Irish terrorists sinking her becomes a plausible theory
It's actually higher. Titanic was doing about 21 knots at the time of the collision. That equals to just over 24 MPHIt is a calculation of the kinetic energy of the collision:
"""""Here's my calculation.
From Wikipedia, the Titanic displaced 52,310 long tons, which is 5.315x107 kg. I couldn't find the impact speed, but taking your 20 mph, it's 8.941 m/s. Kinetic energy is 1/2 m v2 = 2.124x109 J. That converts to 0.5077 tons of TNT. By way of comparison, that's equivalent to a little less than two Mk-48 torpedoes. """"
That should do the trick, I think
What speed was the iceberg doing and what was its mass?It is a calculation of the kinetic energy of the collision:
"""""Here's my calculation.
From Wikipedia, the Titanic displaced 52,310 long tons, which is 5.315x107 kg. I couldn't find the impact speed, but taking your 20 mph, it's 8.941 m/s. Kinetic energy is 1/2 m v2 = 2.124x109 J. That converts to 0.5077 tons of TNT. By way of comparison, that's equivalent to a little less than two Mk-48 torpedoes. """"
That should do the trick, I think
The iceberg was, for all intents and purposes, stationary. At most a quarter to half a mile an hour. And it's mass, based on photos of the suspected iceberg, would be several million tons.What speed was the iceberg doing and what was its mass?
The iceberg was, for all intents and purposes, stationary. At most a quarter to half a mile an hour. And it's mass, based on photos of the suspected iceberg, would be several million tons.
Not really. Titanic had a rigid structure. There was no engineered crumple zone to absorb the shock of impact. So while yes, the first couple of compartments would get crushed, the shock of impact would travel down the length of the keel, rippling plates and popping rivets as it went. The shock would likely be strong enough (especially when combined with sudden deceleration) to "rip" machinery from their mountings. In particular the boilers. The engines would probably stay in place as they were mounted differently to be able to absorb the thrust from the propellers.Well, remember one thing. The ship will crumble. so it is a measured deceleration. Probably very uncomfortable after all.
Not so sure if the boilers would rip loose as we are talking a crumble zone of many meters. The deceleration should not affect heavy machinery bolted to the 'floor'.
That said, insofar as Titanic was rivetted steel plates, the force would be on the rivets. …. And we do know that story.
If Titanic had been electro welded, nose first might have been a different story.
For all calculations. The iceberg is stationary. Nothing can move that thing around.
Just for holding this image in the head: Two mk 48 torpedoes hitting the bow of any ship.
Californian was stopped for the night. So there was no risk of her hitting a berg. Carpathia, OTOH? That was a very real possibility. She just barely avoided several icebergs en route to TitanicOne of the worst things that could have happened would have been if either the Carpathia or the Californian had also struck one of the icebergs in the area and sunk while en route to rescue Titanic.
Slamming head first into the berg would have also collapsed the funnels and masts, which were mainly held in place with cables. The shock of impact would have thrown the funnels and masts forward, snapping the stays and dropping the funnels onto the deck (and coincidentally onto the officers quarters and radio room). When the masts collapse, they'll take the wireless airals down with them. Meaning no radio signals. So even if the hull isn't opened from stem to stern, they can't tell anyone about it or ask for help. Incidentally, when the funnels collapse onto the deck, they'll crush the lifeboats and destroy the davits. So even if there's time to abandon ship (doubtful) there won't be any boats to abandon in.
Carpathia's rescue was daring but risky, especially given that she was herself carrying 700 passengers. The good news is that Carpathia did at least have enough lifeboats to accommodate all of its own passengers provided there was enough time for them to get off. The ship was smaller than Titanic so it probably wouldn't have been as chaotic to unload them but striking an iceberg at full steam could still flood the ship and bring her down very fast and it seems quite likely that there would have been casualties. With this, the survivors of both wrecks must also wait many hours longer in the frigid conditions for rescue, which will likely come the by the next morning from the Mount Temple (about 50 miles away), the German liner Frankfurt, which was also on its way and of course, the Californian when the crew learns what has happened.Californian was stopped for the night. So there was no risk of her hitting a berg. Carpathia, OTOH? That was a very real possibility. She just barely avoided several icebergs en route to Titanic