Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[John W E]

I was just watching an 'old' programme on 'yet again' The Titanic.


I am wondering - is there any air trapped in that wreck after all of these years - in say, a pipe, a bit of the engine - somewhere like that where the pipework has been sealed and where it hasnt collapsed with the pressure of the water.


I have often wondered this when viewing documentaries on WW2 wrecks/ submarines etc., where they have been built to withstand pressure.


Food for thought that.


John

[warspite]

And how many vessels lie on the seabed where there steel can be utilised for making specialist magnets i.e. pre 1945

[Baldrick]

  How far down do they have to be to have escaped irradiation.

[Colin Bishop]

Not all that far I believe. Prince of Wales and Repulse are about 200 feet down. Many other warships are at shallower depths such as the Jutland wrecks. Water is quite an effective radiation shield. However I think the issue is more about when the steel was made rather than where it is. The atmosphere was contaminated by the nuclear explosions and making steel involves using air so the radioativity gets into the steel. The reason that sunken ships are valuable is that there are an awful lot of them and the bigger wardhips contain lots of thick armour plating. The pre 1945 steel on dry land is either in use in buildings, bridges etc. that were built before 1945 or has been recycled as scrap so there isn't much available. A battleship such as Prince of Wales is reported to have had over 12,000 tons of armour plate alone in her construction.

Colin

[John W E]

Apparently a lot of WW1 and WW2 ship wrecks have been plundered for their steel - some of the ships plundered illegally are war graves, and that is a bit of a disgrace really when you think about it.   I would imagine there are plenty of ship wrecks around that could be used for their metal which are not war graves.


UK to investigate claims that wrecks of British warships being plundered for scrap metal by Chinese pirates | The Independent | The Independent


john

[Colin Bishop]

HMS Exeter, sunk in the Java Sea battle, has completely disappeared. The wreck when discovered lying upright was in quite good condition but there is literally nothing left. Just your model John!

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/wreck-hms-exeter-being-plundered-1171543
 
The locals have no interest whatsoever in war grave status. It wasn't their war so they don't care, just out for profit. Primce of Wales and Renown are subjected to continual plundering as have been the Jutland wrecks closer to home. A capsized warship lying upside down offers easy entry to the precious metals in the condensers etc. Upright warships are more difficult to plunder as the armoured decks are an obstacle. The bronze propellers are particularly prized.

Colin

[Martin (Admin)]

There was an interesting series on Radio 4 Extra, Ship of Lies, a conspiracy about how / why the titanic sank......

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00040lh
 
 

[Colin Bishop]

Just one of many fictional stories Martin but I don't think there is much scope for recovering pre 1945 steel from Titanic now!

Colin

[Baldrick]

I seem to remember our industry removing a lot of clean steel for technical purposes from the scuttled German fleet in Scapa Flow . Good old Krupp stuff , I assume they did not have to ask the Germans permission , just a case of you dumped it in our pond it's ours .

[Colin Bishop]

Most of the German fleet was salvaged in the 1920s and 1930s by private contractors. What was left became more valuable after 1945. There are several books about the salvage operations.

Video of one of the ships coming to the surface:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=raising+the+german+fleet+at+sacapa#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6356924e,vid:_pvF2246p70

Colin

[dodes]

It may be of interest to you Colin but the engineer employed between the wars to lift the High Seas Fleet, was instrumental in salvaging the Iron Duke at Scapa with his maintenance crew of a surfaced German wreck and went on to be the first R.N Chief Salvage Officer(not bad for a whisky distillery plant maintenance engineer).

[Colin Bishop]

I didn't know that. I did read that Iron Duke had to be beached after near misses from German bombers at Scapa and wasn't refloated until the end of the war for scrapping.

Colin

[Martin (Admin)]

Watched a very interesting video about  RMS Carpathia's part in rescuing Titanic's passengers.

Particularly interesting is the 'Ice Reports' for other ships and Captain Edward Smith, seemingly, extremely reckless choice to ignore them!

 

https://youtu.be/NiC84ezyM-w?si=7Q6qG2tpGET4m1xJ

[Martin (Admin)]

 
Also didn't know....

By the time the Titanic departed westwards across the Atlantic, she was carrying 892 crew members and 1,320 passengers. This was only about half of her full passenger capacity of 2,435,[12] as it was the low season and shipping from the UK had been disrupted by a coal miners' strike.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Titanic

[dodes]

Hi Martin, i do not if you know this, but it was considered safe practice to hove too overnight when there was no moon. As ships then had no radar, they relied on moon light nights to see the waves breaking white in the moonlight and that night it was a black moonless night. So yes if Smith had survived he would undoubtedly had gone to prison for a long time, for hazard his vessel causing loss of and causing the deaths of his crew and passengers.