Question Why was there not a watertight bulkhead labeled "I"

[Willow Sinclair]

Hello, I've been reading and doing research on the engines and how the power worked on the ship when I found a diagram of the watertight compartments and noticed that they are labeled A-P, excluding the letter "I". I was just curious why "I" was skipped over—is it a superstitious thing, or was it just left out due to how the letter looks visually, and it might have been confusing? I'll include the diagram below. Thanks for reading!

 

[Samuel Halpern]

or was it just left out due to how the letter looks visually, and it might have been confusing?

Yes.

 

[Willow Sinclair]

Yes.

thank you so much! that's kind of what I figured the answer was but wasn't sure if it was something more obscure.

 

[Charles C. Deroko]

Similar to omitting "I" when lettering hull plating strakes. To avoid, as you rightly surmise, confusion.

 

[Willow Sinclair]

Similar to omitting "I" when lettering hull plating strakes. To avoid, as you rightly surmise, confusion.

Thank you so much!

 

[Charles C. Deroko]

You're welcome.

 

[Bob Read]

Similar to omitting "I" when lettering hull plating strakes. To avoid, as you rightly surmise, confusion.

Unlike the watertight bulkhead labeling convention, there was indeed a shell plating strake “I” on Titanic. See segment from 400-01 shell plating plan below.

 

[Charles C. Deroko]

Very interesting, thank you. Peculiar to H&W? I've never seen an original, labeled H&W 'midship section or shell expansion of Olympic class.

John Brown & Co. (& Cunard's Nav Arch, Peskett) skipped the 'I' as did American construction of the era. However, I have seen hand drawn copies of 'midship sections that did have 'I' plating strakes indicated.

 

[Bob Read]

Very interesting, thank you. Peculiar to H&W? I've never seen an original, labeled H&W 'midship section or shell expansion of Olympic class.

John Brown & Co. (& Cunard's Nav Arch, Peskett) skipped the 'I' as did American construction of the era. However, I have seen hand drawn copies of 'midship sections that did have 'I' plating strakes indicated.

Here is a low resolution image of the Harland and Wolff 400-01 (Olympic, Titanic) shell plating plan from which the segment I previously posted was taken.

 

[Charles C. Deroko]

Thank you. I can't see it, unfortunately. It's not a shell expansion but I assume the strakes are labeled. Is this a H&W shop drawing? I'll take a wild guess that the bilge radius image you sent is from the half-breath midship section at the left?

Why H&W would be an outlier in lettering strakes is a bit confounding. From my own experience as a shipyard surveyor, standardized nomenclature is important for repair yards as well as builders.

 

[Bob Read]

Thank you. I can't see it, unfortunately. It's not a shell expansion but I assume the strakes are labeled. Is this a H&W shop drawing? I'll take a wild guess that the bilge radius image you sent is from the half-breath midship section at the left?

Why H&W would be an outlier in lettering strakes is a bit confounding. From my own experience as a shipyard surveyor, standardized nomenclature is important for repair yards as well as builders.

This is an original H&W drawing. It is a shell plating drawing but not an expansion. Your guess is correct. The plan segment I posted is taken at the turn of the bilge of the midship section. The strakes are also labeled on the main drawing on the right.

 

[Charles C. Deroko]

Where may one obtain the H&W drawings? Do you know if they are full scale.

Thank you very much.

 

[Bob Read]

Where may one obtain the H&W drawings? Do you know if they are full scale.

Thank you very much.

They are no longer available. They were available in the late 1990s through H&W Technical Services. The archive of H&W materials was transferred to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in the early 2000s. I have not heard of them being publicly available since.

 

[Charles C. Deroko]

That's too bad. Thank you for the information.

Best regards

 

[Willow Sinclair]

Unlike the watertight bulkhead labeling convention, there was indeed a shell plating strake “I” on Titanic. See segment from 400-01 shell plating plan below.View attachment 114777

oh wow!! thank you so much. I can definitely see why they wouldn't want to use "I" in plans.