Titanic's Tragic Sister History Channel

[George L. Lorton]

Michael stated:

Like I said, just a wild thought but it may be worth looking into.

Sounds like a good theory to me, Michael. One I have is if they just changed their plans as they built the ship. What I mean by that is they built the some of expansion joints the old way and then changed their planes as they continued along after the Titanic sunk and they had also seen how bad the Olympic was doing with her expansion joints. Well it was just a theory. It might be something or not.

 

[Matthew Newman]

I like Michael's theory too. Do you think they could have been testing that forward expansion joint out and were going to make a decision to or not to change the aft as well later on down the road?

Is that do-able or even financially feasible once final construction is complete on a ship?

 

[George L. Lorton]

Good Question Matthew.

I wouldn't think so but you never know.

 

[Parks Stephenson]

Well, let's think about that for a moment. How good an experiment would it be to change only the forward expansion joint on an actual, seagoing ship? One usually doesn't experiment with the largest, most expensive ships in the world...those kind of design changes are either worked out on models or smaller ships that aren't so much in the public eye. No, I believe that the "improved" design was deliberately worked into Britannic as a permanent feature and the location gives us a clue why.

Simon Mills has uncovered some documentation that may explain at least part of the answer and we are working it into a paper that he, I and Ken Marschall together are writing. The paper is really about Titanic, but the documentation may have implications for Britannic, also.

Parks

 

[George L. Lorton]

The Plot thickens, will you be publishing the said paper here any time Parks?

Of course there's Lorton's Theory: Changed In Construction.

One I have is that they might of changed their plans as they built the ship. What I mean by that is they built some of the expansion joints the old way and then changed their plans as they continued along after the Titanic sunk and they had read in the papers of how she might of split in half before sinking and also seen how badly the Olympic was doing with her expansion joints. Well it was just a theory. It might be something or not.

 

[Parks Stephenson]

George,

I am hoping that we will finish the paper by month's end. However, new information keeps coming to light, so the paper will be done when it's done...no sooner, no later. Don't know yet in which forum to present the paper. I am considering the Marine Forensic Panel, since both Simon and I are members and this paper would fit in the MFP charter.

Parks

 

[Matthew Newman]

Sorry about that. Once I read Parks' response to my post I realized that I had misunderstood some of Michael Standart's post. That's what I get for scanning instead of reading word for word.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>How good an experiment would it be to change only the forward expansion joint on an actual, seagoing ship?<<

I don't know if it would be that smart or even all that likely, but it may not be outside of the realm of possibility either. It's not as if entire ships haven't been built with the express purpose of testing certain operational concepts or ideas. They have been, and they were working vessels too.

That said, it may well have been that there were concerns about the forward expansion joint not being up to the task of dealing with stresses now known to be imposed on same that the older design was considered adaquate for in the other locations.

I'll be looking forward to that paper that Parks mentioned.

 

[George L. Lorton]

Thanks for the info Parks.

 

[Cam Houseman]

I hear that, Sam!

I find some of the commercials to be irritating as well. One that really drives me up the wall is that autism message which starts with some winsome little girl screeching her way through "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and I've seen that a lot on the History Channel.

It has me diving for the MUTE button at warp speed.

Most of the others don't bother me, but I would wish they wouldn't eat up so much of what could be devoted to quality time. Still, if it wasn't for the sponsors, there wouldn't be a program to watch. I just wish there was more of the program to watch, and less plugging for anti-perspirant and v~~~~~®

Faster than Han Solo can tell Chewie to hit the hyperdrive? There are some weird commercials these days. I swear all I see now are for women's pads