titanic's ethical case study

ABSTRACT

THE TITANIC

*The Titanic began its maiden voyage to

New York just before noon on April 10,

1912, from Southampton, England.

*Two days later at 11:40 P.M, Greenland

time, it struck an iceberg that was three to

six times larger than its own mass,

damaging

the hull.

* so that the six forward compartments

were ruptured.

*The flooding of these compartments

Was sufficient to cause the ship to sink

within two hours

and 40 minutes

*With a loss of more than 1,500 lives.

11:35 p.m.Lookouts spot the iceberg 1/4 mile ahead.

11:40 The Titanic sideswipes the iceberg, damaging nearly 300 feet of the hull.

MidnightWatertight compartments are filling; water begins to spill over the tops of the transverse bulkheads.

1:20 a.m.The bow pitches; water floods through anchor-chain holes.

2:00The bow continues to submerge; propellers lift out of the water.

2:10 The Titanic tilts 45 degrees or more; the upper structure steel disintegrates.

2:12 The stern raises up out of the water; the bow, filling with water, grows heavier.

2:18Weighing 16,000 tons, the bow rips loose; the stern rises to almost vertical.

2:20 The stern slips beneath the surface.

2:29Coasting at about 13 mph, the bow strikes the ocean floor.

2:56Falling at about 4 mph, the stern strikes the ocean floor.

WHY DID

TITANIC SANK?

THE MANAGING

CREW

TITANICS ENGINEERING

FLAWS

This was Captain E.J. Smith'sretirement trip. All he had todo was get to New York in recordtime. Captain E.J. Smith said yearsbefore the Titanic's voyage,"I cannot imagine any conditionwhich would cause a ship tofounder. Modern shipbuilding hasgone beyond that.”

Captain Smith ignored seven iceberg warnings from his crew and other ships. If he had called for the ship to slow down then maybe the Titanic disaster would not have happened.

It was Bruce Ismay’sfault

Bruce Ismay was the managing director of the White Star Line and

he was aboard the Titanic. Competition for Atlantic passengers

was fierce and the White Star Line wanted to show that they could

make a six-day crossing.

To meet this schedule the Titanic could not afford to slow down. It is

believed that Ismay put pressure on Captain Smith to maintain the

speed of the ship.

The ship continued at a speed of about 21.5 knots.

Each ship had three propellers

Each outboard propeller was driven by a separate four-cylinder, triple expansion, reciprocating steam engine.

The center propeller was driven by a low-pressure steam turbine using the exhaust steam from the two reciprocating engines.

The power plant was rated at 51,000 I.H.P.

It was Thomas Andrews' faultThe belief that the ship was

unsinkable was, in part, due to the fact that the Titanic

had sixteen watertight compartments. However, the compartments did not reach as high as they should have

done. The White Star Line did not want them to go all the way up because this would

have reduced living space in first class. If Mr Andrews, the ship's architect, had insisted on making them the correct

height then maybe the Titanic would not have sunk.

269.1 meters long, 28.2 meters maximum wide, and 18 meters tall from the water line to the boat deck.

a gross weight of 46,000 tons.

The steel plate from the hull of the Titanicwas nominally 1.875 cm thick.

while the bulkhead plate had a thickness of 1.25 cm.

On an expedition in 1991 to the Titanic wreck, scientists discovered a chunk of metal lying on the ocean floor that once was a part of the Titanic's hull

The Frisbee sized piece of steel was an inch thick with three rivet holes (each 1.25 inches in diameter)

The causes of brittle fracture

Low Temperature

High Impact Loading

High Sulfur Content

Titanic disaster came following the recovery of a piece of the hull steel from the Titanic wreck

After cleaning the piece of steel, the scientists noted the condition of the edges

The edges of the piece of steel appeared almost shattered, like broken china

The metal showed no evidence bending or deformation

Charpy test determines the amount of energyabsorbed by a material during fracture

A piece of modern high-quality steel was tested along with the coupon from the hull steel

Both coupons were placed in a bath of alcohol at -1°C to simulate the conditions on the night of the Titanic disaster

Charpy test is run by holding the coupon against a steel backing and striking the coupon with a 67 pound pendulum on a 2.5-foot-long arm

Results of the Charpy test for modern steel and Titanic steel [Gannon, 1995]. When a pendulum struck the modern steel, on the left, with a large force, the sample bent without breaking into pieces; it was ductile. Under the same impact loading, the Titanic steel, on the right, was extremely brittle; it broke in two pieces with little deformation.

