Why did the titanic snap in half?

Answer 1

Overwhelming pressure, weight and strain.During the sinking process, the bow section was slowly slipping beneath the sea, causing more water to enter the forecastle via the spiral staircase (crew access) next to the cargo crane. This rapidly sped the sinking of the bow up, this led to approximately 16,000 tons of sea water in the bow section by around 2 am. The waters movement within the ship was limited by the watertight compartments and so with a pressure of around 15 tons per square inch applied to the hull plating and structure midships, the vessel snapped. This damage continued to around 10 feet from the double bottom, however it did not fully break off until slightly later when the ship appeared to momentarily right itself.

It has also been suggested after conducting tests on samples of the steel reclaimed from the wreck, that there was a greater possibility of metal failure on this particular type of steel. It contained high levels of sulphur and oxygen. Under the conditions that the ship encountered that night, with the shell exposed to temperatures of around -2 Celsius it can be safe to say that the metal would have become less plastic and more brittle, increasing the likelihood of this event occurring.

Interestingly, it was believed by some passengers at the time of the sinking that the ship had indeed split in two, although not everybody confirmed this. Both the US and British wreck reports rejected this opinion in favour of the ship sinking as a whole entity.

Answer 2

The Titanic hit an iceberg it should have missed because she turned too slow due to small rudders. The collision tore a long gash in her port side. As she took on seawater she was sinking slowly by the bow. The Titanic eventually broke in half because of two major designs flaw. First, the bulkheads (walls running port to starboard) were open at the top, this allowed the seawater to pour over defeating the water tight doors below and flooded the next compartment in succession. In time the stern reached a critical angle of about 30 degrees and this created an enormous stress on the keel and a mid-section expansion joint which failed and the Titanic broken in half on the surface and slipped quickly under water.

Answer 3

The boat hit an iceberg .The stern rose up almost completely vertical an the pressure made the ship break in half.

Answer 4

Titanic snapped in half upon her sinking because her keel was built to support her weight while horizontal and while in the water, not at an angle with no support.

Answer 5

Because the weight pressed upon the hull was too much for it to handle