Is a 100% accurate replica Titanic technically possible?

Vor'cha Class

Vor'cha Class

Member
Hi everyone! New member here :)

I've been into the Titanic for a long time now and love everything mechanical from ships of the past to working on old cars such as my Datsun cars.

Anyway having an understanding of mechanicals that don't necessarily include ship building my question is this... is it possible, from a technical standpoint, to build an exact museum quality working replica of the Titanic? Do people still have the knowledge and skill to do so today? How long would it take to complete and realistically cost to build? Now I don't mean build a "Titanic II" with all it's modern safety requirements, modern engines, compromises and etc for commercial use. I mean an actual working 1 to 1 scale nut and bolt historical replica with reciprocation engines, riveted hull plating, rooms, furnishing, decor and the whole 9 Yards.
 
It couldn’t be done for two reasons:
1. Most importantly, we don’t have all the plans necessary to build an exact replica. Too many have been lost over the years.
2. We don’t have a workforce skilled in the construction methods of the time.
 
Vor'cha Class said:
Hi everyone! New member here :)

I've been into the Titanic for a long time now and love everything mechanical from ships of the past to working on old cars such as my Datsun cars.

Anyway having an understanding of mechanicals that don't necessarily include ship building my question is this... is it possible, from a technical standpoint, to build an exact museum quality working replica of the Titanic? Do people still have the knowledge and skill to do so today? How long would it take to complete and realistically cost to build? Now I don't mean build a "Titanic II" with all it's modern safety requirements, modern engines, compromises and etc for commercial use. I mean an actual working 1 to 1 scale nut and bolt historical replica with reciprocation engines, riveted hull plating, rooms, furnishing, decor and the whole 9 Yards.
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Don't see how it would be possible. There were too many outside businesses that supplied parts and staples and such to build the ship that no longer exist. I couldn't see somebody starting up a company to make one part and then have no further market for such said part. The cost would be prohibitive if it even could done. Which I don't think it could because as Mr. Read pointed out many of those buisinesses plans and specs have also disappeared. Cheers.
Oh. And Welcome to the board.
 
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I will respectfully disagree with Messrs Read and Christian (both of whose opinions I genuinely respect). I believe it could be done if you had money to spare. There are companies that specialize in limited runs of parts (even one) if you're willing to pay the price. Having said that, the next question would be one of your sanity as you would have probably spent $250 to $500 million or somewhere in that neighborhood on something that can't be used. I'm not even sure that you would be able to obtain a certificate of occupancy to be able to open it for tours.

While, as Mr. Read has mentioned, there are parts that the plans have gone missing, I believe there is enough data from Olympic plans and photos to allow the parts to be reasonably interpolated. It might not be 100% accurate, but probably 99%+ accurate.
 
For my part I have no problem with you or anyone else disagreeing with me. I welcome it. But in your original post you did say an exact replica. That's not possible. Too much info on the ship is gone. Cheers.
 
Gordon Mooneyhan wrote: “While, as Mr. Read has mentioned, there are parts that the plans have gone missing, I believe there is enough data from Olympic plans and photos to allow the parts to be reasonably interpolated. It might not be 100% accurate, but probably 99%+ accurate.”
I have studied Titanic and other Olympic class plans for years. Trust me when I say that you could come nowhere near 100% accuracy. Even a lot of Olympic plans are missing. We can recreate these ships with a certain level of visual accuracy but name almost any part of the ship and you will find significant gaps in the technical record. All we are left with are mostly educated guesses.
 
I'm going to post about this subject in the off topic section because while it deals with the subject of remaking/restoring old machines it won't be just about Titanic. This subject has been brought up many times before. And maybe I can shed some light on why I don't think its possible to do. Cheers.
 
Nope. No where close to 100%. Even for all the money in the world, it would take decades to assemble and train a fraction of the skilled workforce they had in the 1910's. The tricky thing about skill is; the people who have it use it. And while they often teach it to others, very rarely do they have the means, inclination, introspection or understanding to document for posterity all the knowledge they have behind their skill. If it isn't passed on one to one, master to apprentice, it is lost permanently. For example; how many men alive today could catch, set and buck a white hot rivet? Sure we could figure out how to do it, but there would be a very steep learning curve. Would he be able to do it with the proficiency of someone from 1912, who had thousands of hours of experience? And that is just one man, of one rivet gang. Multiply that learning curve by the 10s of thousands of skilled laborers who built Titanic, all of whom served multi year apprenticeships. To hope to recreate any of that, you best best would be to establish some kind of multigenerational monastic order of Titanican craftsman; who devote their lives to the great work of rebuilding the ship as accurately and efficiently as possible. Even in that best case scenario, I think you would only hit the high 80s in terms of accuracy. And incase any of the current replication efforts come up, like Palmer or the chinese; honestly those are more sculptural interpretations than replicas. Or more properly, they are offensive caricatures of what Titanic was.
 
You'd also need to find people who could stoke coal boilers, which is not an easy or unskilled task. There is a steep learning curve to lighting and tending a coal fire, I used to have a coal stove in my shop and it took me an entire winter to get the hang of tending and keeping a coal fire going. For huge boilers like Titanic it would be even harder.
 
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