Titanic

Type

Ocean Liner

Period

20th Century

Nation

Great Britain

Overview: RMS Titanic was a British Olympic-class ocean liner built for the White Star Line, famed as the largest ship afloat at the time of her 1912 maiden voyage and infamous for sinking after striking an iceberg on her first crossing from Southampton to New York. Specifications: She measured 882 ft 9 in (269.1 m) overall with a beam of 92 ft 6 in (28.2 m), a draught of 34 ft 7 in (10.5 m), and a gross tonnage of 46,329 GRT with a displacement around 52,310 tonnes. Propulsion came from two four-cylinder triple-expansion reciprocating engines driving the wing propellers plus a low-pressure Parsons turbine on the centre shaft, fed by 29 boilers, giving a top speed near 23 knots; she carried four funnels though only three were functional, the fourth added purely for visual balance. Service History: Built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast and launched on 31 May 1911, Titanic departed Southampton on her maiden voyage on 10 April 1912. On the night of 14–15 April 1912 she struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank in the early hours of 15 April, resulting in the deaths of over 1,500 of the roughly 2,223 people aboard in one of history's deadliest peacetime maritime disasters. Notable Facts: Titanic was one of three Olympic-class sisters (with Olympic and Britannic) built for the White Star Line, and her wreck was located on the seabed in 1985, remaining a site of ongoing archaeological interest and popular culture fascination. The disaster prompted major reforms in maritime safety, including lifeboat capacity requirements and the establishment of the International Ice Patrol.