How rivets may have contributed to disaster

When the iceberg tore through the hull plates

Huge holes were created that allowed water to flood the hull of the ship

The hull plates transferred the inward forces

The rivets were then either elongated or snapped in two, which broke the caulking along the seams and provided another inlet for water to flood the ship

Vessel Particulars

•LOA: 882 ft 9 in

•Breadth: 92 ft 6 in

•Depth: 64 ft 3 in

•Draft: 34 ft 7 in

•Gross Tonnage: 46,328 GT

•Displacement: 52,310 LT

•Passengers & Crew: 3,547

•Design Speed: 21 knots

•Builder: Harland and Wolff,

Belfast, Ireland

•Year Built: 1912

•Flag: United Kingdom

•Registered Owner: White Star

Line

•Vessel Type: Passenger Liner

•Hull Material: Riveted Steel

These type of bulkheads are used nowadays in all most all types of ships.

They provide maximum safety in times of flooding or damage of hull.

They divide the ship into watertight compartments which prevents seeping of water to other parts of the ship incase the hull is broken.

The number of compartments that a particular ship has depends on the type and requirement of the vessel.

Correct height of the water tight compartments.

One of Titanic's greatest innovations was the placement of fifteen watertight bulkheads (with electrically operated watertight doors) that extended from the ship's double bottom through four or five of her nine decks and were said to make the ship "unsinkable."

700 survivors among 2235 passengers.

Most of 2nd and 3rd

class passengers came to about sinking of ship when water entered their compartments.

Unethical act

Crew should have treat all passengers equally.

Titanic was receiving warnings

from other ships 60 hours

before collision

• uncommon warnings,

• Ship was cruising

with maximum speed

• Difficult for the crews to

spot icebergs

• Pride E.J Smith

• Unethical act

• Decision that strongly influenced , as the crews were not emphasizing safety for the passengers. .

• According to our perspective , if they would not treated warnings uncommon and could have reduced the speed

‘loss of many lives would not occurred’

• Ship was cruising at maximum speed (22 knots), on a moonless night.

• Design speed was 21 knots.

• Unethical act , causes death of so many passengers

There was room on deck for twice as many lifeboats.

Carried just over half of passengers and crew.

Unethical act Decision supported

concept of ‘unsinkable ship’

Number of lifeboats were more , more passengers could’ve survived.

Designer shouldn’t approved this change that leads to the death of many passengers.

2,235 passengers in Titanic , includes MrIsmay, whose company The White Star Line, owned the Titanic. Loss of 1,522 lives Cause There were not enough life boats.

Mr Ismay aware that capacity of lifeboats was not enough ,Did not bother him

Unethical act.

Had explanations –

The Titanic was unsinkable so there was no risk;

Lifeboats were expensive both in cost and the deck space they occupied.

He complied with the law.

Number of lifeboats required by law to carry was measured on the weight of the ship not on the number of passengers.

Portion of the hull was damaged by filled with water quickly and, water filled the other compartments.

• Design was not watertight, Engineers/designers made clear assumptions of the amount of water they predicted would enter the hull.

• As it would reduce the living space in first class

Said by ‘WHITE STAR LION’.

• Unethical act

• If there were no watertight compartments ,

Titanic could have been afloat for 2 to 3 days.

The ice patrol could have informed the captain of the ice fields and surrounding icebergs and instructed him to stop the ship until morning.

Most of the life boards had the capacity of 65 people,held only 27 people.

Unethical act.

By carring equal no of people in each boat,could ‘ve saved the life of many passengers.

The crew stands blameworthy.

About three million rivets wereused to hold the sections of theTitanic together. Some rivets havebeen recovered from the wreck andanalysed. The findings show that they were

made of sub- standard iron. When the ship hit the iceberg, the force of the

impact caused the heads of the rivets to break and the sections of the Titanic to come apart. If good quality iron rivets had been used the sections may have stayed together and the ship may not have sunk.

Bruce Ismay was the managingdirector of the White Star Lineand he was aboard the Titanic. Competition for Atlantic passengerswas fierce and the White Star Line wanted to

show that they could make a six-day crossing

To meet this schedule the Titanic could not afford to slow down. It is believed that Ismayput pressure on Captain Smith to maintain the speed of the ship.

The belief that the ship was

unsinkable was, in part, due

to the fact that the Titanic

had sixteen watertight compartments. However, the compartments did not reach as high as they should have.

The White Star Line did not want them to go all the way up because this would have reduced living space in first class. If Mr Andrews had insisted on making them the correct height then maybe the Titanic would not have sunk.

What changes does the titanic design required?

How life of more peoples could have saved? What changes could’ve occurred when

“Women and Children first” policy would not have applied?

What decision Captain Smith could have made , when ship was recieving uncommon warnings?

Why ship was moving with 22 knots speed when design speed was 21 knots?

The Titanic tragedy was a warning to all other ships

From that point on ALL ships had enough lifeboats for every single person on the ship and sometimes more

There has been some other big ship crashes after that but usually not as many people died and the ship did not make the same mistakes as the Titanic did

There was certainly no such thing as an “unsinkable ship”

The Titanic will most likely continue to lure people for generations to come, since every generation is able to take something different from its historic tragedy.