The RMS Titanic - AMA!

That was a close call with the freighter, jeez. Figures she got the pin for that - yet didn't know what ocean she was on. LOL.

RMS Olympic did indeed live a long and fruitful life before it was dismantled; its bits spread about the UK before the rest was scrapped. The HMHS Britannic served as a hospital ship during WWI before it hit a mine and sank in under and hour in the channel off the Greek island of Kea.

It should be noted that none of these three ships used "cheap steel" or rivets. It was the best available during its day. Now granted, it doesn't hold up to modern standards... Containing impurities like sulfur and phosphorous, mainly due to not using enough manganese. Unfortunately, this had the effect of making the steel brittle, especially in the ice cold 28ºF water of the northern Atlantic that night. But it was not "cheap." Did it contribute to the sinking? Maybe - but not much.

Interesting point... The total surface area of the punctures was a mere 12 square feet - at mostly the width of a finger. The problem was, it was about 20' below the waterline - causing the inrush of water to be under rather high pressure... Some 7 tons of water per second poured in as a result.

People don't realise how short lived most steel hulls are. Even on modern ships the effects of temperature, corrosion and operational stress wreaks havoc in short order. In my time the Coast Guard was still operating many WW2 era cutters including one that rammed a Uboat and who's skipper famously uttered the half forgotten "All hands to repell boarders' as the kriegsmariners abandoned their sinking vessel and tried to sieze the cutter. I toured her and you could still eyeball a faint tweek to starboard forward of the gun mount. I had a shipmate transferred off a buoy tender. He was down in the bilges ( nasty work) after they were pumped out to repaint. It's freezing and cramped work in foul air to begin with along with enamel paint. He's removing old scale with a chipping hammer, more than a little angry and was rather vigorous with his blows. Hammer got stuck, he rocked it out and the bilge
began flooding with seawater.

105 years ago this week, the RMS Titanic was under way. She's currently steaming across the Atlantic, having left Ireland yesterday afternoon.


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105 years ago this week, the RMS Titanic was under way.  She's currently steaming across the Atlantic, having left Ireland yesterday afternoon.


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Someone better tell the Captain to look out for the damned icebergs.

Someone better tell the Captain to look out for the damned icebergs.

And slow the (*$# down. They were doing about 22+ knots at the time of the impact.

But it's really so much more than that. The disaster was a perfect storm of so many things that came together - and why neither the U.S. or British inquiries were able to assign blame at any one thing or person.

USCGC Tamaroa, the cutter that rescued the 4 rescue swimmers and 3 people on a sailboat in THE PERFECT STORM ( and the line 'my name is PO X and I'll be your rescue swimmer today' was started by a coastie) is being scuttled after 75 years service to create an artificial reef. The current leadership has wisely slashed the USCG budget to increase military spending ( I'll let readers find the irony) and cancelled new cutter construction to replace other aging cutters. One additional reason not to go on a vacation cruise.

USCGC Tamaroa, the cutter that rescued the 4 rescue swimmers and 3 people on a sailboat in THE PERFECT STORM ( and the line 'my name is PO X and I'll be your rescue swimmer today' was started by a coastie) is being scuttled after 75 years service to create an artificial reef. The current leadership has wisely slashed the USCG budget to increase military spending ( I'll let readers find the irony) and cancelled new cutter construction to replace other aging cutters. One additional reason not to go on a vacation cruise.

Makes a lot of sense, talking about "protecting borders" yet cutting USCG funding... <eyeroll>

What other reasons are there to not go on a cruise? Besides the obvious issues with certain lines having sewage and norovirus issues... :p

Onboard crime and limited medical resources to start and some of the 'accidents' by supposedly trained and experienced crews and subsequent behavior are criminal.

Onboard crime and limited medical resources to start and some of the 'accidents' by supposedly trained and experienced crews and subsequent behavior are criminal.

Ahh yes, forgot about those points. There have been cases of sexual assault and suggestions of coverups by the operators, not to mention the occasional person "falling" overboard and likely some petty thefts. And yes, if you expect to have a heart attack then a cruise ship in the middle of nowhere might not be the best idea.

Though all of those are likely on a similar level to visiting most of the ports directly, if not higher.

Full disclosure; I've been on three cruises and never experienced anything out of the ordinary. One reason I choose Princess Cruises - they fare much better than the others when it comes to my prior points.

There is an apocryphal joke goes roughly '" This is USS Enterprise request approaching vessel to change course. USS Enterprise we advise YOU change course. Approaching vessel, this is USS ENTERPRISE, a very large aircraft carrier, YOU change course. USS Enterprise, this is USCG lighthouse XXX-your move.
My skipper on the Icebreaker taught me a cardinal rule: when something is bigger than you are give it lots of room; bigger ships, storms, whales, reefs, UFOs. We were underway when a merchantman made a idiot course maneuver that made collision almost a foregone conclusion. The OOD gave me a helm correction that would have only lessened our distance. I somehow caught his mistake and did the exact opposite while repeating his order verbatim as he's reversing engines. The old man came out of his cabin as we passed less than half a ship length from these idiot Liberians screaming at us. Captain heard the command, my repeating it and the ship go port instead of starboard, never said a word but had more hot coffee brought up from the galley. Being shipmates means everyone looking out for each other. That JG retired as commandant of the Academy after a stellar career without mishap.