Deterioration of the TITANIC wreck

Modeling Subjects Ships
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Is it strictly the wrecks of the oceans that are sacrosanct, or should this reverence apply to all vessels in which humans are killed?

If applied more broadly, there would be a heap of twisted metal littering the earth (along our roads and on our mountain sides). Or does the judgment stem from the limitations of accessibility? I’d like to think about that for a while before coming to a conclusion.

The collection and preservation of even the ephemera of significant (destructive) events can have beneficial results in the future. Who are we to define what is important to future interests?

Just a thought (or two).

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HI! I want to chime in here. The fact is, the TITANIC sank because she was way ahead of her time in the type of metals used in her.What they did not know ,as so often happens in human endeavors,is that the metal ,including the rivets were extremely brittle below a certain temp.They did NOT know that then.All aside the ship sank because of the human nature concerning GREED ,pure and simple.The Captain wanted his retirement voyage to be a record breaker.The line wanted to be able to claim the blue riband for the fastest crossing and on and on.The sheer hubris of humanity brings events upon us that the little guys cannot defend against.Were there any stories written in the papers of the time about poorer “GENTLEMEN” who gave their life jackets to women even mentioned,Of course not!! Does the history of that sad event even begin to relate to the poor steerage passengers who left dependants behind! Where,s the concern for their widows and orphans. Well,there were some very important "RICH"people on board that counted for more.How so? How many of those fine folks in steerege never hurt a soul , helped where ever they could. Who wrote about them years later?? No one,that,s who! I don,t mean this as a diatribe ,BUT,lets not worry what the ship will be in 25 to 50 years from now.That,s life .Now ,have we learned anything in metallurgy ?You bet! Have we learned better ways to protect pessengers and crews, certainly. But again ,hubris wins out. I wouldn,t trust my worst enemies dogs safety on those floating hotels they call cruise ships. I,ve seen better ships than them ,perfectly good ,cut up for scrap. So they could build another floating deathtrap! I do apologise.I get so aggravated when the TITANIC comes up. How many of you know the amount of steerage passengers that had to wait for the other ships that were short on coal so the TITANIC could sail?? How many were litteraly homeless,granted for a short time ,but inconvenienced all the same. Why, so the great NEW "unsinkable TITANIC could make her record breaking voyage?Record breaking indeed.Held the record ,and I think still does for the greatest amount of passengers killed in a sinking. FINI…tankerbuilder

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tankbuilder,

You raise a number of important and valid points. The lessons, and there are scores of them, to be derived from the event have been characteristically ignored and the errors repeated in their own fashion since then. But, the distribution of social favor and merit was as inequitable on land as it was on the ship in that age. It was, I think, a reflection of how society ordered itself then. And it felt justified in doing so, right or wrong.

We, too, have our prejudices and assumptions and our social definitions of merit which perplex me to this day. Income now goes to athletes, media stars and, as always, those who are best at stealing legally. The treatment accorded them is far different from that experienced by us commoners. You get, as always has been, all the justice you can afford. Perhaps, some day, this will be considered atrocious. But not now.

I’m a bit skeptical about the metallurgical claims that are made for ships coming to grief many decades ago. I have heard the hypothesis, but not seen the analysis. I’d really like to see a modeling of the stresses encountered vs. the construction techniques employed. I believe that I saw holes in the plate (in some of the dive videos) where there should have been rivets. I wonder if welds would have given way so readily. Pure speculation on my part, but I’m too old to jump to conclusions. I need to walk.

I would like, if I had the “one wish”, for someone to drain the oceans and let me wander about until my curiosity about its secrets were visually revealed.

I remember blue water over the bridge (I mean the flying bridge) on the 4,100 ton DEG I lived on for 6 years during some gawd-awful storms in the North Atlantic and thinking what it might look like when we got “down there” if that bow didn’t come plowing back up again. (Well, mainly what it might feel like to drown in icy water.)

The fate of the passengers of the Titannic is more than a theory to me. I can imagine it, but I didn’t experience it, so I know I can’t comment and feel clean about it.

But, I know all the words to the Navy Hymn 'cause I hummed it quite a bit back then.

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It’s a chunk of metal at the bottom of the ocean. We pillage and excavate ancient burial sites every day. So what makes the Titanic so special other than its place in history and the circumstances of her loss. Nothing. Get as much as you can from it and move on when it’s gone.

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The ship hit an iceberg and sank…why do people make simple and obvious things so complicated? I think it is because we refuse to believe tragic events can be explained so simply…sorta like the JFK assasination—we can’t fathom that one man took him…so we invent conspiracies…

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I assume you mean the HMHS Britannic, which sank in 1916. The RMS Britannic (1929) was a different Liner from White Star, that was finally cut up for scrap in 1960.

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Kastastrophy, HMHS Britannic (sistership of titanic) was supposed to be RMS Britannic till renamed to HMHS Britannic in nov 1915. the britannic you are referring to is the 3rd britannic built after the war.