Posted by Scott Andrews on June 05, 2000 at 17:34:01:
In Reply to: Timing of fitting out posted by Doug May on June 05, 2000 at 14:14:07:
Doug,
:...Based on what you have just told me, who would be the conductor of the orchestra once fitting out started? There had to be someone in charge of the overall coordination of the fitting out of the ship or there would be total confusion...
There would have indeed been a very detailed project schedule of some sort to guarantee that things came together at the time they were needed. I don't know who would have been charged with the responsibility, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if coordination of the project was under the auspices of the design department. This would have thrown the whole mess into the lap of Thomas Andrews and his staff.
And, not only would they be coordinating what was happening when with the Titanic, but with every other ship under construction in the yard as well. When you look at photos taken in the engine shed, for example, in addition to the engines for the Titanic, you will see engines and engine components for several other ships under construction at the same time, all competing for the same resources.
This is one of the reasons for the lag time between the entry into service of Olympic and Titanic. They started out three months apart, but were scheduled for completion nine months apart. Olympic's engines had to be cleared from the shop before the same area could be used to start erection of those for Titanic even though the castings were likely ordered together. The same was probably true where the boilers were concerned; even if you could build the boilers for both ships at the same time, could you store all of them together without running out of room for those being built for the other dozen-plus ships then under construction?
:...I can just picture masses of workers crawling all over the ship during the months of fitting out. Do you know how many men worked on the Titanic during this time, I mean all at once? I could imagine it might be in the hundreds?...
I've heard figures stating numbers well over a thousand at times. There would have been plenty of work going on simultaneously during fitting out. Towards the end the pace apparently got even more frantic as the delivery date drew near. The only known painting of Titanic done "from life" is a night scene at the fitting out quay, the ship being fully lighted as work continued during three full shifts around the clock.
:...I would be very interested in learning more about how ships are constructed. Any books that you recommend? Can you enlighten me further on my questions above?...
There are many books out there that give a glimps into what goes on during the construction of ships. Most are going to be very technical in nature. I'm afraid I can't be of much help as far as titles are concerned; most of my references came from used and rare book sellers, and many have been out of print for upwards of seventy years. I would suggest checking out a large city library with a decent reference section. Also, references such as the Encyclopedia Britannica give a good "nickle wrap" account under the heading "shipbuilding".
Another unlikely source as a primer are books from the youth section of the library. Though they are obviously written at a level for adolescent readers, I've come across a few that give a fairly good account of how a ship is built. One in particular that I recall, written in the late '50's or early '60's, dealt with the construction of Holland America's Rotterdam (1959).
Regards,
Scott