RMS Titanic Alternative Theories - Expansion Joints Theory

Expansion Joints Theory

Titanic researchers continue to debate the causes and mechanics of Titanic's breakup. In his book, A Night to Remember, Walter Lord described Titanic as assuming an “absolutely perpendicular” position before its final plunge. This view remained largely unchallenged even after the wreck’s discovery in 1985 confirmed that the ship had broken in two pieces at or near the surface; paintings by noted marine artist Ken Marschall as well as James Cameron's 1997 Titanic depicted the ship attaining a steep angle prior to the breakup. Most researchers acknowledged that Titanic's after expansion joint—designed to allow for flexing of the hull in a seaway—played little to no role in the ship’s breakup, though debate continued as to whether the ship had broken from the top downwards (like a stick) or from the bottom upwards (like a cardboard tube).

In 2005, a History Channel expedition to the wreck site scrutinized two large sections of Titanic's keel, which constituted the portion of the ship's bottom from immediately below the site of the break. With assistance from naval architect Roger Long, the team analyzed the wreckage and developed a new break-up scenario which was publicized in the 2006 television documentary Titanic’s Final Moments: Missing Pieces. One hallmark of this new theory was the claim that Titanic's angle at the time of the breakup was far less than had been commonly assumed — according to Long, no greater than 11°.

Long also suspected that Titanic's breakup may have begun with the premature failure of the ship’s after expansion joint, and ultimately exacerbated the loss of life by causing Titanic to sink faster than anticipated. In 2006, the History Channel sponsored dives on Titanic's younger sister ship, Britannic, which verified that the design of Britannic's expansion joints was superior to that incorporated in the Titanic. To further explore Long’s theory, the History Channel commissioned a new computer simulation by JMS Engineering. The simulation, whose results were featured in the 2007 documentary Titanic’s Achilles Heel, partially refuted Long’s suspicions by demonstrating that Titanic's expansion joints were strong enough to deal with any and all stresses the ship could reasonably be expected to encounter in service and, during the sinking, actually outperformed their design specifications. But, most important is that the expansion joints were part of the superstructure, which was situated above the strength deck (B-deck) and therefore above the top of the structural hull girder. Thus, the expansion joints had no meaning for the support of the hull.

Brad Matsen's 2008 book, Titanic's Last Secrets endorses the expansion joint theory.