On April 14, 1912 a great ship was suffered a horrible tragedy. Unknown to her, a shadow arose ominously ahead. She struck the iceberg tearing a 300-foot gash in her starboard side bursting a waterline. At 2:18 a.m. April 15, 1912 the unsinkable Titanic sank to the bottom of the murky sea. Of the 2,224 persons aboard, 711 were saved. She was called the Titanic because of her massive size and strength. She was 882 feet long and was deemed the unsinkable ship; she glided gracefully at 22 knots until that fateful evening.
Although larger and faster ships have been built and will be built, it is improbable that any will become more famous then Titanic. No sea-going vessel in the history (excepting perhaps Noah's Ark) has received more attention. Titanic's story has generation.
The Titanic was the second of three nearly identical sister ships built by the White Star Line in response to the Cunard Line's new Lusitania and Mauretania. But unlike Cunard's greyhounds the Titanic was built not for speed, but for comfort and, safety, size and economy of operation. Titanic was constructed at Harland & Wolf shipyards in Belfast, Ireland at a cost of about $10,000,000.
The Titanic was 882.5 feet long and 92.5 feet in extreme breadth. She was divided into 16 watertight compartments connected with watertight doors. This subdivision allowed for the flooding of any two compartments, even the first four, without the endangering the vessel. Since nothing worse than a collision at the juncture of two compartments could be imagined, the Titanic was considered "practically unsinkable".
Following the Titanic's launch on May 31, 1911, her machinery and interiors were installed. 29 boilers, along with their coal bunkers, filled six of the Titanic's 16 watertight compartments. Two triple expansion reciprocating steam engines were aft of these boiler rooms, capable of generating 15,000 horsepower each. These giants, the largest of their kind ever, ran the wing propellers at 75 r.p.m These wing propellers were the largest ever installed on any liner. They were 5-1/2 feet larger in diameter than those of the Queen Mary. Behind the main engine room was a special Parson's low pressure steam turbine amidships that generated 16,000 horsepower. Instead of allowing the steam to escape as exhaust from the reciprocating engines, it was led into this turbine which turned the center propeller at 165 r.p.m.
The Titanic and her two sister ships were the largest liners ever to employ such a propulsion system, which was an innovation at the time. It would allow the Titanic to cruise effortlessly at 21 knots with almost no vibration. It has been said that more care and detail was lavished on the Titanic's interiors than on any vessel before or since.
There were seven magnificent grand staircase landings, two huge wrought iron and glass doomed skylights, four elevators, a gymnasium, swimming pool, squashracquet court and Turkish bath establishment. There was the Cafe Parisien and a pair of parlor suites that would cost $4,350. a voyage, each containing a 50 foot long private promenade, a first on any ship. There was also a hospital with an operating room, a library, post office, and a 50 phone switchboards.
The Titanic was designed to carry 2,500 passengers and a crew of almost 900. The British Board of Trade specified 16 lifeboats; the White Star Line provided 20. When finally completed, she was 46,328 gross tons - the largest ship afloat. Despite a brisk wind during her trials, the Titanic surprised everyone by achieving a speed of 24 knots "with ease", well exceeding her builder expectations. On April 10, 1912, the Royal Mail Steamship Titanic left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage, bound for New York.
The world has yet to recover fully from the shock of the events that followed. The "unsinkable Titanic" grazed an iceberg late in the evening of April 14, slicing open one-third of her length to the sea, and sank two hours and forty minutes later, leaving over 1,500 people to freeze in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. It remains to this day history's most incredible controversial marine disaster.
Despite the horror of the catastrophe, several benefits resulted. The unsinkable ship was myth - all vessels henceforth carried enough lifeboats to save all aboard, lifeboat drills became common practice, as well as a 24 hour wireless vigil. The shipping lanes were moved farther south for that time of the year, and 1914 saw the creation of the International Ice Patrol.
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