I would doubt she was ruched because, to an extent your countries pride went along with what they where building. You have to think of it in the context, for those breif four days, not only was Titanic the biggest passenger liner, she was larger than any military ship, or cargo vessel. Todays Queen Mary 2, though huge, is dwarfed, by the new American aircraft carriers (and soon the new british ones), and the new generation of cargo ship. So really, its all relative, as i said, countries pride rested with these ships to, somed up best, in my view, the battle between Normandie and the Queen Mary. Today, our pride is expressed else where, like the world cup, nations very credibility (well amongst the die hard footie fans atleast lol) rests on there boys (dont mean to be sexist) performance as they play against the worlds finest. Back then, that didnt really exist, Titanic was such an important, expression of determination and all the rest, to think the men who built her, bolted her together as fast as they can. Seems atleast to be a bit of a let down.