What mechanical problems lead to the sinking on the Titanic?

Answer 1

Titanic had no mechanical problems. The water pressure was just too much for the watertight compartments to hold. Some people said if the iceberg would have hit Titanic's bow straight on, she still could have floated.

Answer 2

1.) Iceberg.

2.) Traveling way too fast in ice-filled waters. (They were unofficially hoping to break the speed record between the UK and America).

3.) During sea trials, David Blair was sixth officer, and when Smith recruited Henry Wilde, who became chief officer, causing the other officers positions to be bumped down, and Blair was asked to leave the ship. In his haste to leave, he packed and left with the keys to the ship's locker holding the lookouts' binoculars, and the lookouts had to trust their own eyesight.

4.) There was a fire in boiler room six that warped and made the iron weaker.

5.) Several ice warnings were not delivered to the bridge because the ships sending them didn't denote all of them as urgent.

6.) The rivets could not handle the tremendous pressure from the iceberg.

7.) When the water started coming in, the bulkheads did not extend all the way up, so when a watertight compartment filled up, the water spilled over into the next. Several compartments were punctured along the bow by the iceberg which was enough to sink the ship.

8.) First Officer William Murdoch gave the order to port round the iceberg: (Hard to starboard; full astern) by stopping and reversing the engines and having the propellers spin in reverse. This made the ship slow down, and if she had kept her speed they may have missed the iceberg completely. Captain Smith was not on deck at the time of impact. He had gone to his quarters to rest.

9.) The iceberg was massive; taller than the ship, and when she sideswiped it, the immense size put so much pressure and made the iron plates buckle and the rivets pop over 300 feet along the starboard side, showing it would not have survived a side on collision.

10.) The sea trials were not conducted in Icy waters.

11.) Iron hulls and rivets are not suitable to withstand great impacts.

12.) Taking a route many miles and hours away from other shipping.

13.) The Iceberg had floated further South than usual and what would have been expected.

14.) The builders and owners mistakenly believed Titanic would be unsinkable. (It was advertised as being Unsinkable).