François Codet
Member
Hello everyone,
I have been a member of the Association Française du Titanic since 2007, and its president from 2010 to 2016. I have also served 28 years as a surface warfare officer in the French Navy. I have followed some of the various exchanges on that website and read several articles and books on the technical aspects of the shipwreck for more than 10 years. I just want to provide a short contribution about the manoeuvres of a large liner. I found them in a book written in the mid 70s by the last captain of the "Liberté" and first captain of the "France" : George Croisile.
The first item describes the consequences of a sudden alteration of course on the Liberté in daylight:
“Approaching the Casquets lighthouse, the officer of the watch called me: he was going to be hampered by a squadron of minesweepers which would cross our track on starboard… We were very close. I ordered 15 degrees of starboard helm in order to cross their wake and the ship promptly altered course, taking a list of 14° to port. 14°of instant list in the Channel at noon means toppled bottles, broken plates, pans starting to glide on top of the stoves and a general mess everywhere. Several bridge telephones were ringing; The Chief Purser was adamant: lots of bottles of wine had spilled their contents on table cloths that would need to be cleaned; scores of plates had been broken ; he would have to report this unfortunate trouble to the Captain…”
The second one describes the effects of a crash stop trial on the France:
We were steaming ahead at 31 knots, and I ordered “Full astern”. Down below, the steam was thus diverted to the astern turbines, first decreasing the rotation speed of the propeller shafts to make them stop completely prior to starting to rotate them in reverse, in order to absorb the kinetic energy that kept that mass of 57 000 tons of steel rushing forward at 15,5 m/s. I felt the ship vibrating in revolt under my feet, in reaction to that tremendous brake. The ship came to a halt after running exactly 2 100 m (1 n. mile = 1 852 m).
If William Murdoch first ordered the helm hard-a-port the consequences ought ot have have been similar (and even worse) to those observed on the Liberté. If ,as a second step, he ordered both wing engines full astern the effects would have been comparable to those observed on the France, with several steerage and 2nd class passengers surging up on deck, worried by the racket and vibrations in their areas. I may add that I have personnally witnessed two crash stop trials at 25 knots on board destroyers and the ship behaved exactly like captain Croisile described. For two years, I had a berth in the stern of a destroyer, just above one of the propeller shafts, and when I was in my cabin while the ship was doing man overboard exercises I knew instantly if she was going astern or if she resumed her course. When the engines are reversed, the movement of the stern going first generates irregular vibrations that cannot be mistaken for anything else.
On the Titanic, there is no doubt that after sighting ice the OOW ordered a full stop. It is highly unlikely that the engines were reversed at the moment of, or soon after the collision. If the ship's course was altered to avoid the iceberg it seems the alteration was a slight one, not one with full rudder applied.
François Codet
I have been a member of the Association Française du Titanic since 2007, and its president from 2010 to 2016. I have also served 28 years as a surface warfare officer in the French Navy. I have followed some of the various exchanges on that website and read several articles and books on the technical aspects of the shipwreck for more than 10 years. I just want to provide a short contribution about the manoeuvres of a large liner. I found them in a book written in the mid 70s by the last captain of the "Liberté" and first captain of the "France" : George Croisile.
The first item describes the consequences of a sudden alteration of course on the Liberté in daylight:
“Approaching the Casquets lighthouse, the officer of the watch called me: he was going to be hampered by a squadron of minesweepers which would cross our track on starboard… We were very close. I ordered 15 degrees of starboard helm in order to cross their wake and the ship promptly altered course, taking a list of 14° to port. 14°of instant list in the Channel at noon means toppled bottles, broken plates, pans starting to glide on top of the stoves and a general mess everywhere. Several bridge telephones were ringing; The Chief Purser was adamant: lots of bottles of wine had spilled their contents on table cloths that would need to be cleaned; scores of plates had been broken ; he would have to report this unfortunate trouble to the Captain…”
The second one describes the effects of a crash stop trial on the France:
We were steaming ahead at 31 knots, and I ordered “Full astern”. Down below, the steam was thus diverted to the astern turbines, first decreasing the rotation speed of the propeller shafts to make them stop completely prior to starting to rotate them in reverse, in order to absorb the kinetic energy that kept that mass of 57 000 tons of steel rushing forward at 15,5 m/s. I felt the ship vibrating in revolt under my feet, in reaction to that tremendous brake. The ship came to a halt after running exactly 2 100 m (1 n. mile = 1 852 m).
If William Murdoch first ordered the helm hard-a-port the consequences ought ot have have been similar (and even worse) to those observed on the Liberté. If ,as a second step, he ordered both wing engines full astern the effects would have been comparable to those observed on the France, with several steerage and 2nd class passengers surging up on deck, worried by the racket and vibrations in their areas. I may add that I have personnally witnessed two crash stop trials at 25 knots on board destroyers and the ship behaved exactly like captain Croisile described. For two years, I had a berth in the stern of a destroyer, just above one of the propeller shafts, and when I was in my cabin while the ship was doing man overboard exercises I knew instantly if she was going astern or if she resumed her course. When the engines are reversed, the movement of the stern going first generates irregular vibrations that cannot be mistaken for anything else.
On the Titanic, there is no doubt that after sighting ice the OOW ordered a full stop. It is highly unlikely that the engines were reversed at the moment of, or soon after the collision. If the ship's course was altered to avoid the iceberg it seems the alteration was a slight one, not one with full rudder applied.
François Codet
