Why did Titanic sink?

19 12 April 14, Sunday night, a calm night, even no wind at all. If there is, the crew will find the little phosphorescence of the waves on the iceberg. Titanic sailed on this dark and cold ocean at a speed of 22.3 knots. Captain Smith ordered the lookout to observe carefully after receiving ice reports from many ships nearby. This year's iceberg drifted farther south than in previous years. However, the crew of Titanic forgot to bring their binoculars, so the lookout could only observe with the naked eye. 1 1: 40, the lookout Frederic fleet (who survived later) found a shadow "the size of two tables" in the distance, which grew rapidly. He knocked the alarm bell on the bridge three times and grabbed the phone: "There is an iceberg directly ahead!" " ".Six Moody officials who answered the phone informed the first mate Murdoch next to them. Murdoch ordered to slow down, left full rudder, stop the ship and reverse the car. It turns out that this is the stupidest decision. At that time, the best choice was to slow down and hit an iceberg with a solid bow. 19 12 On that cold night in April, the Titanic and the iceberg kissed each other in death.

The iceberg hit the hull, causing the rivets at the bottom of the ship to be damaged. At first, considering that the material of the rivet is fragile, slag was added in the rivet manufacturing process, but the slag was too dense, which made the rivet fragile and unable to withstand the impact (the pressure of the rivet at that time was about 65438+44 pounds). After the rivet broke, seawater flooded into the watertight compartment, but at that time, the maximum bearing limit of the Titanic watertight compartment was 4.

The result of this collision was later known to people. But at that time, the passengers and crew on board reacted differently. Some passengers who didn't sleep well in first class and second class were awakened by a slight metal scraping sound. The hull gave a slight vibration. Some people think it's a big wave, some people think it's hitting the rocks, and some people think it's propeller failure. But the passengers in the cabin below felt much stronger vibration. Some passengers saw milky white icebergs passing by outside the porthole. Some scraped ice fell into the cabin. The immigrant passengers on the ground floor were even more shocked to find that the cold sea water was overflowing the car door from a place I didn't know. The ship stopped soon. Some passengers put on their coats and came to the deck. The stars are shining over the North Atlantic, and the temperature is as low as MINUS one degree. Under the dark sky, the window of Titanic gave off a warm light yellow light. Four tall yellow and black chimneys were filled with white steam smoke. Suddenly, the three of them suddenly gave a deafening roar and scream. Passengers who know about steam engines know that it is the boiler safety valve on board that releases excess superheated high-pressure steam. Who did Captain Smith and Harlan notify? 6? 1 thomas andrew, chief shipbuilding engineer of Wolf Company, inspected the damage together. The five carriages in front are all submerged in the sea. The sea seems to be flowing through H deck in an orderly way. In the dim light of the mail cabin, packages of mail floated on the sea. After checking all watertight compartments, Andrew said quietly to Captain Smith, "This ship is hopeless." . Captain Smith asked how much time was left, and the answer was one hour, two hours at the most. What happened after that is already very clear to everyone. At 0: 05 am on June 5438+05, Captain Smith ordered the lifeboat to be released. At 0: 00 15, Titanic sent out a distress signal of "CQD·MGY". CQD was the universal distress signal at that time, and MGY was the radio calling code of Titanic. Soon after, the SOS distress signal newly determined by the International Maritime Association was issued. Many ships in the Atlantic Ocean have received distress telegrams. Canada Pacific's Temple Mount, Canard's Capecia, Russian cargo ship Myanmar, as well as Frankfurt, Virginia and Olympic are all accelerating to the accident site. The exception is that the operator of the tramp passenger ship "California" just outside 18 nautical miles turned off the telegram and went to sleep. The ship has been trapped by ice floes for nearly a day, and nothing serious happened on board all night, as if nothing serious would happen.

At 0045 hours, the first lifeboat was lowered. The ship launched its first rocket in distress. A shining white spark slowly falls. At 0: 55, the bow of the Titanic was submerged. The work by the lifeboat is a mess. Although the virtues of women and children (women and children in first class and second class) boarding lifeboats first have been observed, many lifeboats are lowered in mid-air. However, this can't blame the crew. At that time, the maritime community believed that if the lifeboat was full of people, it would cause damage and even capsize. Titanic's lifeboat was well designed, but the crew didn't know it. Results 1 178 people can be carried in the lifeboat, and only 65 1 people got on it (someone jumped into the sea and was rescued from the lifeboat). On the port side of the ship, lifeboats only carry women and children. On the starboard side, men are allowed to board the ship only after women have the priority to escape. So more people were rescued on the starboard side than on the port side. 1: 40, the last folding lifeboat was put into the sea. The band on the ship accompanied the passengers and used music to appease those who were doomed to die in a few minutes, playing until the last minute. Faced with the choice between life and death, some people choose to die like a gentleman. Rich Guggenheim put on his evening dress. "Even if you die, you must die like a gentleman." Mrs Evans from Denver gave her lifeboat seat to the mother of a child, while Ismail, the chairman of White Star Company, left his passengers, crew and his boat at the last minute and jumped into the lifeboat. The goodness and evil of human nature are exposed here. As more and more sea water poured into the front of the hull, the stern gradually left the water and tilted high. 65438+ At 0: 35 in the morning, seawater was immersed in the boiler room. 10: 02, Phillips, who has been sticking to his post, sent the last distress telegram. At 2: 00 13, 29 large boilers on board left the base one after another, collided with each other and broke a watertight wall. The bow of the ship broke a big hole and fell into the sea. At 2: 00 17, seawater flooded into the central power control room, causing a short circuit and the lights of the whole ship went out. 18 at 2: 00 am, with a loud noise, the Titanic hull broke into two parts from the third and fourth chimneys. At 2: 20, the bow part sank into the sea, and the second half hit the sea. In less than a minute, it sank into the water with the first half of the Titanic. 1503 passengers and crew are on call.

Although many passengers escaped from the hull, they were sucked into the sea together when they sank, or lost their temperature in the cold sea water and died. Many passengers' bodies have not been found, and they are likely to be trapped in the engine room and drowned alive.

People who fell into the water soon lost consciousness. What awaits them is rapid hypothermia, nerve paralysis and death. The people in the lifeboat also froze to death. Some people completely rely on strong will, half-immersed in cold sea water, and hold on to the overturned lifeboat No.2. It was not until half past three that Canard's passenger ship Carpathia arrived at the scene of the accident first. At 4 o'clock, the crew of Carpathia found the first lifeboat in the twilight of the North Atlantic. The rescue work continued until 8: 30 in the morning, and the lifeboat 12 tied the rescue cable. Of the 2208 crew and passengers on the Titanic, only 705 survived. The captain and priest of the Carpathia hosted a mourning ceremony in the dining room. At 8: 50, turn around and return to new york.