Purpose and Audience

It is a story that everyone has heard; the RMS Titanic hits an iceberg on her maiden voyage and
sinks with a great loss of life. Design flaws such as too small of a rudder, a non-reversible engine,
unsealed compartments and metal defects will be examined. These issues will lead to a conclusion of
what caused the Titanic to sink. This paper is organized by the chronological order in which these
causes became apparent. The audience of this paper would be anyone interested in a new take on a
well known event, and what caused the event.

Titanic Problems
On April 15, 1912, just after two o'clock in the morning, the grandest ship the world had ever
known slipped beneath the cold waves of the North Atlantic. A marvel of engineering, the Royal Mail
Steamer Titanic, would infamously strike an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sink. Over 1500 people
would perish in one of the greatest maritime disasters in history. However, what caused a ship that was
deemed unsinkable, to sink so rapidly, with such loss of life? Contrary to popular belief, it was more
than just hitting an iceberg. A small rudder, a non-reversible engine, unsealed compartments and
underdeveloped materials would ultimately lead to such a disaster.
Five days before the fateful day, on April 10, the Titanic set sail from southern England bound to
New York, traveling with over 2200 passengers and crew on board (Smithsonian). No-one knew, or could
even predict what would befall this vessel. Its sheer size, and modern safety features like watertight
compartments lead to the myth that this ship was unsinkable. The night of April 14, 1912, was
unusually clear as the Titanic steamed onwards. Millions of bright stars shown upon the unusually calm
water, creating a scene that made it hard to judge where the water met the sky. For the lookouts that

night, spotting an iceberg at long range in those conditions would have been impossible. By the time
the iceberg was spotted, there was only 30 seconds left until impact. The crew responded naturally by
turning the ship hard to port in an attempt to miss the iceberg. However, it was too late. The iceberg hit
the starboard side of the ship, tearing a massive hole in the hull.
The design of the ship was simply not up to the task of the sharp maneuvers required to avoid a
collision. Due to the design convention of the day, the rudders on large ocean liners were designed to
be adequate only for open ocean maneuvers. There was considered to be no need for a large rudder as
tugboats would maneuver the ships in port (Weeks, 1). Consequently, the Titanic was built with a smaller
rudder than a ship of its size required. When the iceberg was spotted, the rudder was unable to
effectively turn the ship away from the danger. It is estimated that had the rudder been 30% to 40%
larger, the ship could have made the maneuver (Weeks, 1).
A larger rudder alone though, would not have been able to save the Titanic. At almost 900 feet
long, and 46000 tons, the Titanic was the largest ship in the world when the hull was laid down at the
Harland and Wolff shipyard (Smithsonian). To move this great bulk, the Titanic, was equipped with three
steam engines which powered three massive screws. These engines were fed by a constant stream of
coal that was stoked by teams of men, working around the clock. Two reversible engines powered the
outer two screws, while a smaller engine powered the central screw (Weeks, 2). This engine, powering
the screw right behind the rudder could not be reversed (Weeks, 2). When the iceberg was spotted mere
seconds before impact, the crew threw the outer engines in reverse and cut power to the central one in
an attempt to slow the ship down. At the same time, they attempted to steer the ship away from danger.
But by cutting the central engine, the water flow past the rudder stopped as well (Weeks, 2). As a result,
the undersized rudder was not operating at full effectiveness (Weeks, 2). From this combination of design
flaws the ship could not turn fast enough to avoid the iceberg.
Once the ship hit, the ice gouged through the thick steel plating, just below the waterline. This

gave rise to the myth that the ship was very badly built. In reality, nothing could be further from the
truth. The Titanic was very well built, with each rivet being heat sealed, but metallurgy was in its
infancy. A 1991 test found that the steel had very high sulfur levels, and was thus inherently weak
(Weeks, 2).

During the test the steel simply broke, without any ductility in the cold waters of the Atlantic

against a normal force (Weeks, 2). This effect of the primitive steel also affected the rivets that held the
hull plates together. When the ship hit the iceberg with millions of pounds of force, the rivets' heads
sheared off, splitting the plates in the hull (Weeks, 2). The split in the plating let millions of gallons of
water flood in.
The Titanic was built with 16 water tight doors, as a precaution against flooding. In theory the ship
could still stay afloat even with numerous compartments flooded. These compartments though, had a
fundamental design flaw. The tops of the compartments did not fully reach the top of the hull

Weeks, 1).

As a result, the large gaps at the top allowed water to overflow and spill into subsequent compartments.
The onrush of flowing water could not be contained as designed. Due to these design flaws and metal
deficiencies, the Titanic sank in just over two hours.
In total, only about 700 people would be rescued out of over 2200 people aboard (Smithsonian). The
unsinkable ship would ultimately sink due the small rudder, non-reversible engine, unsealed
compartments and underdeveloped materials. It would be one of most deadly maritime disasters in
history, but it did not have to be. Perhaps most startling of all is that had the crew spotted the iceberg
just a few seconds earlier, these design flaws would never have become apparent, and the ship would
have missed the iceberg. Instead the grandest ship in the world would crash into the mountain of ice,
and take 1500 souls to a watery grave.

Works Cited
"Encyclopedia Smithsonian: The Titanic." Smithsonian Institution. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Weeks, J. Bruce, PE, PMP. "Risk Determination in Highly Interactive Environments: How to Avoid the Titanic Factor
in Your ProjectA White Paper." PMI Virtual Library. PMI Virtual Library, 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.