Titanic's launch day, May 31, 1911.
Gross Tonnage - 46,239 tons
Dimensions - 259.83 x 28.19m (852.5 x 92.5ft)
Number of funnels - 4
Number of masts - 2
Construction - Steel
Propulsion - Triple screw
Engines - Eight-cylindered triple expansion engines and steam turbines
Service speed - 21 knots
Builder - Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Launch date - 31 May 1911
Passenger accommodation - 1,034 1st class, 510 2nd class, 1,022 3rd class
Sunk April 14, 1912.
www.ocean-liners.com...
Olympic, one of Titanic's sister ships was launched, October 20, 1910.
Gross Tonnage - 45,342 tons
Dimensions - 259.83 x 28.19m (852.5 x 92.5ft)
Number of funnels - 4
Number of masts - 2
Construction - Steel
Propulsion - Triple screw
Engines - Combination of eight triple-expansion reciprocating engines and steam turbines.
Service speed - 21 knots
Builder - Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Launch date - 20 October 1910
Passenger accommodation - 735 1st class, 674 2nd class, 1,026 3rd class
Last voyage for the Olympic, 27 March 1935 on the way to the scrapyard.
The Olympic was involved in three separate collisions over the years, one of them hitting and sinking the Nantucket lightship in 1934.
www.ocean-liners.com...
The last of the three sister ships, the Britannic was launched February 26, 1914.
Rumor has it that Britannic's original name was Gigantic, but it's not been proved one way or the other.
Gross Tonnage - 48,158 tons
Dimensions - 259.68 x 28.65m (852 x 94ft)
Number of funnels - 4
Number of masts - 2
Construction - Steel
Propulsion - Triple-screw
Engines - Triple-expansion, eight and steam turbines
Service speed - 21 knots
Builder - Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Launch date - 26 February 1914
Passenger accommodation - 790 1st class, 836 2nd class, 953 3rd class
Sunk November 21, 1916 after hitting a mine.
www.ocean-liners.com...
Aside from the fact that ship building technology of the day outstripped the metallurgical technology available which ended up with the Titanic being
built with a high concentration of sulphur in the alloy as was mentioned in the post above.
If I remember right, from reading about this, the ship builders had ordered and paid for an alloy with less sulphur, but got the cheaper stuff
instead.
Along with that was that the so-called watertight compartments of the Titanic were open at the top which allowed a full compartment of water to flood
over to the next one and so on.
The thinking was, if the ship took on water, it would flood evenly.
Being down by the bow due to a ruptured hull was deemed to be a very small possibility.
Along with that was that the Titanic did abide by the law - at the time - which called for a specific number of lifeboats as per tonnage.
Ten years later, tonnage had doubled, but the law went unchanged.
White Star did add some rafts, but in the end it wasn't enough.
The Britannic suffered much the same fate as the Titanic when it hit a mine and went down by the bow.
Water flooded one compartment after the other and the captain didn't have time to beach the liner before it sunk.
There's an interesting story about a nurse who went through both the Titanic and Britannic sinkings - the Brittanic was a hospital ship at the time -
and I believe spent time on the Olympic as well.
Aside from the terrible loss of life and ship, some good did come out of it.
After Titanic sunk, laws were changed in several areas.
Lifeboat capacity for one as well as the requirement to man the radio shack 24/7 any time a ship was at sea.
That last requirement could have saved many lives due to the California being fairly close to the sinking Titanic, but the radio operator had gone to
bed.