/kloc-one night in 0/908, Lord peary, the owner of Harlan Wolff Shipyard, and Bruce Ismay, the chairman of White Star Company, had dinner at Lord peary's mansion in Burglavia, London. Harland Wolf Shipyard in Belfast (Harland &; Wolff, HW) has been a loyal partner of White Star Company since 187 1. They talked about two new ships of the Duck Company. Ismail proposed to build two unprecedented giant ships at HW Shipyard, each with three chimneys, with a tonnage about 15000 tons higher than that of the two new canard ships. There were two people in peary's study, two boats became three, and three chimneys became four. These three unprecedented giant ships will become the undisputed overlord of the Atlantic route. The three huge propellers that do not bring speed advantages are only in tonnage, speed and luxury. The new ship will have a first-class restaurant with a height spanning three decks, and even the decoration of the third-class cabin will be far more comfortable and advanced than other mail ships. The new ship must reach a high speed of 26 to 27 knots. White Star will install three propellers on the new ship. In order to test the reliability of this new configuration, White Star Company purchased two 15000-ton passenger ships from Dominion Shipping Company in 1909 for comparative test. Three propellers proved to give the mail ship a speed advantage.
The first Olympic-class mail ship started construction at Harlan Wolf Shipyard on 1908 12 16. Different from other companies' practice of keeping new ship names secret before launching, White Star Company soon announced three ship names-RMS Olympic, Titanic [1][2](RMS Titanic) and RMS Britannic. Because the hull size is too large-880 feet long, it is obvious that the shipyard of Harlan Wolf Shipyard cannot start three ships at the same time. They decided to build 1 (Titanic) and No.2 (Olympic) first, and then start building No.3 (Giant).
1909 On March 3 1 day, the Titanic started construction at Hanand Wolf Shipyard in Belfast, the largest city in Northern Ireland. Hull launching may 3 19 1 1. All works were completed on March 3, the following year. Titanic was designed by William peary, director of Harlan and Wolff Shipyard, Thomas Andrews, chief designer, and Alexander Carlisle, general manager. Bruce Ismay, managing director of White Star Shipping Company, provided many suggestions in the design process. However, in order to make the top deck of Titanic more spacious, he reduced the number of lifeboats of Titanic from 48 to 20. In addition, in order to make the first class of Titanic more luxurious, he lowered the height of the middle bulkhead of the ship after learning that the ship could bear four bottom cabins filled with seawater without sinking. The funds for the construction of Titanic came from J.P. Morgan and the international merchant shipping company, which was completed by his international commercial shipping company. At that time, it was the largest and most famous manned mail ship. The total length of Titanic is about 269.06 meters (882.75 feet), the width is 28. 19 meters (92.5 feet), the waterline to deck height is 18.4 meters (60 feet), and the registered tonnage is 46,328 tons (net weight is 2183/kloc-0 Although it contains more space, it leads to a larger gross tonnage (more than her sister ship Olympic 1600 tons). Only three of the four huge chimneys are really used to emit smoke. The other is foil, which is actually used as a chimney and ventilation in the main kitchen. The ship has 89 1 crew and can carry more than 2200 passengers.
But White Star is not interested in pursuing speed. At that time, the luxury and exquisiteness of Titanic were unprecedented. The ship is equipped with an indoor swimming pool, gym, bathroom, library, elevator and squash room. The lounge in the first class is decorated with exquisite wooden panels, equipped with high-grade furniture and other high-grade decorations, and tries its best to provide unprecedented service level. The sunny Paris Cafe provides all kinds of high-class snacks for first-class passengers. The living environment of the second class or even the third class of Titanic was as high-grade as the lounge, even comparable to the first class of many passenger ships at that time. Three elevators are specially designed for first-class passengers; As an innovation, second-class passengers also have elevators to use, but third-class passengers still have to climb stairs. Biggs, the baker of Titanic, recalled, "... there won't be another ship like her. I have worked on the Olympic, Solemn and Queen Elizabeth. No ship can compare with the Titanic. Yes, just like the Olympic Games, but much more luxurious. For example, in a big restaurant, the carpet of Titanic is knee-thick ... and then the furniture is so heavy that you can't lift it. And those partitions ... they can build a bigger and faster ship, but Titanic put all her strength into building a luxurious and comfortable space ... She is really a big ship ... ". What Biggs said is a general view. Titanic seduced everyone who built and designed her. This temptation made her more and more popular after many years. In the words of Shipbuilder magazine, Titanic "imitated the Palace of Versailles in many details" ... The lounge was filled with Louis XV-style furniture, similar in style to the salon of the Little Trianon Palace in France, and the carved work on the fireplace was "the hunting goddess of Versailles". There are other exquisite reliefs and artworks ... exquisite teak and brass decorations, chandeliers and murals, carpets from India and Persia. " Even the third class cabin has a marble washbasin and bedside heating equipment. Titanic was an unparalleled luxury at that time. Although she was not the first ship to provide deck swimming pool, gym, bathroom and elevator, she tried her best to provide a level of service that she had never seen before.
The most luxurious part of the ship is the grand staircase of the first class, which is located between the first and second chimneys. The grand staircase with oak paneling and gold-plated railings extends all the way to the E deck, and the top is a glass dome supported by wrought iron brackets, which fills the grand staircase with natural light. A clock is embedded in the wall at the top of the stairs, and fables symbolizing nobility and dignity are carved on both sides of the clock. There is also a relatively simple staircase between the third and fourth chimneys. James Cameron faithfully recreated this staircase in his film Titanic.
Although the Olympic and Titanic are sister ships, some details are different. After the observation of the first flight of the Olympic Games, it was found that passengers on deck A would be drenched by water mist, and the corridor running through deck B was not highly utilized. Both of these defects were improved on the Titanic, and part of the B deck was transformed into a private terrace of the first-class luxury suite.
Titanic is a fixed-point work of technological achievements. Titanic talked more about safety. The two-story ship bottom is divided into 16 watertight compartments by 15 watertight partitions, with automatic watertight doors, spanning the whole ship. 16 watertight compartment to prevent her from sinking. Strangely, these waterproof compartments do not extend very high. The first two watertight partitions and the last five are only built on the D deck, and the eight walls in the middle are only set on the lower E deck. Even so, any two cars are full of water, she can still drive, and even four cars are full of water, which can keep floating. People at that time could not imagine a worse situation, so Shipbuilder magazine thought it was "impossible to sink". A crew member said to Sylvia Caldwell, a second-class female passenger, during the voyage, "Even God himself can't sink this ship."
Mechanical principle and power source
Titanic used coal as fuel to generate steam to drive a steam engine. There are 25 double-ended boilers and 4 single-ended boilers on board. Their power comes from 159 coal stoves on the engine crankshaft, which provide steam for the Titanic and maintain strong power for 24 hours. The power system consists of three main engines, two of which are 4-cylinder reciprocating steam engines and the other 65,438+0 are steam turbines. The main engine power exceeds 5 1000 horsepower, so the maximum speed of Titanic can reach 23 knots. The highest speed was faster than any ship at that time. It is the best and fastest ship in history, and it is called the ship of God.