White Star and Titanic, What Could have Been

[SsgtC]

Basically what Hood said. Ramming a several million ton berg with a 50,000 ton ship moving at 22 knots would have destroyed Titanic. Her keel would have buckled, boilers, engines and other machinery would have been torn from their mountings, the propeller shafts would have broken, popping the shaft seals, flooding the engine rooms, her stacks and masts would have collapsed, the watertight bulkheads would have buckled rendering them useless. The list goes on.

TL;DR version, Titanic would have sunk with all hands within 15 minutes.

A common misconception.
If Titanic had rammed the iceberg, it would have likely bucked her entire keel, causing extensive flooding, that would sink that ship even faster.
Best way to save her, slow down to twelve knots.
The turning circle would be smaller, and she would round the iceberg unharmed.

 

[SsgtC]

If they had done that, there is no "maybe she would have collided with the iceberg." She would have rammed it at almost full speed. The lookouts didn't see the berg until Titanic was less than a minute away from it. A crash stop from 22 knots took an Olympic-class liner almost 2 miles.

The attempt to turn the Titanic to get away from the iceberg played a factor in dooming her. Had the engines either been thrown in reverse or full stop, the ship probably would have survived. It may have still collided with the iceberg but it would have been damaged as opposed to being fatally hurt enough to sink.

 

[Oldbill]

Damn! Well Done! Where did you learn the DC procedures?

 

[SsgtC]

Thank you!! I've got a couple friends who were damage controlmen in the Navy and I was given a crash course in it when I was part of a MEU. But a lot of it was tons of research. Particularly what was and was not possible in 1912 and what Titanic actually had on board that they could use.

Damn! Well Done! Where did you learn the DC procedures?

 

[Oldbill]

Ah, thought so. I have a bit of experience/training in the field, and find this TL quite plausible.

 

[SsgtC]

Thank you! I was trying to make it as plausible as possible.

Ah, thought so. I have a bit of experience/training in the field, and find this TL quite plausible.

 

[Archibald]

Yup 22 kt sounds not a very high speed, but what matters is mass, plus the force of the impact.

 

[SsgtC]

Exactly. 22 knots is about 30 miles an hour. And Titanic wasn't exactly built with crumple zones to lessen the force of an impact

Yup 22 kt sounds not a very high speed, but what matters is mass, plus the force of the impact.

 

[fscott]

Titanic stayed afloat for 2hrs and 40mins after hitting the berg. That was more than enough time to launch every boat on board had she been carrying all 64 her design originally called for. However no boats were launched till almost an hour after the collision. In the original post, the timeline for the boats being launched are the actual launching times from OTL.

The Titanic state of float for 2 hours and 40 minutes they did not start loading boats for an hour so that leaves 1 hour and 40 minutes. In that time the Titanic launched 16 regular life boats and I believe - the collapsible lifeboats the other two floated off the deck. There's no way in 2 hours and 40 minutes they're going to launch 64 life boats.

 

[Hood]

The Titanic state of float for 2 hours and 40 minutes they did not start loading boats for an hour so that leaves 1 hour and 40 minutes. In that time the Titanic launched 16 regular life boats and I believe - the collapsible lifeboats the other two floated off the deck. There's no way in 2 hours and 40 minutes they're going to launch 64 life boats.

35 of Britannics lifeboats were launched in under 50 minutes, and she had a starboard list.
It can be done.

 

[Greenville]

This is what Titanic would've been remembered for it didn't sink... how many jobs it created as scrapheap during the Great Depression.

 

[SsgtC]

IOTL, every wooden boat was launched in an hour and 10 minutes. With a great deal of confusion since no lifeboat drill had been held and most of the crew and none of the passengers knew where they were supposed to go. Britannic was able to launch 35 boats in less than 50 min. Had Titanic begun launching boats immediately, at say midnight, and had the crew been drilled beforehand, they could have easily launched 64 boats before the ship foundered.

The Titanic state of float for 2 hours and 40 minutes they did not start loading boats for an hour so that leaves 1 hour and 40 minutes. In that time the Titanic launched 16 regular life boats and I believe - the collapsible lifeboats the other two floated off the deck. There's no way in 2 hours and 40 minutes they're going to launch 64 life boats.

 

[Oldbill]

The Titanic state of float for 2 hours and 40 minutes they did not start loading boats for an hour so that leaves 1 hour and 40 minutes. In that time the Titanic launched 16 regular life boats and I believe - the collapsible lifeboats the other two floated off the deck. There's no way in 2 hours and 40 minutes they're going to launch 64 life boats.

I'm going to disagree with you here. She was equipped with Welin Davits, (they look like Welin Quadrant Davits) and these aren't that hard to use. These are new, well greased and can be easily swung out and launched. Even a crew with little experience can launch them, it only needs one good PO who has done it to make this happen in the calm seas present.

 

[Hood]

I'm going to disagree with you here. She was equipped with Welin Davits, (they look like Welin Quadrant Davits) and these aren't that hard to use. These are new, well greased and can be easily swung out and launched. Even a crew with little experience can launch them, it only needs one good PO who has done it to make this happen in the calm seas present.

And the crew have had a lifeboat drill in this TL.
It can be done as I have stated before

 

[Hood]

This is what Titanic would've been remembered for it didn't sink... how many jobs it created as scrapheap during the Great Depression.

Not necessarily.
Titanic not sinking has major butterflies for White Star.
The merger with Cunard is likely to be very different...

 

[Alternity9497]

Not necessarily.
Titanic not sinking has major butterflies for White Star.
The merger with Cunard is likely to be very different...

True. In fact, White Star could very well become the dominant partner (should the merger still happen ITTL). They may even get to complete the third Oceanic.

 

[Athelstane]

Basically what Hood said. Ramming a several million ton berg with a 50,000 ton ship moving at 22 knots would have destroyed Titanic. Her keel would have buckled, boilers, engines and other machinery would have been torn from their mountings, the propeller shafts would have broken, popping the shaft seals, flooding the engine rooms, her stacks and masts would have collapsed, the watertight bulkheads would have buckled rendering them useless. The list goes on.

TL;DR version, Titanic would have sunk with all hands within 15 minutes.

It's amazing how often the "ram it head on" option keeps getting floated by people who ought to know better. In this documentary (cued to the time) you can hear the White Star Line archivist insisting that Titanic could have survived.

 

[SsgtC]

Wow. The problem, I think, is that these are historians who don't really understand ship design or physics. They hear words like "collision bulkhead" and think the ship can automatically survive any head on collision. What I find interesting is that the ship they mentioned as surviving just such a collision, is MUCH smaller and MUCH slower than Titanic. The two aren't remotely comparable.

It's amazing how often the "ram it head on" option keeps getting floated by people who ought to know better. In this documentary (cued to the time) you can hear the White Star Line archivist insisting that Titanic could have survived.

 

[Athelstane]

Wow. The problem, I think, is that these are historians who don't really understand ship design or physics. They hear words like "collision bulkhead" and think the ship can automatically survive any head on collision. What I find interesting is that the ship they mentioned as surviving just such a collision, is MUCH smaller and MUCH slower than Titanic. The two aren't remotely comparable.

Yeah. And I suspect even the SS Arizona wouldn't have survived if you'd slammed it into an iceberg at 22 knots.

 

[SsgtC]

Completely agree. Any scenario that lets Titanic slow enough to avoid catastrophic damage from a head on collision with a berg is a scenario that let's them see it in enough time to turn to avoid it entirely.

Yeah. And I suspect even the SS Arizona wouldn't have survived if you'd slammed it into an iceberg at 22 knots.