titanic wiki
So, as the story goes, on a summer evening in 1907, Bruce Ismay, managing director of "White Star Line," and his wife Florence had dinner at the mansion of "Belgravia", which was also known as "Daunshirsky House." Hospitable owner of this home was Lord James Pirrie, a partner company "Harland and Wolff," which has designed and built all the ships "White Star".
Bruce Ismay was president of American International Company's merchant fleet, the chairman and managing director of the Ocean Steamship Company of Liverpool, which included the company, "White Star". In addition, Ismay was the director of the railway company "London Midland Scotland reylroad End" and the director of "Birmingham canal."
And Ismay and Pirrie were interested in the prevalence of "White Star" on transatlantic trade and passenger line, where the main competitor was not a smaller company, "Cunard Line".
The main topic of discussion this evening was a new ship of "Cunard" - "Lusitania." As expected, this is a huge passenger ship will break the existing speed records already in her first voyage across the Atlantic, as it recently did, "Mauritania", showing the average speed of 25.7 knots. This would "Cunard" ahead of the race for the symbolic prize of speed and comfort of "blue ribbon Atlantic" and in addition it would have full control over the transatlantic route. How "White Star" could reflect this new threat to the competitor?
There is every reason to believe that it is during this lunch, Pirrie and Ismay was born on an ambitious plan on how to put the "Cunard" in place. The united efforts, they decided to create two extraordinary hitherto liner, and later - to construct a third. These vessels, each of which had to be 50% more than the "Lusitania" and nearly 30 meters (100 feet) longer than its 237 meters (790 feet), would be so huge that no shipyard in the world do not have a dry dock , cranes, or portals such dimensions to build them. The central place of these ships was to be no speed, and luxury and comfort. However, they should have sufficient speed to complete the crossing of the Atlantic and sail from England to New York for a week.
Ismay and Pirrie quickly moved up the idea of the great liners dreams to the drawing board. The entire staff of Lord Pirrie worked on the creation of a real project, while at the shipyard, "Harland and Wolff 'in Belfast (Ireland) has begun the transformation of the three construction sites in two. They had to be built 66 meters (220 ft) in height portal, the largest in the world.
The agreement between the company, "White Star" and the shipyard, "Harland and Wolff," stated: "the ship must be built with the assistance of any desired amount of money." Its total cost has reached a size of 1912 approximately 7.5 million dollars, which by today's standards is worth almost 10 times greater.
The initial project involved the construction of trehtrubnyh courts. However, Pierre felt that the four pipes giving the court a much more impressive appearance. Thus, the project has changed and the layout has four chimneys. Some of the initial plans for giant ships were simple and even elaborated. The first class, for example, must have had a huge cabin vacation, a smoking room, a large reception hall, two palm court (veranda), and reading room. The dining saloon was to occupy a height of three decks and end with a glass dome. Below in the ship were to be constructed Turkish baths and a swimming pool and gym.
Eventually, some of these ideas have been reduced in scale or even excluded from the project, while others have been expanded and took a real look. For example, a gym, originally located at the bottom of the vessel was moved to the upper deck. The resort has been reduced in size and have added two more lifts, the total number of whom are now equal to three for the first class, and one was for the second. The first keel plate, which eventually was to become "Olympic", was installed 16th December 1908 on the stocks. A 31st of March, three months later, the first keel plate was laid for the "Titanic." 3000 people worked for two years on the project's largest moving object in the world created by human hands. Each of the three engines of the "Titanic"-sized occupied nearly three storage rooms. "Titanic" weighed 66,000 tons and a length equal the length of four city blocks. Its height from keel to navigating bridge was equivalent to an altitude of ten warehouses.
Progressive trends of marine technology was demonstrated on board the "Titanic." It was a multistage rocket is equipped with a steam turbine low-pressure systems Parsons, along with two four-cylinder steam piston engines inverted triple-expansion type. The idea of this design was to get a gain in power if necessary, at no additional cost steam. The turbine motor is central (steering) screw, while the movement of piston engines have reported the two side screws and provide extra power the tail rotor.
In the boiler room of the vessel was found 29 boilers - each weighing 100 tons, which were heated furnace heat 159. Coal stoves warmed the water in the boiler to get steam. Then fed to the steam piston engines. As soon as the pair got into one of the four-cylinder engine, generate the necessary force to rotate one of the propellers. Excess or lost steam condensed in the evaporator and the resulting water can be returned to the boiler for reheating. Changing the number of steam engines applied to the control the speed of the vessel. The smoke from the furnaces and engine exhaust ejected through the first three tubes. The fourth tube, as mentioned above, was false and was used for ventilation. Many enthusiasts of "Titanic" love to point out mistakes in movies and on artistic depictions ship, when the pipe goes from the fourth smoke. The light went out on board the ship only when it took almost a vertical position and many of its generating sets just fell off their seats under its own weight. But they worked already being flooded with water!
"Titanic" was equipped with sixteen lifeboats, a length of about 10 meters (33 feet), which were attached to the new davits Uelina (Welin) double action. This monstrous disparity in the number of passengers and crew of the available seats in the lifeboats had to be clear right away: given the number of seats in one of these boats, and it is equal to 76, is easy to calculate that for the salvation of all people with "Titanic" would require at least 48 boats, rather than instead of 16. It is true there were still aboard the boat folding system Engelhardt in the amount of 4 units with 50 seats each, but it does not have to change the situation on board during a disaster. This is the most terrible flaw of the project such a huge ship - there is no room in the lifeboats to save everyone. Someone must have died, and that happens a bit later.
