` Where would you like to see Wikimedia in five years? Submit a proposal! (Learn more.)  [Hide] [Help us with translations!]    RMS Titanic From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   (Redirected from R.M.S Titanic) Jump to: navigation, search ``Titanic`` redirects here. For other uses, see Titanic (disambiguation).  RMS Titanic before departing Southampton, England. Photo taken Good Friday 5 April 1912  Career   Name: RMS Titanic  Owner:  White Star Line  Port of registry: [1] Liverpool  Route: Southampton to New York City  Ordered: July 31, 1908[2]  Builder: Harland and Wolff yards in Belfast, Ireland  Yard number: 401  Laid down: 31 March 1909  Launched: 31 May 1911  Christened: Not christened  Completed: 31 March 1912  Maiden voyage: 10 April 1912  Identification: Radio Callsign ``MGY`` UK Official Number: 131428  Fate: Sank on 15 April 1912 after hitting an iceberg  General characteristics  Class and type: Olympic-class ocean liner  Tonnage: 46,328 gross register tons (GRT)  Displacement: 52,310 tons  Length: 882 ft 9 in (269.1 m)[3]  Beam: 92 ft 0 in (28.0 m)[3]  Height: 175 ft (53.3 m) (Keel to top of funnels)  Draught: 34 ft 7 in (10.5 m)  Depth: 64 ft 6 in (19.7 m)[3]  Decks: 9 (Lettered A through G with boilers below)  Installed power: 24 double-ended (six furnace) and 5 single-ended (three furnace) Scotch marine boilers  Two four-cylinder reciprocating triple-expansion steam engines each producing 15,000 hp for the two outboard wing propellers at 75 revolutions per minute[4]  One low-pressure turbine producing 16,000 hp[4]  46,000 HP (design) - 59,000 HP (maximum)[5]    Propulsion: Two bronze triple-blade wing propellers  One bronze quadruple-blade centre propeller.    Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)  23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) (maximum)    Capacity: Passengers and crew (fully loaded):  3547  Staterooms (840 total):  First Class: 416  Second Class: 162  Third Class: 262  plus 40 open berthing areas    Topics about Titanic  List of passengers List of crew members Films about the Titanic Titanic Historical Society   The RMS Titanic was an Olympic-class passenger liner owned by British shipping company White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, United Kingdom. For her time, she was the largest passenger steamship in the world.  On the night of 14 April 1912, during the ship's maiden voyage, Titanic hit an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later, early on 15 April 1912. The sinking resulted in the deaths of 1,517 people, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. The high casualty rate was due in part to the fact that, although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone aboard. The ship had a total lifeboat capacity of 1,178 people, although her capacity was 3,547. A disproportionate number of men died due to the women-and-children-first protocol that was followed.  The Titanic used some of the most advanced technology available at the time and was popularly believed to have been described as ``unsinkable.``[6] It was a great shock to many that, despite the extensive safety features and experienced crew, the Titanic sank. The frenzy on the part of the media about Titanic's famous victims, the legends about the sinking, the resulting changes to maritime law, and the discovery of the wreck have contributed to the continuing interest in, and notoriety of, the Titanic.  Contents [hide] 1 Construction  1.1 Features  1.2 Lifeboats  1.3 Comparisons with the Olympic  2 Ship history  2.1 Sea trials  2.2 Maiden voyage  2.3 Sinking  2.4 Lifeboats launched  2.5 Final minutes  3 Aftermath  3.1 Arrival of Carpathia in New York  3.2 Survivors, victims and statistics  3.3 Retrieval and burial of the dead  3.4 Memorials  4 Investigations into the RMS Titanic disaster  4.1 SS Californian inquiry  5 Rediscovery of the Titanic  5.1 Current condition of the wreck  5.2 Ownership and litigation  6 Possible factors in the sinking  6.1 Construction  6.2 Rudder construction and turning ability  6.3 Orientation of impact  6.4 Adverse weather conditions  6.5 Excessive speed  6.6 Insufficient lifeboats  6.7 Alternative theories  7 Legends and myths regarding the RMS Titanic  7.1 Unsinkable  7.2 David Sarnoff, wireless reports and the use of SOS  7.3 Titanic's band  7.4 The Predictions of W.T. Stead  7.5 The Titanic curse  8 See also  9 References  9.1 Explanatory notes  9.2 Notes  9.3 Bibliography  10 External links      Construction   The first-class Grand Staircase aboard the Titanic.  