In nineteen hundred and twelve, Titanic sailed
the ocean to delve...into something… Hey look, not many relevant words rhyme with
twelve, okay. But it’s true. The Titanic's only voyage ended in tragedy
on April fifteenth, 1912. At the time of the disaster, it was the largest
and most advanced ship ever constructed, and that got me wondering about something. With over a century of advancement, how are
today’s cruise ships different from those of Titanic’s day. Sure, we all know they’re now required to
carry more lifeboats, but that isn’t exactly what makes them the life of the party. Let's start with the size. Everyone knows that the Titanic was the largest
ship of its time, but how big was it exactly? The Titanic stretched 882 ft from bow to stern
and had a beam, or width, of 92 ft. The ship’s nine decks rose to an impressive
175 ft, making it about the height of an eleven-story building. Designed to carry more than 2,400 passengers
and almost 900 crewmembers, the Titanic had certainly earned its name. Even had it managed to avoid the iceberg,
the Titanic wouldn’t have held on to its title for very long. The SS Imperator would steal its crown a year
later when it undertook his maiden voyage in 1913. That's right, “his.” Even though most ships are referred to with
female pronouns, Kaiser Wilhelm the Second specifically requested the ship be considered
a male. It's not entirely clear why, but one possibility
might be grammar, since Imperator, meaning emperor, is an exclusively male title in German. Still doesn't explain why Kaiser thought it
was so important, but whatever floats your boat. As the decades passed, ships only got bigger
and bigger as countries and companies competed for the crown. As of 2019, the largest cruise ship in the
world is the Symphony of the Seas, which is operated by Royal Caribbean. The Symphony dwarfs Titanic in every way. 1184 ft across and 215 ft wide, her eighteen
decks are double the Titanic’s height and provide spacious accommodations for well over
five thousand passengers. And since we're on the subject of accommodations,
it might be time to talk about the different purposes these two ships were created for. The Symphony of the Seas is a cruise ship,
not an ocean liner like the Titanic and Imperator. Think of it as the difference between a city
bus and a tour bus. You board a cruise ship to have fun and an
ocean liner when you need to get somewhere. Ocean liners filled the same role airlines
perform today. As with airlines, the quality of the journey
was heavily dependent on the amount of money passengers were willing to spend. First-class passengers would enjoy a saltwater
pool, spa, gymnasium, and multiple restaurants decorated in the styles of French cafés and
swanky New York hotels. Ooh-la-lah! First-class cabins were large and well furnished,
containing multiple rooms such as lounges and private studies. Second-class rooms were smaller and not as
glamorous, but luxuriously furnished. And the passengers still had access to a number
of the ship's amenities. The people staying in these rooms were mostly
upper-middle-class professionals, and their tickets cost the equivalent of $1,800 in today's
money. Third Class, also known as steerage, wasn't
quite so luxurious, although the accommodations were still nicer than on many ships of the
same era. Each small room featured four bunks, and the
third-class passengers had access to communal bathrooms and dining areas. Most ships of the era didn't even provide
steerage passengers with running water or electricity. Titanic was also one of only a few ships that
provide steerage passengers with food and allowed them access to the outdoor decks. Titanic’s cramped bunkrooms might not be
the lap of luxury but were far better than a moldy cot in the ship’s hold. Modern cruise ships don’t really have classes
in the way as the Titanic or even modern airlines. People go on cruises for fun instead of transportation,
so it wouldn't do to cram their passengers into bunk beds. Even the least expensive room on a cruise
ship is still going to be about the level of a modest hotel room. Instead of rigid classes, many modern cruise
lines divvy their rooms up based on size and location, with interior rooms being the least
expensive and large, balcony equipped suites on the other end of the spectrum. Some suits are multiple floors, and many include
private cinemas and game rooms. Symphony of the Seas’ Ultimate Family Suite
even comes equipped with a tube slide for the kids. Not that grownups can’t use the slide. I mean, who doesn’t like orange plastic? In addition to TVs and in-room slides, there
are many other amenities found on modern cruise ships that wouldn’t have been available
in the early twentieth century. The Titanic may have had its own pool, but
many modern cruise ships feature their own miniature water parks, complete with attractions
such as slides and wave pools. Other features may include things like golf
courses, performance venues, and complimentary childcare. Deluxe tickets may still come with exclusive
perks not available to everyone, and some restaurants and shows will cost extra, but
unlike aboard the Titanic, most amenities are open to all passengers. Now, ships didn’t go from coal-powered steamers
to towering oceanic resorts overnight. Shipbuilding had to come a long way before
these immense mobile vacation spots became a reality. The Titanic was constructed in Belfast harbor
on a special slipway built specifically to accommodate its unprecedented bulk. Above the drydock was a massive steel structure
known as the Arrol gantry. This 228-ft-tall gantry utilized numerous
cranes for lifting the large plates into a position where they could then be riveted
into place. Many folks don’t know that there were special
green frogs up on the gantry whose purpose was to inspire the workers to “rivet, rivet”. nah, I made that part up. Could you tell? The hull of the Titanic was made up of thousands
of these overlapping plates with the lower hull consisting of two layers. This was done to protect the Titanic from
damage caused by scraping against the seabed. Unfortunately, the damage from the iceberg
was just below the waterline, where there was only one layer of plating between the
ocean and the ship's interior. Titanic's primary safety feature was the sixteen
watertight compartments making up the lower decks. The ship was designed to stay afloat with
four of these compartments completely flooded. Again, unfortunately, the iceberg opened a
long gash across five. The chambers also failed to extend all the
way to the top of the hull. Once the water reached the top of the five
breached compartments, it quickly overflowed and spilled into the others, dragging the
ship down at an even greater speed. Ships of today are still made from steel,
but advancements in smelting and metallurgy have resulted in hulls stronger and less brittle
than were possible a hundred years ago. Aluminum is also widely used to reduce the
ship's weight. This allows the vessels to achieve their towering
height while still maintaining a low center of gravity thanks to the heavy engines and
fuel tanks at the bottom of the hull. The reduced weight also means lower emissions. Speaking of the engines, modern cruise ships
run primarily on either diesel, natural gas, or some combination of the two. The vessels that use both often employ diesel
engines for propulsion and natural gas to drive the motors that produce electricity. This is a far cry from ships of the Titanic's
era, which used coal furnaces to boil the water powering its steam engines. Modern ships may not be emission-free, but
it's a lot better than belching clouds of ash and smoke. Construction techniques have also changed
over the years, although that's no surprise considering how radically the ships themselves
have transformed. Instead of only having a few large internal
compartments, the internal structure of modern cruise ships is a vast network of steel webs
radiating inward from the hull with every fourth web supporting a massive wall of steel. The girders are concealed within the walls
of the ship and serve as the vessel’s primary loadbearing structure. However, the most unusual aspect of modern
cruise construction is that they're not built hull to funnel as a single construction. Instead, the hull and cabins are built as
separate modules, then assembled in the drydock. Have you ever seen those giant cranes shaped
a bit like a boxy lower-case n? Those are called goliath cranes, and now you
know what they’re for. In addition to the ship being assembled like
a giant Lego set, the larger hull pieces are constructed upside down. This is because the hull's tapered shape makes
it easier to weld the plates together from the top down. This might all sound monstrously complex,
but the modular design means that cruise ships can be constructed much more quickly than
a building of the same size. The tradeoff is that not every port comes
equipped for such a massive undertaking. The largest cruise ships and oil tankers are
assembled in just six locations worldwide, the most prolific being the Hyundai Heavy
Industries shipyard in South Korea. So, are you ready to sail the high seas in
some of these state-of-the-art vessels? Why don’t you let me know down below? Hey, if you learned something new today, then
give the video a like and share it with a friend! And here are some other cool videos I think
you'll enjoy. Just click to the left or right, and stay
on the Bright Side of life!
