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re: What would have happened if the Titanic hadn't turned?
Posted on 6/29/14 at 2:54 pm to udtiger
Posted on 6/29/14 at 2:54 pm to udtiger
quote:
I remember some ship design expert saying that if it hit head on, it probably would not have sunk.
At the time of the book, A Night to Remember (written in the late 50's, IIRC), it was believed that a direct hit would have potentially killed hundreds but saved the ship due to the inability of five consecutive watertight compartments to flood.
In the decades since, with the Titanic being found and some significant examination of the wreckage (including major revisions on the damage the iceberg inflicted upon it) have changed that opinion (for most people) pretty much 180 and most people now believe (as someone upthread mentioned) that the ship would have sunk, or capsized and sunk, quickly enough that nobody would have made it off in time.
This post was edited on 6/29/14 at 2:55 pm
1
Posted on 6/29/14 at 3:05 pm to WG_Dawg
They did this exact scenario on myth busters and determined the ship would have sank faster
Posted on 6/29/14 at 3:12 pm to WG_Dawg
quote:
What would have happened if the Titanic hadn't turned?
Leo DiCaprio would be less famous.
Posted on 6/30/14 at 11:54 am to WG_Dawg
Posted on 6/30/14 at 12:01 pm to WG_Dawg
quote:James Cameron would not have made the movie.
What would have happened if the Titanic hadn't turned?
Posted on 6/30/14 at 12:11 pm to WG_Dawg
quote:
I'm asking this from a science/physics point of view, because I'm totally clueless.
As we know, the titanic turned too late and the iceberg scraped the shite out of the side of it and flooded the compartments. What would have happened if, while heading straight for it, the captain basically said "well, it's too late now to do anything" and just ran directly into it? Obviously, it would tear up the frick out of the front. But the front was curved to a point, which in my layman's eyes would seem like it would disperse the collision a little more evenly. Also, I don't know how fast ships travel but something that big can't be going THAT fast. Would it basically just kinda stop, almost like a wind up toy car running into a wall?
I realize this is probably a ridiculously stupid question, but I was just thinking about this for some reason.
Well from what I understand, scientists have determined the Titanic's steel rivets were VERY brittle and susceptible to failure. Thus I'd think that had the Titanic hit the berg head on at full speed the bow of the ship would have buckled and the rivets would have still failed and resulted in the ship sinking.
The one thing that might have been different is that perhaps the hole in the ship would not have been as bad and thus it would have taken longer for her to sink. This would mean that perhaps when the RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene the ship would still be afloat and thus the death toll perhaps would have been far less.
(Side bar: That was actually the thinking back then, that even if something were to happen to cause a ship like the Titanic to flounder, it would take so long to sink help would arrive before she went under. Thus in their thinking the vessel itself was it's own life boat. This is why it was acceptable for ships like the Titanic to have less life boat capacity than number of passengers. However, events proved this line of thinking to be far from reality.)
Posted on 6/30/14 at 12:12 pm to AFistfulof$
quote:
They did this exact scenario on myth busters and determined the ship would have sank faster
Well, nevermind my guess above.
Posted on 6/30/14 at 12:13 pm to WG_Dawg
It still would have sunk. Even though it may have not been going that fast, the sheer mass of the Titanic would have catastrophic damage to the front.
Posted on 6/30/14 at 12:16 pm to Walking the Earth
quote:
In the decades since, with the Titanic being found and some significant examination of the wreckage (including major revisions on the damage the iceberg inflicted upon it) have changed that opinion (for most people) pretty much 180 and most people now believe (as someone upthread mentioned) that the ship would have sunk, or capsized and sunk, quickly enough that nobody would have made it off in time.
Something that big hitting something likely even bigger (counting underwater mass) would have probably been catastrophic. Even if the ship stayed afloat (unlikely) it would have probably been disabled from the force of the impact. Unless they had managed to slow down a lot.
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