While at the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, Iowa we ran across this model of the Titanic. Most models of the Titanic show the ship as built and with all of her finery.
This model is different. It shows the ship as she sits on the bottom after sinking and plowing into the ocean floor after sinking. This represents the ship as discovered in 1985. The bow section is modeled and includes the portions where the stern ripped off the ship during sinking.
The ship should have served as its own lifeboat while waiting for rescue, however it sank very quickly, much faster than expected.
Current thinking of how the ship sank so quickly centers around the stern breaking off on the surface due to expansion joints in the ship resulting in weak points which caused the hull to break when the bow took on water weight. The high degree angle of sinking shown in the movie is not likely how it happened. Rather a sudden failure when the angle was just 11 degrees was most likely.
This is one of your most fascinating posts! I have been fascinated with this ship my entire life! I want to see this!
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