Some Facts on the Titanic Construction
The idea of the ship was first thought of in 1907. However, the Titanic construction did not actually start until March of 1909 in Belfast Ireland. Harland and Wolff handled the construction. In contrast to what a lot of people think, the Titanic was not a rare ship. It was actually one of the three superlative liners for the White Star Line’s North Atlantic service. The two other ships were Olympic and Britannic. The three sister ships were designed and built to be the world’s biggest and most luxurious liners. Also, the Olympic was more popular than the Titanic at that time. Nonetheless, the Titanic was still the biggest ship in 1912.
The Titanic was 882.5 feet long and 92.5 feet wide. It had a gross weight of almost 45,000 tons. During the Titanic construction, some innovative materials and shipbuilding techniques were required. Turbines and steel were used. The Parson’s turbine operated off the exhaust steam that was given off by the two reciprocating engines of the ship. A couple of three-blade propellers that measure 23.5 feet in diameter as well as four-blade propeller that measures 17 feet produced sufficient horsepower to attain speeds up to twenty-four knots. Also, Titanic construction included 16 compartments that were claimed to be watertight. Shipbuilders included steel doors that were supposed to shut in less than twenty-five seconds to prevent any water from threatening the safety of the passengers.
In addition, three million rivets were used to hold the hull plates of the Titanic together. Unfortunately, these rivets popped loose when the ship hit the huge iceberg. Because of this, the water easily seeped into the ship and caused it to sink. Nonetheless, other theories suggest that the iron used during the Titanic construction were substandard. It was claimed that the iron contained high amounts of sulfur, thereby making the ship susceptible to the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Then again, the shipbuilders cannot be solely blamed for the tragedy. The iron used during the time of Titanic’s maiden voyage was inferior compared to the iron we have today. The iron for the Titanic construction was actually standard at that time.
