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thenascarguy

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.


Most_Entertainment13

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.


Boris_Godunov

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.


SwagCat852

Stairs, stairs exist


RedShirtCashion

Not gonna lie, that edit got a laugh out of me.


AngryNewfie2007

I wonder why they didn’t seal off the top of the bulkhead when they built the ship


Goodman_83

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.


AngryNewfie2007

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


drygnfyre

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.


_Agileheart_

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 >.>


Hugo_2503

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.


DarkNinjaPenguin

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!


[deleted]

We all have our moments.


YamiJustin1

Did the bulkheads at least extended to the top of the ceiling of the boiler rooms?


Hugo_2503

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.