I KNOW THAT TEST HAD TAKEN PLACE USING THE OLIMPIC DEALING WITH THE CRASH OF THE TITANIC. WAS THE QUESTION EVER LOOKED INTO REGARDING THE TITANICS ABILITY TO HAVE WITHSTOOD A HEAD ON CRASH AT THE SPEED IT WAS GOING? 20 - 22 assuming, of course, the crew did not see the burg untill impact.

-- carmine marcantonio (cmarcantonio@ehs-inc.com), September 02, 1998

Answers

Response to HEAD ON

It is easy to debate ex post what the best alternative would have been. But you normally follow your instincts, like when driving a car. The intentions were good, but the officers could not anticipate how the ship would react to the commands given. Had they known what the collision would mean to the ship and passangers' lives they would have gone head on. So they tried to avoid the collision and Titanic almost did it, it was only short of a few feet. But the tripple screw system made it hard to use the reverse engine mode. The ship was fast and with a too high inertia. The night was as it was, no moon, no waves. No binoculars available, what a regreatable mistake for such a great ship...

-- Dan Draghici (ddraghic@sprint.ca), September 02, 1998.

Response to HEAD ON

There has been a lot of speculation over the years about this. The builders of the Titanic, Harland and Wolff, stated in the British hearings that if the Titanic had struck the berg head-on, there would have been considerable damage to the first 100 feet or so of the ship, and a number of deaths, but the ship would likely have remained afloat. Other, less-well-built ships had survived similar head-on collisions with icebergs, so this may be true. However, we'll never know for sure. There are just too many intangibles to make a definite statement either way.

Regards,

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), September 02, 1998.

Based on the recent discovery of the wreck. In Tom McCluskie's book anatomy of the titanic it is believed that the impact of a head on collision would not have prevented the sinking of the Titanic. It is believed based on the way the bow section sits on the ocean floor that the bow would have compressed upon impact and opened more plates in the hull with decks compressing upon themselves. Mr McCluskie held the postion of Managing Director Harland & Wolffe Shipbuilders Archives until his retirement 8 months ago.

-- RL-Memeber Titanic Historical Soceity (Adak3@riconnect.com), January 22, 1999.