus lifeboats would only fulfill the role of ferrying people to safety the rms titanic was the second of the olympic class ocean liners to be built the first the eponymous rms olympic having been laid down in december 1908 launched in october 1910 and commissioned in june 1911. titanic herself was laid down in march 1909 and launched in may 1911 with fitting out of the ship's interior and superstructure continuing throughout the remainder of the year and into 1912. however the vessel's proposed commissioning was delayed several times due primarily to problems afflicting her sister on september 20th 1911 the olympic collided with royal navy cruiser hms hawk in the soland resulting in significant damage to the liner that required six weeks of repairs in belfast as the white star line was facing severe financial punishment from the ensuing legal battle between the shipping line and the royal navy to which the rms olympic was found to be at fault the ship needed to be returned to service at the first opportunity and therefore its damage propeller shaft was replaced by one sourced from the rms titanic delaying the fitting out process of the latter in february 1912 the rms olympic once again delayed her sister's commissioning when on a return voyage from new york the ship lost a propeller blade and thus needed to be quickly repaired pulling resources from the titanic originally the maiden voyage of the rms titanic was to take place on march 20th 1912 but due to the constant delays caused by the olympic this was eventually pushed back by three weeks to april 10th this change in date was significant as the potential for ice fields in the north atlantic and the measures taken to avoid them were drastically altered between the two months if the rms titanic had undertaken its maiden voyage in march 1912 the threat of encountering ice would have been greater and thus the vessel would have rooted along a more southerly course to ensure it didn't meet any ice fields instead come april 1912 the consideration was that most of the ice fields along the proposed course of the maiden voyage would have melted and thus there was a lower chance of the titanic being faced with the new obstructions as is the number of icebergs entering the north atlantic shipping lanes can be highly erratic year on year and in april 1912 it was estimated that over 300 icebergs crossed south of latitude 48 north the highest number in 50 years most icebergs in the north atlantic approximately 85 percent are formed in the allulasat ice shelf off the west coast of greenland and the notably mild winter of 1911 1912 was considered the main reason as to why so many icebergs had broken off the shelf during that year in this instance the number of icebergs present in the north atlantic at the time of the titanic's maiden voyage was so great that the vessel would have in any circumstance certainly encountered or collided with one during its journey it simply couldn't have been prevented on april 2nd 1912 the rms titanic set sail for her sea trials in the irish sea off belfast and by that evening the vessel was declared seaworthy departing its home port for the final time in order to prepare for its maiden voyage from southampton at the helm of the titanic was captain edward smith a white star veteran with 40 years of experience and thus the line's most prestigious officer however while smith had never faced a serious situation during his 27 years of command he had recently brought embarrassment to the white star line while in charge of the rms olympic being held responsible for the vessel's collision with hms hawk after ordering an abrupt turn to starboard that cut off the cruiser and allowed it no room to avoid the liner as such come the maiden voyage of the titanic there was much smith had to do in order to repair his damaged reputation and the perceived humiliation he had brought to the white star line meant he was forced to deliver without question what the management required of him especially as the company president j bruce ismae was to be aboard the vessel as well conversely the olympics collision with hms hawk had also brought about the effect of giving the liner and her kin the moniker of unsinkable as even the reinforced prayer of the hawk specially designed to ram and sink other vessels wasn't enough to bring down the white star's crown jewel therefore as the titanic boarded at southampton for its first commercial outing the general theme for both passengers and crew was that they were to travel on the safest line or afloat this hubristic view continued once the ship had gotten underway on april 10th and after making brief stops in cherbourg in france to pick up continental passengers and at queenstown in ireland the titanic aimed its brow full steam ahead into the north atlantic spurred on somewhat by ismae and his determination to bring the vessel into new york a day early as the journey progressed the titanic received near constant messages from other ships in the area regarding ice fields but neither smith or ismae chose to slow the progress of the ship the belief was that regardless of size an iceberg wouldn't be able to compromise the structure of a modern ocean liner a point made in 1907 when the german liner ss crom prince wilhelm slammed head-on into a large iceberg during a transatlantic crossing and although it sustained a crumpled prow it was able to limp safely to port without significant flooding this mindset carried over to the titanic with captain smith himself noting on multiple occasions that modern shipbuilding had gone beyond the threat of icebergs