But this terrible catastrophic fact there is an explanation. "Titanic" was equipped with life-saving appliances in accordance with applicable at that time security standards. According to the British rules, every vessel the gross tonnage of over 10 tons must have had on board 16 boats a total of 156 cubic meters and a number of rafts and floating devices, which corresponds to 75 per cent of the lifeboats. For "Titanic" life-saving volume was up, so, 274 cubic meters, which was sufficient to accommodate 962 people.
In fact, the total capacity of the boats "Titanic" was sufficient to contain 1,178 people. In fact, the boat could hold only 30 percent of the total number of people, which was calculated on the liner.
But back to the design features of the liner. It was divided into 16 compartments by fifteen watertight bulkheads. Watertight doors separating the compartments can be activated manually or by a system that monitors water levels on the deck, or an electromagnet, which can be controlled from the navigating bridge. In the normal state through the coil of the electromagnet current is flowing, and he held the door open (raised) position. Once on the bridge flipped the breaker switch, solenoids turned off and the doors automatically "fall", thus blocking the passages between the compartments.
Among other things, "Titanic" was equipped with the most modern for its time fire detection system, which included a smoke detector, designed in the same 1912. Directly under the bridge on deck "D" was a post fire brigade. It was a fire around the clock, or in any case, it was not more than 2 meters from the post. On the ceiling bulkhead of the compartment was sealed glass casing is installed, under which small tubes were removed from the secondary fire stations located in different parts of the ship. The suction system is pulling air under a glass cover this. Under it was a thread foil, which vibrate under the influence of air flow and let us know the observer that the suction system is activated. When smoke appeared in the room in which there was an input (suction) secondary tube, it immediately sucked under a glass case and took the form of small balls, like a ball of wool. Fire Chief could call on duty on the deck to the appropriate post secondary fire and ask them to verify and determine the cause smoke or ignition. Hydrants and fire hoses were placed on board a specially developed strategic plan.
20th October 1910 "Olympic" was launched and towed to a dock for the final assembly completion. "Titanic" was virtually identical to the "Olympic," but only that he should have been more "Olympic" in 1004 gross (gross) tonnes and in some ways more luxurious.
31st May 1911 Wharf "Harland and Wolff" was filled with Charmed by people who came to see the descent painty "Titanic" on the water. JP Morgan, Bruce Ismay and his daughter Margaret, Lord and Lady Pirrie Pirrie, the Mayor of Belfast and many other dignitaries stood on the podium next to towering over them, 26 000-ton hull "Titanic."
Near the bow were three more stands - two for guests and one - for the press. The trams in Belfast were loaded to failure, a special flight carrying the shipyard thousands of spectators who wanted to look at this solemn event. A large number of people filled the shallows of the river Lagan, the bottom of which was prepared for the free passage of nearly 35 feet (10.5 m) underwater parts of the ocean giants.
"Titanic" is not baptized, because he was ordered "White Star" and "Harland and Wolff." In the 12 hours 5 minutes in the day sky billowed two missiles at a five minutes followed by a third. At 12 hours 13 minutes corps began to move down the gangplank number 3, driven only by its own weight.
Suddenly the air was overwhelmed sounds - for tugs whistled whistles, waving their handkerchiefs women and thousands of spectators shouted their greetings. "Titanic" double-headed way, which is equal to its length (that is 1,800 feet or 540 meters), developing at the same time with the help of tugboats speed of 12 knots. After that, he was made to the parking lot, securing six anchor chains and two piles of rope weighing 80 tons each. To place your boat in the water it took 23 tons of grease, oil, and the locomotive of liquid soap for lubrication of the gangway. The whole process of the descent of "Titanic" on the water in just 62 seconds.
After "Titanic" was placed in the dock assembly, finishing touches on its interior and superustroystva lasted ten months and several million man-hours. Especially for the installation of flue pipe was purchased by a 200-ton floating crane, the largest in the world at that time. With him on the "Titanic", as it was envisaged the modified project, it was established four exhaust pipes with a diameter of 6.6 meters (22 feet) and a height of 18 meters (62 feet) above the casings of machinery spaces each. At a height of 15 meters (50 feet) above the pipes were stretched air antenna Wireless "Titanic", which were reinforced by two masts 21 meters (70 feet) mounted on the stern and the bow of the ship.
To build a corps of "Titanic" took 1,200 tons of the total number of rivets 3 million pieces. Big as a house, driving the "Titanic" weighing 101 tons, to transport to the yard was divided into six parts. 20 heavy horses needed for transport in a van just one of four 15-ton anchors at the shipyard in Belfast.
February 3, 1912 "Titanic" was put in dry dock, where it was installed propellers. It was also performed final paint the body.
When construction was completed, the length of the "Titanic" was about 265 meters (883 feet) and width - about 28 meters (92.5 feet). He had 8 steel decks and cellular double bottom. Amidships the keel consisted of two ends and this lot had a length of 60 meters (200 feet), who defended on the height of 0.6 meters each shell to prevent any movement of riding in the motion in the sea.
Some interesting note. One engineer in 1912 after the death of the "Titanic" has created a theory based on the information on the flow of water through the lower part (ie, bottom). The theory was the assumption that the fact that the iceberg as rammed and double-bottom hull, along with damage to the forepeak and starboard. The validity of this theory is now unlikely to be established exactly, but modern tests and experiments carried out with a part of the body recovered from the crash site, led to the assumption that the steel produced at the turn of the century, and contained an excess of sulfate (Sulfer Content). It is believed that steel containing several levels of sulfates can become brittle after long being in cold water. It could also contribute to some of the damage to the hull in the collision of "Titanic" with an iceberg.
2nd April 1912, the largest ship ever existed before that time in the world, came out of Belfast on sea trials in the sea, and already 10th out of the ship in its first fateful voyage, which became his last.