What made the dynamos finally give out

[Ken hogan]

Okay I've got a quick question. What finally killed the dynamos? I know nothing about the electral system on the titanic but i want to learn more. Was it the strain of so many electrics being underwater in the bow? I would really like an answer to this question. Be it fact or speculation.

Thanks
Ken

 

[Michael H. Standart]

When the ship broke apart, the steam supply was cut off. Had it not been for that, once the generator rooms flooded, the salt water would have finished the job.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Jeffrey Trim]

My question would be whether or not the breakup had started before the lights went out? If not, would the water have made it to the last boiler rooms by then?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

I'm pretty sure that the chain of events leading to the break-up were set in motion long befor the actual event. The short version is that the ship broke apart because the structure was not strong enough to survive the stresses put on it by the flooding up forward, and the unsupported weight of the stern rising out of the water. This was an ongoing process which started the second the first flood waters surged in through the damage in the hull up forward.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Aaron Zaffuto]

I swear i could recall hearing that the power went out a good time before the break. When you can consider that the power was getting pretty low by the time the water had reached the boat deck, this is from the accounts of herald bride, having to adjust the marconi equipment to compensate for the loss of power. So I believe somthing else contributed to the power failure.

Did titanic have a series of breakers that would of shut the power off to rooms when the water hit anything electrical?

 

[Aaron Zaffuto]

I recall in gota comutator they show there was a breaker in the marconie room are there any others, a breaker in each hallway?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>I swear i could recall hearing that the power went out a good time before the break.<<

It didn't. The people down in the Dynamo Room managed to keep them going up until the time the ship broke up. That didn't mean that there wouldn't be problems keeping the whole ship lit up. Think of what happens when salt water gets to the fuses or the breakers. Providing power to anything with this going on was no small feat. I'm not surprised the Marconi Room had problems.

When you get down to it however, the breakup was the final straw. The dynamos needed steam to run and with the steam cut off by the steam lines breaking, the lights would have faded away in very short order.

 

[Aither_2017]

The dynamos was a backup one and just barely kept the lights on dim. That dynamos cut out during the structural failiure (2 - 5 minutes before the breakup) after the steam supply was either cut off or too many boilers were extinguished by the salt water. 2 of the boiler rooms were flooded just because the first two funnels collapsed and water spilled down the boiler casings, putting out the boilers.

 

[Duck_Dur]

Hello,

I have a theory according to Titanic's final minutes and the lights going out.

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I think as the ship and the water weighed down the bow of the ship, I think a series of cracks and breakages happened in the ship before it went down IE the smoking room could be broken in half before the crakes reach the boat deck and the rest of the ships that means that the steam pipes could be broken, stopping the dynamos spinning and their eventual shutting down. This backs up the power flickering as from eyewitness accounts. The dynamos took parts of the ship for example dynamo four could deal with key First Class areas like the reception room or power a full deck!

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This idea may work but it doesn’t work with some of the accounts that claim that the lights stayed on after the ship sank and the red lights, they saw that were placed at key locations and linked to another generator on D-Deck

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If anyone would like to say anything please do,
Regards,

Duck_Dur

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

I swear i could recall hearing that the power went out a good time before the break. When you can consider that the power was getting pretty low by the time the water had reached the boat deck, this is from the accounts of herald bride, having to adjust the marconi equipment to compensate for the loss of power. So I believe somthing else contributed to the power failure.

Did titanic have a series of breakers that would of shut the power off to rooms when the water hit anything electrical?

Respectfully, Harold Bride cannot be considered a reliable witness. When you read all his different accounts of what happened, the only consistent things are:

1) He was on the Titanic
2) The Titanic hit an iceberg
3) The Titanic sank

 

[Steven Christian]

Respectfully, Harold Bride cannot be considered a reliable witness. When you read all his different accounts of what happened, the only consistent things are:

1) He was on the Titanic
2) The Titanic hit an iceberg
3) The Titanic sank

That post was over 17 years ago. Doubt you'll get an answer from him. Harold Bride was not unique in providing different accounts over the years. More like the norm actually. And not just the crew...passengers too.

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

But it seems that Bride's story changed each time he told it, as opposed to a gradual change over time.

 

[Steven Christian]

But it seems that Bride's story changed each time he told it, as opposed to a gradual change over time.

You could very well be right about that. I never really look at the time intervals between stories. But I was thinking of another passenger who's story seem to remain consistent. Didn't change much at all that I recall. And that was of J. Bruce Ismay. The uber villain of the time. Granted after the inquires he didn't seem to say much about it.

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

You could very well be right about that. I never really look at the time intervals between stories. But I was thinking of another passenger who's story seem to remain consistent. Didn't change much at all that I recall. And that was of J. Bruce Ismay. The uber villain of the time. Granted after the inquires he didn't seem to say much about it.

You're absolutely correct, Steven. Bruce Ismay's story remained remarkably consistent; therefore, I believe he is being absolutely truthful in what he is saying.

 

[Thomas Krom]

But it seems that Bride's story changed each time he told it, as opposed to a gradual change over time.

Keep in mind Harold Bride's 'exclusive interview' on published in the New York times on the 19th of April 1912 was heavily edited by a journalist by the name of Isaac Russel who is noted to have said about that interview:

"I turned back to my typewriter. They say literature is truth touched by emotion. I have written steadily for 20 years or more. If ever wrote literature that was the night.”