The Titanic: 100 years on

PE commemorates the liner's tragic maiden voyage and takes a look at the new Titanic Belfast exhibition centre

Construction, dimensions and layout

• Harland and Wolff shipbuilders built the Titanic for the White Star Line shipping company
• Titanic was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners. The other two ships were RMS Olympic and RMS Britannic
• The Titanic was based on a revised design of the HMS Olympic
  
• The passenger liner was constructed on Queen's Island, now known as the Titanic Quarter, in Belfast
• Titanic took approximately 26 months to build - the hull was laid down on 31 March 1909
• Length: 882 feet and 9 inches (269.06m)
• Maximum breadth: 92 feet and 6 inches (28.19m)
• Total height (from the base of the keel to the top of the bridge): 104 feet (32 m)
• Titanic had 11 decks of which eight were for passenger use
  

Titanic disaster facts and figures

• Titanic left Southampton on 10 April 1912 with 2,224 passengers on board
• The liner called at Cherbourg in France and Cobn in Ireland before heading for New York
• On 14 April, just four days into the crossing, Titanic hit an iceberg
• The collision took place 600km south of Newfoundland at 11:40pm
• The blow caused the hull plates to buckle inwards, opening five of the 16 watertight compartments to the sea
• Women and children were given priority during the evacuation process - 90% of men were not rescued
• Titanic had the ability to carry 64 lifeboats but the White Star Line company decided only 16 wooden lifeboats and four collapsibles would be carried
• Many of the lifeboats were launched partially filled – one boat with a capacity of 65 carried just 28 evacuees
• At 2:20am Titanic broke up and sank bow-first, with 1,000 people on board
• Hundreds perished in the waters due to sub-zero temperatures
• The 710 lifeboat survivors were picked up by RMS Carpathia, a few hours later

Titanic Belfast exhibition officially opened on 31 March 2012. The new £97m building in the Titanic Quarter tells the story of how the ship was built and launched in Belfast, from her conception in the early 1900s, through to the construction, launch and catastrophic demise.

Here is a selection of external and internal Titanic Belfast photos

• Watch out for our review of the Titanic Belfast exhibition centre in next month's issue of Professional Engineering magazine
  
• To find out more about Titanic Belfast visit www.titanicbelfast.com