Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!cbosgd!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiucme!keith
From: keith@uiucme.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: The Gash??? on the Titanic???
Message-ID: <900005@uiucme>
Date: Thu, 14-Aug-86 14:17:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucme.900005
Posted: Thu Aug 14 14:17:00 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 17-Aug-86 08:12:09 EDT
References: <263@petrus.UUCP>
Lines: 37
Nf-ID: #R:petrus.UUCP:263:uiucme:900005:000:1535
Nf-From: uiucme.UUCP!keith    Aug 14 13:17:00 1986




As probably the only net reader with a background in naval architecture
I feel it is my duty to add to the confusion.

The TITANIC was among the first ships to have been subdivided into
little compartments.  If I recall it was a "three-compartment" ship,
which means it was still floating and stable with any three compartments
in a row floooded (that's a typo, but it has some whimiscal appeal).

The problem was the builders and owners and officers were all so gung-ho
about the "unsinkable" ship, the crew got the idea it was truly
unsinkable and arrived at what we call a lack of discipline about
watertight integrity.  The watertight doors through the subdivision
bulkheads got left open!  Flooding was slowed down but was inevitable.

You may recall the next famous unsinkable ship was the BISMARK.  It
was built with the lessons from the TITANIC in mind - there were no
doors below the waterline.  All well and good for the designers,
but this generated lousy living conditions.  A team of naval architects
from the Admiralty worked for a long time on the strategy for dealing
with this class of ship, I think it was six or maybe seven compartments
floodable length.  They sank it by putting enough holes in enough places
to flood most of the ship.

The EAGLE, by the way (U.S. Coast Guard training ship, my alma mater)
was a zero-compartment ship until a fairly extensive rehab a few
years ago.

Ahh, the old days. . . .   men of iron, ships of wood . . . .



keith
U of Illinois Mech Eng
seismo!ihnp4!uiucdcs!uiucme!keith