part 1 of TAITANIC

There have been numerous maritime tragedies, but none have captured the public imagination in the way that this one has. In the same spectacular and enduring manner as the Titanic, she was the pride of her firm, the White Star Line. line She was the largest ship in the world, but her disastrous first voyage saw her collide with an iceberg. Her trip and sinking, with the death of almost 1500 persons, cemented her position in history. The awful events of April 1912 will be remembered forever feel so secure in technology that the press thought she was unsinkable and her sinking left important lessons to be learnt The Titanic tale goes on and increases with each retelling but let us return to the beginning.

At the time, neither the primary maritime route nor the most vital for passenger traffic existed.There were constraints on European immigrants entering the new world, and numbers crossed.Britain primarily competed with Germany to build the largest, fastest, and most opulent liners and thereby catch both well-heeled tourists and the bread-and-butter emigrant commerce By 1906, Germany possessed both the biggest liner, the Kaiserin August Victoria, which weighed 24 581 tons, and the Britain outperformed both the quickest, the Kaiser Wilhelm II, with a speed of 23.6 knots in 1907. Cunard ships lusitania and mauritania, both of 32 000 tons and speeds of more than 26 knots, were involved erected using funds from the admiralty in order to reclaim.

The company, prioritizing comfort and safety, chose to embark on an ambitious plan to produce a trio of liners. With the backing of the American, they aimed to provide a weekly Atlantic service with the largest, most luxurious, and safest ships in the world. These ships, fifty percent larger than the Cunard giants, were named Olympic, Titanic, and eventually Britannic. On July 1st, 1907, the order for the first two ships was placed with Harland and Wolf of Belfast, with shipyard numbers 400 and 401 assigned to them.

To accommodate the construction of these immense liners, major changes were required at the Queen's Island shipyard. Three existing slipways were demolished and replaced with two new ones, which were separated by a gantry providing clear spaces of a hundred feet between rows of supporting towers. The gantry, measuring 840 feet in length, featured a mobile crane with a span of 135 feet and a lifting capacity of three tons. Additionally, six mobile frames were equipped with 10 radial cranes, lifts, and ramps to facilitate the transportation of men and materials to different construction levels. Furthermore, a large floating crane was acquired from Germany, and the construction of a new dry dock commenced.

As a result of this ambitious project, the number of employees at the shipyard doubled to 11,300 during the building and fitting out of the two immense liners. The design of the ships was entrusted to Thomas Andrews, the nephew of Lord Perry, the chairman of Harland and Wolf. Andrews, a well-connected member of Irish society, collaborated with his deputy Edward Wilding in a drawing office filled with draftsman and a vast model of the proposed class of ship.

The keel of the Olympic was laid on January 1st, 1909, followed by the Titanic on March 16th. The construction of these massive hulls progressed at a steady pace, with the Olympic slightly ahead of the Titanic to alleviate pressure on the shipyard production shops. Finally, on October 20th, 1910, the Olympic was launched, painted gray to provide better views for press photographers. The entire launch process took just 62 seconds. Continuation part 2.