The LNER Encyclopedia

It may be just me, but I find this to be in rather bad taste.

I realise the recent centenary of the sinking has just passed, but even that I found to be rather mawkish with the usual outpourings of floods of tears for great grandparents most people had never met.

However, few wealthy businessmen ever spend large amounts of money on projects which are not destined to make a profit, and profiteering from a tragedy to my mind is just plain wrong.

Is nothing sacred these days?

There are bound to be plenty of 'crazies' who will want to sail on the maiden voyage of TITANIC II 'hoping to hit an iceberg' off the Newfoundland grand banks you just know it!!.

The original TITANIC sustained a 300ft long underwater gash in her starboard side resulting in the flooding of the first 5 watertight compartments 1 more then the 4 that was allowed to become flooded in her design to remain afloat.

Ay up!

I'm a bit of an anorak about Titanic - once she gets a hold of you, you're fascinated for life.

Just after the wreck was discovered, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute did a series of computer models based on the level of damage suffered by Titanic.

Most would have been propelled into the deep by the power of their own engines.

Only when "historic" ships such as the Queen Mary were considered would there have been time enough to launch the boats. Titanic's design saved some 600 lives that night when she took 2 hours to die. Had there been sufficient space in the boats and the crew loaded the boats to capacity before launching them, all 1500 or so lives could have been saved.

As it was, about 400 people died needlessly because the boats were so underloaded.

Personally I think the replica is in bad taste but if that's how he wants to spend his money. In Oz, even a stretched E-Type Jag is considered fair dinkum. Says all you need to know! The US does not have a monopoly on the tasteless who have more money than sense.

I think it will be a beautiful memorial to those who died on Titanic. The other thing is that the wreck of Titanic will not be a memorail to them much longer, as it will rust away to nothing within the next three decades.

Maybe someone or someone's would do a re-build of Airships R101 or the HINDENBURG for a laugh??.

blackout60800 wrote:I think it will be a beautiful memorial to those who died on Titanic. The other thing is that the wreck of Titanic will not be a memorail to them much longer, as it will rust away to nothing within the next three decades.

But, is that not one of life's main lessons? That no-one lasts for ever, and eventually your component parts will slowly return to nature?

Why just one flashy passenger boat? Where are the lasting memorials to all the ships sunk in war?

Picking up on your post John sometimes i would somehow like to de-water all the oceans & seas of the world (temporarily) and find all the old sunken shipwrecks laying high 'n' dry all over the place!!.

Velly , Velly nice ..... 'CHI-TANICK '

Whoes the mad oz, hope its not Manna

mr B

Yeah good one mr B refreshingly un-P.C.

It raised a good laugh from me in these miserable P.C.times.

Ay so!

strang steel wrote:Where are the lasting memorials to all the ships sunk in war?

UK - HMS Belfast
USA - USS Intrepid

along with two or three surviving U - boats and a 'midget' sub

Hmmmm, I can't say I am that convinced those are specific memorials.

That would be like saying Duchess of Hamilton, Princess Elizabeth and Leander are memorials to the Harrow disaster.

However, if that is how people see them, then who am I to argue?

HMS Belfast represents a WW2 Cruiser as much as 'Royal Scot' represented it's as built condition when on static display at Bressingham - right paint, but apart from that very different. HMS Belfast is as she was after a 1960's refit, the entire bridge area looks very different as it's angular where it once had a curved front, as well as other changes around the ship. For a country with such rich maritime history I think Britain very poorly represents it's shipping past. Other warships include;

HMS Caroline, a WW1 Cruiser that served at Jutland - was almost scrapped after being used as a drill hall in Belfast, but is now preserved and will hopefully be restored to WW1 condition in either Belfast or Portsmouth, I don't care where as long as I can visit it!

HMS M33 - WW1 Monitor, preserved in Portsmouth at the Historic Dockyard but can only be viewed in dry dock, you can't go on board

HMS Cavalier - WW2 Destroyer. Again, a WW2 ship but in post-WW2 condition, with very odd shaped bridge, missile launcher positions etc.

There are also HMS Saxifrage (now President) and HMS Wellington on the Thames, WW1 and WW2 Sloops respectively but not museum ships, and there was the plan to bring HMS Whimbrel, a frigate, back from Egypt to Liverpool, a Battle of the Atlantic survivor which unfortunately fell apart - they also have/had another WW2 destroyer in fairly close to 'as built' condition in Egypt, HMS Zenith

Thinking about it, there's also a rescue ship that was designed to speedily rescue pilots from the english channel, which is in full working order and a fireboat, restored by salvage squad... which sorta works (I don't know much about ships I'm afraid, so I don't have the faintest idea what they're called).

edit: speaking of new technology in old ships, on holiday in Kos last year I was told off for taking a picture of a patrol boat (they thought I was trying to steal their technology) in the capital's harbor. The greek navy men around the ship spoke very good english, so my reply was 'It's not like that thing even has a scratch on what the Royal Navy's got anyway', they laughed and I left, still with the pictures on my camera