The Titanic Ship

Titanic known as: “Millionaire’s Special”, “RMS Titanic”, “Royal Mail Ship Titanic”

On March 31, 1909, some three months after work began on the Olympic, the keel was laid for the Titanic. The two ships were built side by side in a specially constructed gantry that could accommodate their unprecedented size. The sister ships were largely designed by Thomas Andrews of Harland and Wolff

In addition to ornate decorations, the Titanic featured an immense first-class dining saloon, four elevators, and a swimming pool. Its second-class accommodations were comparable to first-class features on other ships, and its third-class offerings, although modest, were still noted for their relative comfort.

From the outset, the Titanic captured the public’s imagination. At the time, it was one of the largest and most opulent ships in the world. It was also considered unsinkable, due to a series of compartment doors that could be closed if the bow was breached. However, four days into its maiden voyage in 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg, and less than three hours later it sank. The drama of the eyewitness accounts and the great loss of life helped make it one of the most well-known tragedies in modern history. After the 1985 discovery of its wreckage, interest in the Titanic only increased, and its enduring appeal was evident with the huge success of James Cameron’s 1997 film about the doomed ocean liner.


As to safety elements, the Titanic had 16 compartments that included doors which could be closed from the bridge, so that water could be contained in the event the hull was breached. Although they were presumed to be watertight, the bulkheads were not capped at the top. The ship’s builders claimed that four of the compartments could be flooded without endangering the liner’s buoyancy. The system led many to claim that the Titanic was unsinkable.

Why did the Titanic sink?

The immediate cause of RMS Titanic’s demise was a collision with an iceberg that caused the ocean liner to sink on April 14–15, 1912. While the ship could reportedly stay afloat if as many as 4 of its 16 compartments were breached, the impact had affected at least 5 compartments. It was originally believed that the iceberg had caused a long gash in the hull. After examining the wreck, however, scientists discovered that the collision had produced a series of thin gashes as well as brittle fracturing and separation of seams in the adjacent hull plates, thus allowing water to flood into the Titanic.


Later examination of retrieved ship parts—as well as paperwork in the builder’s archives—led to speculation that low-quality steel or weak rivets may have contributed to the sinking.

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After the disaster,In 1985 Robert Ballard found the wreck of the Titanic lying upright in two pieces at a depth of 13,000 ft (4,000 m). American and French scientists explored it using an uncrewed submersible.