One area where it seems old ship builders had the right idea

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[RMS Gigantic]

Here is one area that puzzles me as to why they changed it:

Lifeboat locations

New ships:


Old ships:


The top of a ship will flood after the middle, so WHY ON EARTH MOVE THE BOATS FROM THE TOP TO THE MIDDLE?

[llamalord]

There probobly is some reason but you do have a good point there.

[mvsmith]

If you look very closely at the top ship, you might notice that the upper decks are stepped back. That would require swinging the boats way out to get them over the water.

There is an advantage to having the boats closer to the water; they don’t have so far to fall.

Boats should be launched as soon as sinking becomes a possibility. Waiting too long may make it impossible to launch some if the ship lists heavily, or goes down sharply by the head.

Modern lifeboats are often self-launching; dropping into the water rather than being lowered from davits.

The boats are on approximately the same level on both ships. The “old” arrangement didn’t work all that well for Titanic.
As for the upper decks flooding later: That usually happens after the ship is on her way down. The upper decks do not contribute to the buoyancy.


Sometimes, if you give some thought before asking a question, obvious answers might occur to you.

[Capt. Le Velle]

mvsmith put it nicely  the way i will put it is a little diffrent.  the titanic 1,513 died because of the problems with the life rafts.  today with the new disigns more people can be saved.

[Person264]

I think you'll find that the Titanics lifeboats are lower than the QM2s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:En_mary_titanic.svg
And they should be lower on QM2 due to SOLAS standards but they are 25m above instead of 15m due to appearance and so they aren't damaged on atlantic crossings

[RMS Canada]

It was to allow passengers a view of the sea from the top deck.  Lifeboats were often in the way of the view of the ocean on the old liners like the Titanic.

[RMS Gigantic]

Sometimes, if you give some thought before asking a question, obvious answers might occur to you.

That really wasn't obvious at all to me until you explained it.

mvsmith put it nicely  the way i will put it is a little diffrent.  the titanic 1,513 died because of the problems with the life rafts.  today with the new disigns more people can be saved.

That was not why. Captain Smith had the lifeboat drill canceled for church. Lifeboats were irrelevant. If Queen Mary 2 sank and the crew feared the boats would collapse if they went fully loaded before hitting the water, we would have the same incident.

I think you'll find that the Titanics lifeboats are lower than the QM2s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:En_mary_titanic.svg

I think you're forgetting boyancy/draft. That diagram does not take into account that ships FLOAT.

[Person264]

What was Titanic's draft (I don't know for sure)? Cos QM2s is 10m (32feet 10 inches) and I think Titanics was about 34.5 feet (http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-rudder.html), so, titanic's lifeboats are still lower.

[RMS Gigantic]

What was Titanic's draft (I don't know for sure)?

34 feet, 7 inches

[Person264]

Interesting, so the lifeboats would still be lower on Titanic than QM2

[Shipaddict]

Like Person264 said, lifeboats have to be at cetain heights to comply with regulations.

15 metres I think, but QM2 has them higher, so that waves can't hit them and wash them off or damage them etc.

[TerryRussell]

There are all sorts of caveats in the regulations. It isn't possible to generalise. Each vessel is subject to design reviews and sea trials in order to evaluate the suitability of the specific design configuration of the vessel, as well as its sea-going performance.