I don't know if a vessel like Voyager of the seas would fair as well in a Titanic incident however. Considering the emense size of the VOTS and the weight behind a collision like Titanic...there could have been some real damage.

BTW...the QE2 is not double hulled. She has double bottom tanks as do almost all ships today.

As for the damage on hitting a berg? Impossible to tell as it would depend on too many variables. Head on for example, the shape of the berg above and below water would be the most important factor. A glancing blow, as per Titanic, the where and force would determine the damage.

....peter

[ 12-13-2003: Message edited by: gohaze ]

NO seaman would do anything as irresponsible as that.

I have wondered about the role all the balconies on todays ships would play in an emergency situation.
Before balconies, if there was an abandon ship, everyone would be mustered up on deck. During a panic situtation it is human instinct to try to exit and get outside. But, with todays ships wouldn't most of the passengers in balconied cabins run out on thier balconies? What kind of problems would this cause in the evacuation? Would it be hard to get people, say on a burning ship, to re-enter thier cabins and go to thier life boat stations? Would people attempt to climb down? Or even jump as they might from a building?

I know it isn't a pleasant topic, but wonder if anyone else has any thoughts.

She came south to drydock under her own power for repairs.

Captain Jackson had gone to the bridge as the fog settled in. He consulted with the naval authorities as the QE2 was forced to reduce speed and weave in and out between the giant bergs. Finally, in spite of danger of revealing the ship's position, the radar was turned on at 0340 hours.

The Possibility of the Queen becoming trapped by icebergs or colliding with one was a more imminent risk than discovery by the enemy.
During the next 6 hours many icebergs of monstrous proportions suddenly loomed out of the misty darkness, and at one time over 100 bergs large enough to be seen by the radar were on the scan.

Each of those great masses of ice could sink a ship.

[ 12-14-2003: Message edited by: Ocean Liners ]

As for a ship running at full speed and hitting shore (like in the movie speed 2) will crush and bend her steel plates, the ship will not ride up on land, and the forward energy will be quickly dispersed.

About a fire and balconies, who knows what would happen, there will be a lot a variables, like how big and where the fire was located. The only thing I can say is that if people are trapped on the upper decks, I'm afraid they will see this as an option.

[ 12-14-2003: Message edited by: petede ]

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Originally posted by petede:
To say that the Titanic was not as strong as today's ships is not all that true. Yes today ships are welded, but the steel plates are a bit thinner.

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Originally posted by cruiseny:

It's true that today's ships are thinner, but the steel itself is of a far, far higher quality.

As an example, Aker Kvaerner owns their own steel mills, and actually monitors all of the steel that goes into the ships they built at their various yards (e.g. Masa and MTW) every step of the way, from what goes into the furnace to the point where a steel plate is welded to the ship. And sophisticated computer models calculate just what type of steel and what thickness etc. is required in a given part of the ship. In TITANIC's day this type of sophitstication didn't exist, what you had was just "mild steel" whose quality was basically unknown, and that was that.

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quote:

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Originally posted by petede:
rivets is that they ruin a clean surface, but are a better way to join steel.

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Do you think welds would have actually fared worse in that situation?

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the steel was the almost the same thickness all around the Titanic, where are you stated, today it is thinner along the sides

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A big problem with the steel used in the days of the Titanic was it's brittleness, something not understood at that time or for many years after.