The 2nd class Aft Staircase aboard the Titanic.The Titanic was a White Star Line ocean liner, built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, and designed to compete with the rival Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania. The Titanic, along with her Olympic-class sisters, the Olympic and the soon-to-be-built Britannic (which was to be called Gigantic at first), were intended to be the largest, most luxurious ships ever to operate. The designers were Lord William Pirrie,[7] a director of both Harland and Wolff and White Star, naval architect Thomas Andrews, Harland and Wolff's construction manager and head of their design department,[8] and Alexander Carlisle, the shipyard's chief draughtsman and general manager.[9] Carlisle's role in this project was the design of the superstructure of these ships, particularly the superstructures' streamlined joining to the hulls[citation needed] as well as the implementation of an efficient lifeboat davit design. Carlisle would leave the project in 1910, before the ships were launched, when he became a shareholder in Welin Davit & Engineering Company Ltd, the firm making the davits.[10]  Construction of RMS Titanic, funded by the American J.P. Morgan and his International Mercantile Marine Co., began on 31 March, 1909. Titanic's hull was launched on 31 May 1911, and her outfitting was completed by 31 March the following year. She was 882 feet 9 inches (269.1 m) long and 92 feet 0 inches (28.0 m) wide,[3] with a gross register tonnage of 46,328 long tons and a height from the water line to the boat deck of 59 feet (18 m). She was equipped with two reciprocating four-cylinder, triple-expansion, inverted steam engines and one low-pressure Parsons turbine, which powered three propellers. There were 29 boilers fired by 159 coal burning furnaces that made possible a top speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph). Only three of the four 62 feet (19 m) funnels were functional: the fourth, which served only for ventilation purposes, was added to make the ship look more impressive. The ship could carry a total of 3,547 passengers and crew.   Features   Gymnasium aboard the Titanic.In her time, Titanic surpassed all rivals in luxury and opulence. She offered an on-board swimming pool, a gymnasium, a squash court, a Turkish bath, a Verandah Cafe and libraries in both the first and second class. [11] First-class common rooms were adorned with ornate wood panelling, expensive furniture and other decorations. The third class general room had pine paneling and sturdy teak furniture.[12] There were also barber shops in both the first and second class. In addition, the Café Parisien offered cuisine for the first-class passengers, with a sunlit veranda fitted with trellis decorations.[13] The ship incorporated technologically advanced features for the period. She had 3 electric elevators in first class and 1 in second class. She had also an extensive electrical subsystem with steam-powered generators and ship-wide wiring feeding electric lights, two Marconi radios, including a powerful 1,500-watt set manned by two operators working in shifts, allowing constant contact and the transmission of many passenger messages.[14] First-class passengers paid a hefty fee for such amenities. The most expensive one-way trans-Atlantic passage was $4,350 (which is more than $80,000 in today's currency).[15]    Lifeboats For its maiden voyage, Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats of three different varieties:[16]  Lifeboats 1 and 2 - emergency wooden cutters: 25'2`` long by 7'2`` wide by 3'2`` deep; capacity 326.6 cubic feet or 40 persons  Lifeboats 3 to 16 - wooden lifeboats: 30' long by 9'1`` wide by 4' deep; capacity 655.2 cubic feet or 65 persons  Lifeboats A, B, C and D - Englehardt 'collapsible' lifeboats: 27'5`` long by 8' wide by 3' deep; capacity 376.6 cubic feet or 47 persons  Total capacity of 1,178 persons.  The lifeboats were predominantly stowed in chocks on the boat deck, not connected to the falls of the davits. Those on the starboard side were numbered 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 from the bow, while those on the port side were numbered 2,4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 from the bow. The emergency cutters (lifeboats 1 and 2) were kept swung out, hanging from the davits, ready for immediate use while collapsible lifeboats C and D were stowed on the boat deck immediately in-board of boats 1 and 2 respectively. Collapsible lifeboats A and B were, however, kept on the roof of the officer's quarters, on either side of number 1 funnel. During the sinking, this proved to make these boats difficult to launch as it was first necessary to 