- Edison Veiga
- From Bled (Slovenia) to BBC News Brazil
April 14, 2022
Credit, Getty Images
caption,
Titanic at the shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland
It was night and most of the passengers were asleep when exactly 110 years ago an iceberg interrupted the first voyage of the most impressive passenger ship ever built, the Titanic.
The ship was traveling at 41 kilometers per hour. Less than 3 hours later it had already become a shipwreck, sunk in the vastness of the Atlantic.
Its wreck was not found until September 1985 the ship split in two 800 meters away at a depth of 3,843 meters, 650 kilometers from Canada.
BBC News Brasil asked experts to present some thoughtprovoking facts about this shipwreck that has become so famous.
‘Inafundável’
“Not even God sinks the Titanic”? The reputation “unsinkable” had its reasons. “In engineering, the Titanic became famous for being the first ship to use a design concept aimed at subdividing the ship by dividing it into several compartments, each of which was watertight, that is, if the water was to flood one compartment, it could not flood the next,” explains marine engineer Alexandre de Pinho Alho, professor at the Institute of Naval and Marine Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
The problem, the professor explains, was that this project came with the challenge of routing the electrical pipes and cables along the ship. “What was the solution? They calculated a reasonable expected limit [para inundação] In the event of damage, they concluded that the water would not reach the ceiling, and they created more or less watertight compartments, that is, they went there and built protection only very close to the ceiling,” says Alho.
Needless to say, the shock of the iceberg was such that this idea fell short. “The crack that developed in the hull reached halfway along. Of course, the water reached up to the roof,” he adds.
“The ship has entered a condition that we call progressive flooding, a point where there is no way to save the ship: you can activate all pumps, take all actions, it’s not possible to get the water out at once flow larger than it enters,” he contextualizes.
“The project had already become known as that of a ‘nonsubmersible’ boat,” adds Thierry Stump, civil engineer, shipbuilder and navigator.
Credit, Getty Images
caption,
First departures of the RMS Titanic after leaving the shipyard
“One of the great defenses was that there were many separate basements, with semiwaterproof walls in between, so even if you ripped two in a row it still wouldn’t be enough to sink them.”
“However, the iceberg took the boat sideways and destroyed many bulkheads and bulkheads.
A professor at the Universidade Federal Fluminense, traffic engineer Aurélio Soares Murta, points out that even the system for closing these watertight compartments did not work as planned. Blame the strong impact of a material inferior to the steel used in ships of this type today.
“The impact was so strong that the ship’s structure twisted. These doors could not be closed. They’re stuck,” he says. “The metallurgy was different then. The Titanic was made from the finest steel available, but that’s unmatched by what we have today.”
Metallurgical engineer Jan Vatavuk, a professor at Mackenzie Presbyterian University, explains that ship hulls were made from riveted sheet metal up until the 1940s only then did they become welded parts.
“There has been a great evolution of techniques and materials. Welding is a more aggressive process in terms of microstructural changes in the molten area, since it brings a molten material to join the sheets,” he notes the context.
“And from World War II, steel was made with lower carbon and higher manganese content. The degree of purity of the materials also improved. Today steel is a tougher material, better suited for superstructures. .”
Vatavuk defines contemporary ships as “elastic beams” capable of withstanding the flexing caused by the constant motion of the waves. “They withstand big storms well. We have to avoid material fatigue as much as possible.”
But in major accidents, you always have to remember that there is human error. For experts, there was one factor in the Titanic case: the tremendous pressure that the ship had to be fast, even when dealing with adversities like a region full of icebergs.
This is because an award called the Blue Flâmula was introduced in 1839, aimed at recognizing and publicizing the fastest ships on transatlantic crossings. And the Titanic was a prime contender for the honor.
Credit, Getty Images
caption,
Gym on the Titanic
“At that time, ships were the greatest feat of engineering that mankind was capable of,” emphasizes Alho. “There was a dispute between the most important companies and also the most important shipbuilding nations in the world. In this case England and Germany. Everyone wanted to make the ship bigger and faster.”
The official recognition was one such award. “The countries have denied that,” comments the professor.
And a ship’s first voyage was the best way to break those records. Because then, according to the engineer, the ship has “the best conditions for the crossing”.
“The hull and propellers are clean, the engines are in perfect condition… The first voyage is a great time to go as fast as possible. And the Titanic tried to do that,” he says.
There are reports from survivors that the ship’s captain, despite receiving news that icebergs were nearby, was reluctant to slow down precisely because he did not want to miss the opportunity to reach the final destination as quickly as possible reach.
The Brothers of the Titanic
The Titanic was not an only child. At the beginning of the 20th century, the company White Star Line ordered three ocean liners from the shipyards Harland and Wolff in Belfast. Designed by a top team, they should be the largest, safest and most luxurious ships in the world.
“The projects were widely publicized at the time,” comments engineer Stump. The ships were manufactured between 1908 and 1915 and were called the Olympic Class. The first two to go into production were the Olympic in 1908 and the Titanic in 1909. The third, originally called the Gigantic, was made in 1911.
Credit, Getty Images
caption,
Leak in the hull of the RMS Olympic, a ship believed to be the “sister” of the Titanic
Interestingly, the three were involved in accidents. Olympic was commissioned in June 1911 and collided with a cruiser the same year. It was repaired and was able to sail again. During the First World War, the ship was called up by the British Royal Navy to transport troops in 1918 it even collided with a German submarine.
It returned to civilian use in 1920 and was not retired until 1935. He was called “Old Reliable”.
Titanic’s maiden voyage began on April 10, 1912. The ship nearly collided with another ship just off the port of Southampton. The historic shipwreck occurred on the night of April 14th.
Gigantic didn’t have a long career either. Renamed the Britannic, it was seized by the British Royal Navy and converted into a hospital ship during the First World War. It sank in November 1916.
Although large for the time both the Olympic and Titanic were the largest in the world when they were completed they are modest in size compared to today’s ocean liners.
“He was then the mighty one, the giant of the seas. But compared to one of today, it looks like a small boat,” Murta comments.
The Titanic was 269 meters long. Together with the crew and passengers, it held around 3,300 people. The largest passenger ship in the world today is the Wonder of the Seas, which is 362 meters long and can accommodate 7,000 passengers and 2,300 crew members.
security improvements
The sinking of the Titanic, a tragedy that ended in the deaths of around 1,500 people, set a precedent for the introduction of several safety improvements. Of course, the development of technology since then has also contributed to this.
Credit, Getty Images
caption,
Titanic detail shortly after construction
Starting with the use of devices such as radar. It was not until after the Second World War that the first devices of this type were used on the high seas. “Back then [do Titanic], it was all about the looks,” explains Alho. “A sailor stayed atop the mast to see if he could locate an iceberg. It was an uncertain journey, all the more so as the ship was traveling at full speed.”
Protocol improvements were also introduced. The Titanic ended up with many dead because not even lifesaving equipment was available for everyone. “Since the ship ‘didn’t want to sink at all’, they halved the number of boats,” says Alho.
“The Titanic accident was a turning point for safety,” comments Murta. “After that, ships had structural norms for manufacturing, safety standards, and consistent evacuation plans.”
“And of course radar and sonar now identify icebergs long before a ship hits them. Also, nautical charts, mapping of the seas, everything has become much more sophisticated,” he adds.
Have you already watched our new videos? youtube? Subscribe to our channel!