Question Watertight doors

[David Harris]

how could the watetight doors prevent sinking if they allowed water to spill over the top of each section to the next? thanks!

 

[Roger Southern]

Short and obvious answer- they wouldn't prevent sinking in that case. However they would delay the process until circumvented by over-topping.

 

[Thomas Krom]

The highest watertight bulkheads reached the underside of D-deck. On E-deck there were a total of 10 horizontal watertight doors, F-deck had a total of 10 horizontal watertight doors as, the orlop deck had only one horizontal watertight doors while the tank top had 12 vertical watertight doors. Only the vertical watertight doors were closed by the lever that can be found on the navigating bridge, the horizontal watertight doors all had to be closed from the deck above. The stewards and able seamen were trained to close the horizontal watertight doors in case of an emergency. All the watertight doors were regularly tested during the voyage. If any these watertight doors were closed there still were ways to escape the watertight compartment. There always was a stairwell or escape ladder that offered a way out.

 

[Tim Gerard]

Watertight bulkheads on the Olympic Class were high enough that, if the 4 forwardmost compartments were damaged, flooding could be contained. Floodwater would not be heavy enough to drag the bow down far enough for water to spill over into the next compartment. What actually happened to the Titanic, the iceberg damaged too many compartments, and floodwater was heavy enough to drag the bow down to spill water into the next compartment, and that continued throughout the night basically.

When the ship was designed, they didn't imagine it sustaining damage to more than a certain number of compartments. The Titanic was designed to stay afloat with up to the forward 4 most compartments filled, or any 2 adjacent compartments along the midship area. Designers imagined the worst damage being the Titanic ramming into another ship (most likely in fog with little to no visibility) and sustaining bow damage, getting up to 4 compartments, or another ship ramming the Titanic's side, puncturing up to 2 compartments.

 

[David Harris]

Thanks to you all for providing such understandable info; I never knew about the horizontal doors!

 

[James B]

Water flooded the damaged compartments of the hull, as the ship began to pitch forward due to added weight the water in the damaged compartments was able to spill over into adjacent compartments, the water tight doors didnt fail, the design was wrong, the bulkheads were not high enough to prevent the progressive flooding.

 

[SDRancher]

how could the watetight doors prevent sinking if they allowed water to spill over the top of each section to the next? thanks!

Tim Gerard gave a very good description of the problems which caused the Titanic to ultimately sink. Everything I've read about the watertight compartments and Titanic's sinking confirm his post.