Posted by Roy Mengot on April 01, 1999 at 20:25:25 in 209.30.118.59:
In Reply to: titanic safety posted by Missy Littlefield on March 28, 1999 at 19:57:39:
: But what about the actual structure of the ship itself. I guess
: my question is: could they have built the Titanic different so it could withstand the same impact? The subject fascinates me
: I would appreciate any info.
Scott's answer is pretty good. The rules today talk about damage stability, which is more than just two compartments flooded. What does the ship do when the damage occurs at any location in different seas. Titanic almost meets a three compartment standard. Modern welded construction and modern steels may well have reduced the damage from a Titanic style collision, but no ship has been built since that will survive a 5 compartment breach like Titanic suffered.
I also agree that the engines were not reversed in time to make any difference, if at all. The part of the story that is most suspect is that the ship had trouble turning to avoid the berg, but had no trouble at all swinging the rudder hard around and 'porting' the stern around the berg to avoid further damage. I think they started the turn much closer than 37 seconds.