What if the Double Bottom flooded?

[Cam Houseman]

Hi y'all. Earlier today a friend showed me a picture, photoshopped, of Titanic being towed back after hitting the iceberg head on. That made me think of this: how much worse would the rate of flooding be if Titanic's Double Bottom was punctured/compromised? Would the flooding be widespread, coming up through Floor plates? (Like Boiler Room 4) Or would she roll/capsize?

 

[Roger Southern]

Hi y'all. Earlier today a friend showed me a picture, photoshopped, of Titanic being towed back after hitting the iceberg head on. That made me think of this: how much worse would the rate of flooding be if Titanic's Double Bottom was punctured/compromised? Would the flooding be widespread, coming up through Floor plates? (Like Boiler Room 4) Or would she roll/capsize?

Cam, the double bottom is made up of variously sized tanks, all of which are watertight. The water would only flood into damaged tanks, not throughout the whole double bottom space. It's very purpose was to provide a second watertight 'floor' above the outer shell plating in case of damage to that plating.

 

[Cam Houseman]

Cam, the double bottom is made up of variously sized tanks, all of which are watertight. The water would only flood into damaged tanks, not throughout the whole double bottom space. It's very purpose was to provide a second watertight 'floor' above the outer shell plating in case of damage to that plating.

its not possible? What would happen if they were rendered unwatertight? And BR4?

 

[Frederik-Matthias Davids]

Hey Cam, just in case the the Double Bottom would be one tank and completely full - she would not capsize. With that theoretical assumption she would draw more in the water. Of course there are free surface moments when this fictional tank is less than 90 percent full but the double bottom is very low above the keel line so the stability is not too much affected. But as Roger already mentioned - it is a watertight subdivision of various void space/ballast water tanks. Samuel Halpern showed it clearly here: Titanic's Hidden Deck

 

[Cam Houseman]

Hey Cam, just in case the the Double Bottom would be one tank and completely full - she would not capsize. With that theoretical assumption she would draw more in the water. Of course there are free surface moments when this fictional tank is less than 90 percent full but the double bottom is very low above the keel line so the stability is not too much affected. But as Roger already mentioned - it is a watertight subdivision of various void space/ballast water tanks. Samuel Halpern showed it clearly here: Titanic's Hidden Deck

Thank you Frederik! This answers my question (and you too, Roger)

 

[Michael H. Standart]

If the double bottom was compromised, that in itself wouldn't be a very big deal. In fact, since what happened was likely a grounding/allision event, I would be very surprised if there wasn't any damage at least to the outer shell plating of the hull in the regions of the double bottom. Keep in mind that these were cellular structures which were watertight inside as well as out. So long as the tank tops were not compromised, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

Annoying and hard on White Star's maintenance and repair budget but not a very big deal.

It was the through hull damage allowing open communication of water to the inner hull from the sea which ruined their day.

 

[Cam Houseman]

If the double bottom was compromised, that in itself wouldn't be a very big deal. In fact, since what happened was likely a grounding/allision event, I would be very surprised if there wasn't any damage at least to the outer shell plating of the hull in the regions of the double bottom. Keep in mind that these were cellular structures which were watertight inside as well as out. So long as the tank tops were not compromised, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

Annoying and hard on White Star's maintenance and repair budget but not a very big deal.

It was the through hull damage allowing open communication of water to the inner hull from the sea which ruined their day.

Thank you Mike, this is also a very good answer. And very detailed!