RMS Titanic: First half of sinking the interior flooding was actually very limited despite a good chunk of the ship physically below the water line. What's up with that?

[Heatblizzard]

How come the first 1/3rd of the sinking the interior flooding was very limited compared to the outer part of the ship?

The outer part of the ship was half sunk by 1am with a very noticeable listing but the interior flooding was a lot less where you had to go almost to the bow to get into serious water or pretty down low.

From a visual glance you'd see more ship was underwater then was actually flooded inside if you peered into the portholes. Once the bow went under around 1:30amish however that all changed and sinking went really fast from there on until the final break up which the stern had a lot of 'air pockets' but that's a different subject.

[Heatblizzard]

For that matter prior to the glass dome breaking how much off the Grand Staircase actually flooded before the waters came from above?

[Heatblizzard]

Originally posted by Munithe EXT:

You're asking why it takes time for stuff to fill up with water? Well the holes were relatively small so they can only allow a certain volume of water at a certain rate.

What I'm curious about was why was so much of the ship underwater yet the interior had limited flooding until almost to the end? The Grand Staircase was barely touched at all until the glass dome broke as water only got up to D deck yet outside water was almost to the promenade deck threatening to spill over.

[Out Of Bubblegum]

I am guessing bulkheads. A ship is partitioned off into multiple segments by bulkheads. It sank because one or more of them failed and too much water came in. If only one or two segments had flooded, it would not have sank. That is the design.

[Heatblizzard]

Originally posted by Out Of Bubblegum:

I am guessing bulkheads. A ship is partitioned off into multiple segments by bulkheads. It sank because one or more of them failed and too much water came in. If only one or two segments had flooded, it would not have sank. That is the design.

What I'm saying though is the interior flooding didn't match how far the ship was underwater. The ship was a lot lower in the water then the actual flooding of the ship. As I said the water didn't even reach the Grand Staircase till towards the end and it didn't flood till the dome broke.

[Heatblizzard]

Originally posted by Munithe EXT:

You're asking why it takes time for stuff to fill up with water? Well the holes were relatively small so they can only allow a certain volume of water at a certain rate.

So it wasn't a big gash?

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

i think i read somewhere that they hit another iceberg or several others on the way making the damn hull hole larger or adding more holes.

[Fajita Jim]

I think you're underestimating how tall the Titanic was.

Oh hey apparently they updated the real time sinking video. It's long, but if you want to watch it they notate all the important events as they happen in real time:

https://youtu.be/zsdn7oZK6ao

Edit: This is actually one of the more terrifying videos I've ever watched. No gore or death depicted, just despair.

And those sounds.

[Faster With Feeling]

Originally posted by Fajita Jim:

I think you're underestimating how tall the Titanic was.

Oh hey apparently they updated the real time sinking video. It's long, but if you want to watch it they notate all the important events as they happen in real time:

https://youtu.be/zsdn7oZK6ao

OMG I love this video and they updated it yay