People trapped in cabins and various rooms deep in the stern

[Steven Christian]

Thanks. It’s super cool you got to dive. Did you ever want to dive to the Britannic?

Maybe in a submersible. Britannic is for technical divers. I don't have the training or skills for that kind of dive. To be honest technical diving just doesn't look fun to me. I would rather dive on the Atocha or a ship like her.

 

[TimTurner]

The Dive Bell effect?

When the Titanic broke-up, the inter-deck spaces in the stern were exposed to the sea which would start flooding in very rapidly. But could the several bulkheads between the exposed area and the extreme aft section of the broken stern have temporarily slow down the flooding? If so, in those 20...

www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

Something to consider here. Feel free to double check the math.

"Which means it was a very hot ride down, and if you hadn't already passed out from the pressure and heat, you were probably grateful when the ship imploded in the crushing embrace of freezing waters."

 

[Steven Christian]

The Dive Bell effect?

When the Titanic broke-up, the inter-deck spaces in the stern were exposed to the sea which would start flooding in very rapidly. But could the several bulkheads between the exposed area and the extreme aft section of the broken stern have temporarily slow down the flooding? If so, in those 20...

www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

Something to consider here. Feel free to double check the math.

"Which means it was a very hot ride down, and if you hadn't already passed out from the pressure and heat, you were probably grateful when the ship imploded in the crushing embrace of freezing waters."

Thanks for that link. Very informative. Heat of compression/diesel effect. Makes sense to a tinkering mechanic like me. I first ran across that when watching a documentary about the U.S.S. Thresher and read some on it. I believe it was Dr. Ballard who stated the effect and how it would have been over the crew in milliseconds.

 

[PRR5406]

In the terror of falling around in the absolute darkness, with the air pressure rising and spray bursting up as you descend, no one was thinking about holding their breath! Furthermore, once the icy ocean enveloped these people they were dead. Use some common sense here people. Nobody rode the collapsed stern to the ocean floor to die inside the ship. They were dead as soon as the ocean invaded their spaces, which means immediately.

 

[Steven Christian]

In the terror of falling around in the absolute darkness, with the air pressure rising and spray bursting up as you descend, no one was thinking about holding their breath! Furthermore, once the icy ocean enveloped these people they were dead. Use some common sense here people. Nobody rode the collapsed stern to the ocean floor to die inside the ship. They were dead as soon as the ocean invaded their spaces, which means immediately.

I agree. Personally I don't think I would make it more than few minutes in 32* water. One could only hope the stories about freezing to death are true.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Nobody rode the collapsed stern to the ocean floor to die inside the ship. They were dead as soon as the ocean invaded their spaces, which means immediately.

Absolutely. But what I was considering was whether in certain spaces such as Cabin #181 - which was at the extreme stern, without portholes and appears to me immediately aft of a bulkhead - it could have taken up to a minute for the ocean to invade. For anyone trapped in such spaces, it would have been a very long minute.

 

[PRR5406]

For anyone trapped in such spaces, it would have been a very long minute.

No, it wouldn't. Not with those forces.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

No, it wouldn't. Not with those forces.

Can you explain why not? Even 'those forces' would need some time to flood though the intact bulkheads and other obstructions and I don't think that my estimation of about one minute for the water to reach the extreme stern spaces was that much off the mark. If people were trapped in air pockets there, that minute would feel like eternity, being tossed about in pitch blackness and knowing what was to come.

 

[PRR5406]

Every force you're experiencing is governed by physics. Air compresses, water does not. Compression of air ruptures the lungs and possible other organs, while water slams through steel, iron, an wood, as the stern goes under. Not too long after the tail banner disappears, the whole stern implodes and explodes.
Compare a trapped person to a worm in the piston of your lawn mower. No much to experience.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Every force you're experiencing is governed by physics. Air compresses, water does not. Compression of air ruptures the lungs and possible other organs, while water slams through steel, iron, an wood, as the stern goes under. Not too long after the tail banner disappears, the whole stern implodes and explodes.
Compare a trapped person to a worm in the piston of your lawn mower. No much to experience.

I accept all that but can you please answer the primary point in my question?

I am not querying the biophysics of what happens to a potential victim trapped in an air pocket within a cabin at the very stern; you are probably right in your explanation above.

I am asking you to specify, even if it is approximate, what you mean by "not too long after" above. I am guessing that it could be about a minute based on the fact that several sunken ships have remained relatively intact (other than effects of prolonged exposure to the sea, of course) - Lusitania at around 100 metres, Republic at 80 metres etc without any sign of implosion; there may be others.

 

[PRR5406]

Within 3 -5 seconds. Maybe less. These are the worst possible conditions for human organ function. If outer space is one extreme, consider this the exact opposite, except in terms of temperature.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Sorry, but I have to disagree. There is no way that the entire stern could have flooded completely in 3 to 5 seconds even with the decks exposed. There were too many bulkheads and other obstructions to traverse as the air was compressed and/or displaced.

 

[PRR5406]

Disagreement isn't a violent form of dissatisfaction. Disagreement is how we learn.
Richard Feynman: "We can never prove we're right; only that we're wrong".