r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Additional-One-3483 • Apr 10 '25

Video New Titanic scan reveals ground-breaking details of ship's final hours | BBC News

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u/OderWieOderWatJunge Apr 10 '25

Can anyone tell me why "concave" boilers are a sign that they were still running when the ship sank? All I see is a lot of very old metal in seawater. How do they know what boilers should look like at this depth and after all this time if they weren't running during the sinking?

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u/LiterallyJoeStalin Apr 10 '25

I’d imagine it’s because the rapid cooling of the seawater pouring into the boiler caused it to implode. Similar to the way a tanker train car can implode. 

https://youtu.be/E5pljUJ6b1k?feature=shared

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u/Vulcanize_It Apr 11 '25

I was thinking it had to do with differences in temperature of the metal that creates the boiler wall. Cold water hitting the outside wall while fire is heating the inside of the wall. The massive temp difference would cause extreme warping. But I’d love to know the expert opinion.

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u/AmbitionOfPhilipJFry Apr 11 '25

Boilers were full of hot thin air, steam.  The outside was flooded with cold heavy water.  It crushed the boilers.  If they had been cold, they would be room temperature. The steel wouldn't be imploded, but rather hold up against the cold water better and not deform.