after looking in this forum i feel that there should be a break up theory thread.
why do you think the ship broke up?
well i think that it was the expansion joint if i remember correctly there is one inbetwenen the third and fourth funnels. this might of failed causing the ship to break up.
what do you guys think?

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I totally agree that it was part due to the aft expansion joint, as well as the fact of course that the ship was not designed to be at that angle out of the water. I have not heared many people talk about the expansion join causing the split, wonder why? Ligtholler aparently saw the forward expansion joint open when the superstructure started to submerge.

Ken Marshall thought that the ventilation shaft over the reciprocating engine room caused a natural weak spot as well.

I've even heared that these big liners have natural weak spots in their mammoth dinning rooms (large open spaces).

yes but i have noticed in a news letter i get that there is a brand new theory of how the break up started and took place.
they believe that the ship STARTED TO at a angle possible as shallow as 11 degrees right near the first funnle collape.
i think adding on to how it started was the weak spot one caused it to start. the expansion point started to break and the expansion he front of the ship snapped it sent a vidbration through the ship causing the second one to weak and make the break up continue.
now it broke straight to the bouble bottem and it caused to stop. but stress took over the keel and it started to break.
now look at photographs of the hull. if the original idea was the it broke at a high angle. the would coause the lower portion of the hull to crunch together in fact the bottem is cut CLEAN in two. the top is a mangled and such.
this proves that. now as the hull started to sink the lower hull starts to fil and the top is forced together causing the massive break up.
thats the new and i think more practicle theory.
what do you think of that?

Regards,
Adam Wiethuechter

Unfortunately, I have not seen all the new documentaries on this theory, so I cannot comment as much on it, but indeed, its interesting.

But I wonder if there really was a vibration from the forward expansion joint opening that caused a "chain reaction" to start the after breakup? Expansion joints were made to bend to an extent, thats why ships had them, so they would not snap in two from huge seas.

From photographs of the wreck, it looks like the expansion joint did not tear much beyond its boundaries (the part made of leather and such, or at least what we can gather was not caused by the seafloor impact).

I mean, the first joint opened up just half way down the superstructure or so, it did not snap all the way down to the keel as the aft one. Why not? Because the water was still supporting the ship underneath? Thats my guess.

Therefore, it seems to me that going by that, the part of the ship with the aft expanison joint had less water to support the ship with (meaning more of that part of the ship was sticking out of the water), and therefore, the expansion joint tore down with more force to actually help break the hull down to the keel.

I don't know! I'm no engineer!

well i also saw this on a TV show..cant remember what it was. its a very good possiblity but the expansion joint after broke when the hull started to get highet that 11 degrees.
looking at the plans i have i see.....at the break point the galley for the second class dining salon on D deck. F deck has parts of thge boiler casing and such the decks inbeween have staterooms. it broke just in front of the reciprocating engines. i still say this is the cause.too much weight the expansion joints and thats it. of coarse it all starts at a shallow angle of 11 degrees. ill try to find an articale about it.

Thanks!

Yeah, it does not help that aft expansion joint to have those heavy engines there on the stern side of it. Probably like putting a bowling ball on the end of a fishing pole!

true just like that. with a snap of a finger.

Yeah the ship definitely broke apart. Obviously the bow was sinking and the weight of the stern was not able to be supported. Like someone above said. It was not designed to stay out of water like that. We could tell also the ship was weak in the aspect that bulkhead between boiler rooms 5 & 6 collapsed. This shows the expansion joints weakened and split. I will say the keel was strong. Was able to pull the stern to a 90 degree angle before breaking away.

I'd venture that a ship of that size and time period had numerous "weak points" that weren't noticeable unless the ship was angled in a way it was not designed to be or otherwise stressed by a collision.

Daniel

he titanic broke in half for a number of reasons.
first problem: the type of iron and steel used in her hull plating was a low density type of steel. This means the hull has a rather porous surface that can get irritated after time in severe weather conditions.

Because of this the back section of the ship rose out of the water and the weight of the Engines put stress on the hull which was weakened already by the extremley cold water. the ships hull broke right where the foundation of the engines were laid into the hull as this is where the most weight and stress was put on the ship. This caused even more flooding in the bow section making it sink faster.

the bottom of the hull was known as a "double hull" meaning there was a entire structure underneath the ship making it stronger. so when the ship broke in half that metal and steel was twisted and bending creating a hinge effect which cause the bow to pull the stern downward. but because there was still alot of air in the stern it was pulled down hard enough to stand upright and began flooding. the bow snapped from the stern and headed for the bottom leaving the stern section standing upright with the heavy engines already underwater (hence the reason the ship stood upright).

The stern section stood for a few minutes upright like a buoy because the engines were almost completley submerged as water and air bubbles of extreme pressure began to take over the remains of the ship.

the ship starts to sink straight down because once again, the engines are the heaviest part of the ships stern and as physics will tell you went under first. the speed of the stern sinking caused air to escape and extreme speeds causing what looks like explosions of water and air coming out of windows and any open portions of the ship.