View Single Post
Old 02-29-08, 06:17 PM   #5
Etienne
Seasoned Skipper
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 695
Downloads: 1
Uploads: 0
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lt West
(I forgot something) you know when the titanic sank smith didnt go on the bridge and go down with the ship like in the movie which was a wonderfull movie but was very inaccurate in several areas.
There are many theories as to what happened to Smith, and they all conflict. No one knows for sure what he did.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lt West
And when the iceberg was spotted mourdock ordered back emergency and full starboard rudder but that was a mistake. because the engines were in reverse they drew water away from the screws and cut her turning speed if he wouyld have ordered ahead full they might have cleared the berg.
No, what happened is that when he ordered back emergency, the engineers stopped the centerline propeller, as it couldn't be reversed. Having a propeller in front of your rudder makes manoeuvring a ship a completly different game. Having a reversed flow of water over the rudder while the ship still has headway is also a major malnus to rudder efficiency, but since Titanic didn't have a reversing center propeller, it probably didn't create a void around the rudder.

If he'd just reduced speed, it could have worked. If he'd stopped center, reversed one side prop and turned with the engines, it could have worked. Might not have, either, they were awfully close by the time they started manoeuvring.

And while I don't know how officers were trained back then, but modern day OOWs would probably do the same thing in that situation. Imminent collision = Crash astern. You don't even think about it. (The idea is to break the ship's momentum as much as possible, as it's assumed that once you get to that point, there just isn't room to get out of the way)

As for the Britannic sinking - There was a WAR, remember? Before you can say there was an higher chance of shipping casualty due to the lack of christening, you'd have to check how many unchristened ship didn't sink versus how many were unlucky. I'm pretty sure the guys in Alaung don't go "See, that boat wasn't christened!" - But the guys who make "Disaster at Sea" or whatever those shows are called sure bring it up whenever they can.

Finally, the Bermuda triangle has a higher rate of maritime occurence (Although a lot of it is just overeporting) simply due to a higher traffic level. A couple of other factors make it worst, like the weather system and the fact that all the islands look the same (Plus, the caribean sea is SHALLOW once you're west of Puerto Rico. Seriously, it amazed me), and everybody's screaming ghost.
Etienne is offline   Reply With Quote