Titanic's early design - how did it change?

in july 1908 directors of the white star line were presented with a set of plans for a pair of ships the likes of which had never before been seen this concept was known simply as design d and it would go on to lay out what would become the olympic and the titanic today we're going to have a look at the original concept we're going to have a look at what changed what stayed the same and finally what titanic would have looked like if she had been finished as originally planned back in 1908. this is the story of design d the original concept of the titanic [Music] first some background history the white star line had cut its teeth on the england to australia run but by the turn of the 20th century was making serious profit on the transatlantic trade in 1899 the company's long-standing head thomas ismay passed away and his son jay bruce ismay succeeded him after success with a group of ships known as the big four the celtic cedric baltic and adriatic white starline faced a serious threat when competitors cunard began construction on a pair of massive luxurious ocean liners lusitania and mauritania our story begins in 1907 months before lusitania's maiden voyage when j bruce is may and lord william perry chairman of the highland wolf shipyard of belfast discussed plans to introduce a pair of ships that would completely outsize the cunard offering in april that year the white star line placed a formal request that harlanden wolf begin drawing up plans for a pair of super liners and just over a year later in july 1908 a party of directors from the white star line were presented with design d this called for a pair of huge ships known simply as numbers 400 401 olympic and titanic a quick note here this representation of the design d plan was digitally drawn by a friend of liner designs victor villa victor is the founder of the brazilian titanic historical society victor thank you very much for providing these beautiful drawings right now you're probably thinking these look fairly similar to the finished ships and you're right the basic layout stayed almost the same but there are a few key differences between what was outlined in 1908 and the finished ships that were built and launched just a few years later let's have a look at some first of all you may have noticed that the ship is missing a mast this is not a mistake originally titanic and olympic were intended to carry just one by 1908 the age of sail was all but dead and ships carrying masts spas and rigging were well out of date the olympic classes yacht-like lines were supposed to be enhanced and accentuated by the presence of only one functional mast legend says that bruce's may was so impressed by the effect of two masts and the likes of lusitania and mauritania that he requested one more be added aft but the masts also served an important purpose they provided the span from which the marconi wireless aerials could be attached thus giving olympic and titanic their voices it's not entirely clear how the aerials might have been installed without the use of a second mast maybe between the first and second funnel albeit with a vastly reduced wireless range who knows another big difference here was in the proposed installation of lifeboats as called for on design d olympic and titanic would have 14 boats and two cutters clumped together on the boat deck just about amid ships down you can see just how cluttered this would have made the first and second class promenades if left of course on the final design the group of boats was split into two on top of this and most importantly olympic and titanic's lifeboat capacity was slightly increased when compared to that of a design d looking aft you might notice some big changes the entire structure around the second class smoking room didn't yet exist a single cargo hatch ran into the bottom of the ship and with no main mast the extra deck space could have been used for a larger open second-class promenade instead on the final design the cargo hatch was split into two either side of a vital set of stairs linking key second-class public rooms also olympic and titanic's familiar aft superstructure was implemented including space for the main mast moving to the boat deck and we can see that originally the first class smoking room was supposed to have a skylight this might have been inspired by the smoking room aboard lucitonia although unfortunately the skylight was deleted on the final design [Music] just forward of this on the boat deck is the tank room which originally called for a deckhouse attached aft containing the officer's mess this is because originally the ship's grand staircases were intended to be far less grand than we know them today the afgrand staircase was originally not intended to receive a dome skylight at all and design d just shows how sparse the stairs would have looked similar maybe to those aboard baltic or the big four another key difference was down on b deck originally there was no intention to include an ala carte restaurant in cafe parisian these later editions intended to give olympic and titanic luxurious edge the deck's outboard sides would have been entirely enclosed promenades split between first and second class finally a curious design change that was reversed for the third and final ship britannic design d outlined space for the first class elevators these would have originally risen all the way up to the boat deck this necessitated a structure on top of the office's quarters to house the large elevator machinery for olympic and titanic the plan was scrapped the machinery was housed on the boat deck meaning that the ship's elevators could only make it up to adec but for the britannic the original concept was reintroduced and her machinery was housed above so that the elevators could make it all the way up to bow deck design d laid the foundation for the ships we know and love today and although fundamentally similar there are a few key differences more than i've mentioned in today's video victor's stunning massive recreation of the design d-plan is available at www.linerdesigns.com i've made these available in both 1 350 and 1 200 scales and these look spectacular as part of a model display or simply in your study so go have a look and see if you can pick out a few more differences that i didn't mention in today's video i'll give you a quick hint there was one big one down on d-deck as always thank you so much for joining me please comment subscribe let me know what you thought of the video and let me know what you think of the original design concept i'll see you again next time [Music] all right let's do it after success with the big four cedric celtic wrong order nice one [Music] there's going to be a better way of doing that [Music] this is because as originally designed the ship's grand staircases were to be far less grand than [Music] man why is this so hard originally there was no intention to include an ala carte restaurant in cafe parisian these were later additions intended to give titanic and olympic a luxurious edge the dex that's a helicopter every time every time i was doing so well i need a bomb stay there it's too early the decks outboard side the deck's outdoor site the decks outboard sides would have been man this is really hard the decks outboard sides would have been entirely enclosed promenade space for both first and second class ah it wasn't both it was split and her machinery was housed above so that the elevators could make it all the way up something's big [Music] difficult

Channel: Oceanliner Designs

Views: 195,930

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Id: WwyoZxmt8_s

Length: 8min 15sec (495 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021