even in the event of a collision though the crew were largely unprepared for such a circumstance as training exercise including fire drills and lifeboat drills had either not taken place or were done in a very cursory manner only one formal lifeboat drill had been undertaken by the crew of the titanic and that was in southampton dock using two boats with five crew each essentially amounting to rowing around the harbour for a few minutes before returning to the ship regardless the situation out on the north atlantic was far worse than titanic could have anticipated with many liners and cargo ships either being blockaded or penned in by vast ice sheets one such vessel was the ss californian a leyland line steamship on route from liverpool to boston the californian ahead of the titanic encountered several large icebergs and by the evening of april 14th had become surrounded by an ice field that forced the captain stanley lord to bring the vessel to a halt until morning after coming to a stop the californians sent out several messages regarding the ice field it had encountered even communicating with the titanic but due to the titanic's on duty wireless operator jack phillips being preoccupied with the sending of personal messages from the passengers to the wireless station in cape praise canada he sternly rebuked the californian and the warning of ice ahead was not passed on to the bridge with this the californians crew turned in for the night not realizing that titanic was only 10 minutes away from its fateful collision with the iceberg and only 12 miles away from the californian itself aboard the titanic as passengers and crew settled in for the evening the two lookouts frederick fleet and reginald lee were stationed in the crow's nest high above the four deck with specific orders to keep an eye out for icebergs the conditions however couldn't have been worse as there was no moon to potentially illuminate the white surface of an iceberg the sea was calm and glassy thus resulting in there being no waves to break against the side of an iceberg and the lookouts themselves had not been issued with binoculars as these had been inadvertently removed due to a mix-up back in southampton although this would have made little difference in their ability to see oncoming bergs the final blunder occurred once the lookouts had sighted a giant iceberg ahead of them at 2339 on april 14 1912 in response to the sighting first officer william murdoch ordered quartermaster robert hitchens to change the ship's course and attempted to undertake a port around whereby the bow and then the stern are swung around the obstacle through a quick changing course however murdoch also ordered fuller stern which meant that forward momentum for the ship was reduced and the attempted porter round was impaired compounded further by the time taken to slow the ship's reciprocating engines and slam them into reverse as well as to force the tiller from one side to the other in light of the ship's sheer size weight and the length of time taken to either avoid objects or bring it to a stop the best solution would have been to either apply full power and attempt to steer the ship to full port which would have avoided the iceberg by several feet or to allow the ship to ram head-on into the iceberg in the same manner as the ss crom prince wilhelm while this would have crumpled the prow and likely killed any passengers or crew situated up front the overall damage and flooding would have been minimal and the vessel could easily have stayed afloat long enough to reach new york instead after nearly a century in the making a catalogue of mistakes and poor timing including a desperate ocean liner construction frenzy that outgrew obsolete safety requirements an unusually mild winter that put more icebergs in the north atlantic than there would normally be for so late in the year a captain determined to salvage his reputation and a shipping line president forcing him to put the prestige of his company over the safety of his vessel and a ship that was far too big and too heavy to outmaneuver the looming threat culminated in the fatal glancing blow of the rms titanic with an iceberg at 2340 on april 14 1912. the impact burst opened the fragile steel paneled hull and opened five of her watertight compartments to the sea which over the course of the next two hours filled and overtopped one another drawing the vessel further and further into the icy atlantic meanwhile a lack of lifeboats and the unprepared crew resulted in widespread panic while captain smith paralyzed with indecision struggled to comprehend the situation before him from then on the rms titanic and over 1500 souls were doomed to founder and the rest as they say is history thanks again for watching this video if you enjoyed it why not leave a like and be sure to subscribe for more great content thank you very much take care and i'll see you next time

Channel: Ruairidh MacVeigh

Views: 38,664

Rating: 4.9073358 out of 5

Keywords: Titanic, RMS Titanic, RMS Britannic, Royal Mail Ship, United States, United Kingdom, Ship, Ocean Liner, Vessel, Boat, Captain Smith, Edward Smith, J Bruce Ismay, Iceberg, Ice, Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic, Sinking, Tragedy, Destruction, RMS Olympic, Olympic, Carpathia, SS Californian, Harland and Wolff, White Star Line, 1912, April 1912, Sink, Loss, Crash, Shipbuilding, Liner, White Star, SS Atlantic, New York, Southampton, Belfast, Destroy, Hull Plating, Cruise, Death

Id: 26YQdCLbYrA

Length: 24min 30sec (1470 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 19 2020