Construction Changes
"You weren't there at my first meeting with Ismay. To see the little red marks all over the blueprints. First thing I thought was: ‘Now here’s a man who wants me to build him a ship that’s gonna be sunk.’ We’re sending gilded egg shells out to sea." -Thomas Andrews, ship architect
"The problem was the plates being weak rather than the icebergs being strong. Not all ships of the time were built with brittle plate, but by the standards of the day, it was probably all right."-William H Garzke, author of the steel's 1st analysis
Double Hull and Bulkheads The bulkheads used inside Titanic were too low to be watertight, and in today's vessel would be higher. A single hull was used in the ship, which didn't keep water sealed away. Because of the disaster, double hulls are used today.
"What we wanted to guard against was any steamer running into the ship and hitting her on the bulkhead because if the ship ran into her broadside on and happened to hit her on a bulkhead, that would open two big compartments, and we were anxious to guard against the possibility of that happening."-J. Bruce Ismay
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"In the 1850's there was a British ship called SS Great Eastern designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and built by John Scott Russell that featured a double hull. A double hull is a similar concept to bulkheads. Water comes in but you keep it from overtaking the interior of the hull. Generally speaking, the distance between the hulls is not that great, so the amount of water that gets in won't be that great."-Henry Petroski
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