Watertight doors on D deck

[Rolf Vonk]

Hi there,

I was looking to some original Titanic deckplans and again I saw something what is still strange to me. There are two watertight doors in the galley area. They are exactly above the engine casing of E deck in the area called "first-second class galley". These two doors could lock the entrance to two rooms on starboard side. Respectively the "vegetable preparation room" and the "first class galley scullery" situated between the coalroom and the hospital area. Isn't this strange? I don't think there was a reason to make only these two rooms watertight. Beside there are no other watertight doors on D deck.

I saw these doors on one of the earlier deckplans (the first class Turkish bath is still in the old situation), but the plan is certainly reliable. It showes the changed situation of first class area on A and B deck and it also gives a classification of third class rooms on the forward G deck.

When it isn't possible that there were watertight doors in the galley area of D deck, could the doors than indicate something else?

I'm looking forward to your information.

Greetings Rollie

 

[Cal Haines]

Rollie wrote:
I was looking to some original Titanic deckplans and again I saw something what is still strange to me. There are two watertight doors in the galley area. They are exactly above the engine casing of E deck in the area called "first-second class galley". These two doors could lock the entrance to two rooms on starboard side. Respectively the "vegetable preparation room" and the "first class galley scullery" situated between the coalroom and the hospital area. ...

Hi Rollie,

I think I see what you're looking at. The two doorways in question are marked by a symbol that looks like two arrow heads, aligned tip to tip. You will find that symbol used in various plans to mark the location of an opening in a surface that is edge-on in the view; the base of each "arrow" marks the extent of the opening. As far as I know, it isn't used just for watertight doors, but in any situation of an opening as described. Since the watertight doors on Titanic were either horizontal or vertical sliding doors, their position would not be visible unless the symbol was used. In most cases, if the door is watertight it is marked by "W.T." or "W.T.D."; an example of this is the watertight door opposite the swimming bath on F deck. In the case of the galley doorways you mention, it would appear that there was either a sliding door or no door at all at those locations.

The final report of the British Inquiry lists the height of each bulkhead and the number of watertight doors in each: Watertight Bulkheads and Door at TIP. There were no watertight doors above F deck amidships and E deck aft.

Warm Regards,

Cal

 

[Rolf Vonk]

Dear Cal,

Thanks for your great information! I guess you are right about the doors. It seems so unusual to put two watertight doors in a "unimportant" side of the galley area.

BTW, most watertight doors on my deckplans aren't marked with W.T. or W.T.D. (only the ones on the two lowest decks), so it was really confusing to see that the two doors looks exactly the same as the other watertight doors.

Again thanks for your information,

Much greetings Rollie

 

[Bill Sauder]

Rollie:

The starboard wall in the galley was made of steel. The "Bow Tie" symbol is typically used to indicate either a watertight door OR an arched opening in the steel that has no door. It certainly doesn't indicate a water tight door, so I suggest the latter.

Bill Sauder

 

[Rolf Vonk]

Hi Bill,

Yes, that's the same thing as Cal told. I'm sure you're both right about that. I've read the final report of the British Inquirie and i've made the same conclusion as you did.

Thanks,

Rollie

 

[Patrick Bracken]

Hi I am new around here, I have studied the Titanic for over three years and I'm wondering where I could get some cross-sections of the ship.
Do any of you know?
Thanks
Paddy

 

[Cal Haines]

Paddy asks:
... I'm wondering where I could get some cross-sections of the ship.

Hi Paddy,

Welcome aboard!

I'm not sure what you are looking for, exactly, but here are some resources:

This site has high resolution scans from Engineering and The Shipbuilder, including a midship section:
The White Star Liners "OLYMPIC" and "TITANIC" - main The below decks page includes a section and an elevation of boiler rooms 1 & 2. A word of caution, your browser will probably not be able to open the plans at this site, due to their extremely large size. You will need to right-click the link and use "Save As" to download the .GIF files to your hard drive. I use Microsoft Photo Editor to view them.

This site has low resolution scans of some Titanic plans, including some of the engineering spaces and a longitudinal section of the entire ship:
All Things Titanic - main
All Things Titanic - blueprints

A nice set of plans for model-making is available for sale here: Hahn-Beveridge Titanic Plans The set includes sections of the molded form, useful for model making but without any interior detail.

You can purchase a copy of the "lines drawing" for Olympic and Titanic from Harland & Wolff (Titanic's builders). The lines drawing is what the builders used to design the molded shape of the hull and consists of three (orthogonal) sets of hull sections. Drawings from H&W are very expensive (several hundred British pounds each). Here's an old link to the H&W plans page: Harland & Wolff Technical Services The page seems to have vanished. If I can figure out where it went I will update you.

Let me know if you need more information.

Warm Regards,

Cal

 

[Cal Haines]

Here is a working link to the H&W page where plans can be ordered: Harland & Wolff Technical Services - plans. There is a link at the bottom of the page that brings up a list of the more exotic plans that are available (list of plans -- they are very expensive).

Cal