Unsinkable page 5

Unsinkable page 5 by ric Gustafson


In December of 1907, the keel of the Olympic was laid in Slip 2 of Harland and Wolff. In March of 1909, the keel of the Titanic was laid in Slip 3. An enormous gantry was erected surrounding the slips. Both ships were 882.5 feet in length, a width of 98 feet and 175 feet from the keel to the top of the four funnels. The ships had a displacement of 45,000 tons and would be in every way the largest in the world. Within their hulls would be nine decks and could accommodate 3,300 passengers and crew.
The three liners were designed from a angled stern to a counter stem. A superstructure topped by four spaced funnels. The big feature of their design is their watertight construction. Above their keel was a double bottom seven feet deep. The hull itself was an arrangement of water tight partitions. The hull was divided into sixteen watertight compartments of equal length. Fifteen watertight bulkheads were built around the ship. All three ships were designed so that even if two of it's compartments were flooded, it would still float.
What was different is that the first two and the last five bulkheads only went up as high as D Deck while the middle eight bulkheads only went up to E Deck. Which means that midship the bulkheads only were fifteen feet above the waterline. Watertight doors connected the sixteen compartments. They could be closed by a master switch or by tripping a manual switch.


research help: ' Unsinkable' by Daniel Allen Butler


Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric