What if the ships could

[Matt Pereira]

Mark, that would be a error on my part. Didnt catch that it was Suevic instead of Survic. Even wikipedia had Suevic when I looked it up to get a quick run down and pictures.

 

[Mark Baber]

Not just you, Matt; Christopher had it as "survic," too.

 

[Matt Pereira]

That is where my error came from I was trusting the spelling was correct.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>when she had the incident with the hawke in 1911 the directors were worryed tha her keel aca the skelition of the shp was broke meaning they woudnt get a new sea worthy certificate<<

Actually, they weren't as the Olympic's keel was not in fact compromised to begin with. Even if it had been, the keel was not a single homogenous unbroken piece but sections of steel which were riveted together to form an I-beam. The affected sections could be replaced and repaired with reletive ease.

As to the rate of flooding, there wouldn't have been any at all so long as the surviving bulkhead wasn't compromised. Had the bow been crushed, there would have been literally nothing to flood. Had the aftermost surviving bulkhead been compromised, it's likely that the pumps could have kept up with it or the next undamaged bulkhead would have confined it.

Since this is now way off the reservation in relevance to the Californian Incident, perhaps it would be well to continue this in the Collisions/Sinkings Theories folder.