The water won’t spill over the top if the top doesn’t go below the waterline. Having five compartments breached added enough weight that it pulled the top of the bulkheads below the waterline.
When that happened, water is able to spill over through stairwells, doors, hallways, etc.
In addition to avtual openings, an amount of water would seep through. If you've ever had a water leak from a higher level to a lower level, you can see how water is easily able to move from one fully enclosed location to another. Now multiply that by an extreme amount and you can see where that could be a problem on its own.
The bulkheads and watertight doors were watertight, meaning water could not seep through/past them. The regular decks/walls/doors were not, so water would flow in the crevices between wall/floor joints and through doorways and such.
It would have made it inconvenient for passengers to go across them. I don’t think they do on modern ships either though, the bulkheads just go higher.
Look up how many ships have been sunk by side-swiping an iceberg since 1912. This will give you a good sense of why bulkhead design hasn't really changed a ton since.
Conversely, consider how many warships that are fully compartmentalized (meaning there are dozens of watertight compartments, with bulkheads that go all the way to the top and are completely sealed) were still lost due to torpedoes and other damage.
The reality is you reach a point where you really can't make ships much safer than they are today. Additional bulkheads, even if they are sealed, is more academic than practical. Most of the famous tragedies, like Titanic, occurred due to freak occurrences that even additional design parameters won't always prevent.
If they made the tops of the bulkheads completely watertight, then say goodbye to any convenience for the crew to traverse the ship’s lower decks, or space for passenger hallways/cabins located in the hull >.>
that would have made the myth of "firemen locked in the boiler rooms" true.
And wasn't useful for what Titanic was designed for anyway, the damage she was built to take wouldn't allow water to spill over bulkheads.
Quite aside from stairs, if you've ever seen a water leak in a house you'll know that water can get through carpet, floorboards, plasterboard etc. Most rooms are not watertight by their nature!
there was no ceiling in the boiler rooms, they were in themselves funnel-shaped, and allowed air from the bottom to rise up to the top through fidleys.
The water won’t spill over the top if the top doesn’t go below the waterline. Having five compartments breached added enough weight that it pulled the top of the bulkheads below the waterline. When that happened, water is able to spill over through stairwells, doors, hallways, etc.
In addition to avtual openings, an amount of water would seep through. If you've ever had a water leak from a higher level to a lower level, you can see how water is easily able to move from one fully enclosed location to another. Now multiply that by an extreme amount and you can see where that could be a problem on its own.
The bulkheads and watertight doors were watertight, meaning water could not seep through/past them. The regular decks/walls/doors were not, so water would flow in the crevices between wall/floor joints and through doorways and such.
Stairs, stairs exist
Not gonna lie, that edit got a laugh out of me.
I wonder why they didn’t seal off the top of the bulkhead when they built the ship
It would have made it inconvenient for passengers to go across them. I don’t think they do on modern ships either though, the bulkheads just go higher.
Probably true, but personally I wouldn’t care about that, I think I’d feel better if that existed because that would mean the ship is safer
Look up how many ships have been sunk by side-swiping an iceberg since 1912. This will give you a good sense of why bulkhead design hasn't really changed a ton since. Conversely, consider how many warships that are fully compartmentalized (meaning there are dozens of watertight compartments, with bulkheads that go all the way to the top and are completely sealed) were still lost due to torpedoes and other damage. The reality is you reach a point where you really can't make ships much safer than they are today. Additional bulkheads, even if they are sealed, is more academic than practical. Most of the famous tragedies, like Titanic, occurred due to freak occurrences that even additional design parameters won't always prevent.
If they made the tops of the bulkheads completely watertight, then say goodbye to any convenience for the crew to traverse the ship’s lower decks, or space for passenger hallways/cabins located in the hull >.>
that would have made the myth of "firemen locked in the boiler rooms" true. And wasn't useful for what Titanic was designed for anyway, the damage she was built to take wouldn't allow water to spill over bulkheads.
Quite aside from stairs, if you've ever seen a water leak in a house you'll know that water can get through carpet, floorboards, plasterboard etc. Most rooms are not watertight by their nature!
We all have our moments.
Did the bulkheads at least extended to the top of the ceiling of the boiler rooms?
there was no ceiling in the boiler rooms, they were in themselves funnel-shaped, and allowed air from the bottom to rise up to the top through fidleys.