The Human Factor in Ship Design

One thousand five hundred and three people died in the sinking of the Titanic, but was it avoidable? The behemoth of a ship was supposed to be unsinkable; however, due to the Captain’s negligence, the speed of the ship, and not listening to multiple warnings it was sunk. Miss Jessie Allis Mary Goodwin, a twelve year old girl, lost her life due to the tragic sinking of the Titanic. Unfortunately, she died because she was a third class passenger so she was sealed in by the watertight doors.

The British luxury passenger ship, The Titanic, set sail on April 10, 1912, en route to New York City from Southampton (Lord ch 1). During her maiden voyage, midnight of April 15, 1912, she began to sink (ch 1). The Titanic had a collision with an iceberg that was around 100 feet tall (“Titanic: 40 Fascinating Facts” 3). Regardless to how greatly manufactured the Titanic was, and with beliefs that she was unsinkable, the miscalculation of human error proves that every possible outcome cannot be prevented, disasters can still occur regardless of careful planning.

In multiple countries, changes were made in construction and safety features of ships due to the Titanic's sinking and loss of 1,523 people (Deitz, 2012). A law called the Maritime Conventions Act of 1911 was made after the tragic sinking of the Titanic, stating that if a ship is able to help another ship in danger it must or else it would be a crime (Lane, 2004). Though the world was devastated by the loss of the Titanic and its passengers, they used it to create a safer and better environment for the ships we sail on and see today. Supplying enough lifeboats to support a ship's passengers and crew, moving at slow to medium speed at night, and having more frequent lifeboat drills were some of the substantial changes made to the sailing world after the disaster (Lane, 2004). Important changes were made to make sure that there would not be another fatal accident like that of the Titanic.

not enough of the lifeboats. If there would have been enough lifeboats, many lives could have

On April 15, 1912 at 11:40 P.M. the Titanic collided with an iceberg and by 2:20 A.M. it was at the bottom of the ocean; over 1,500 people died. The massive loss of life was a shock to the world. The “unsinkable” ship had sunk. Despite the Titanic’s claims about being “unsinkable” and completely safe, many avoidable things led to the immense number of fatalities, such as the shortage of lifeboats, lowered bulkheads, and the lack of binoculars. Bruce Ismay, the designer of the Titanic and director of Whitestar line, often chose the comfort of his passengers over their safety. While Ismay was designing the Titanic he thought that the deck was too cluttered so he decided to keep only a third of the lifeboats needed to save all of the passengers

The explosion ripped through a port side berthing compartment of the construction and repair gangs, killing and wounding many of the men while they slept. The repair crews fought hard and were able to save the ship, despite suffering heavy casualties in the explosion.

The firefighters died because of a lack of communication amongst the organization. It is apparent that a mechanistic organizational structure may not be optimal. An organic organization calls for stronger communication, low specialization and decentralization. There is more communication because it is less of a hierarchy. Decentralization creates better cooperation and communication among the levels. Had there been better and clearer communication amongst the firefighters, regardless of positioning, there could be 19 men still alive today. In 2012, the cruise ship “Star Princess” sailed past two stranded on a sailboat despite having the crew alerted. Due to their lack of communication, the staff was not able to convey the message that resulted in the death of two people. An Organic structure advocates greater communication as well as better

While the investigation into the Forrestal mishap did not attribute faults with ordnance handling, it was critical in aspects of damage control and flight deck fire training. Specifically, the Judge Advocate General Investigation found that the “damage control and firefighting equipment carried aboard the Forrestal was inadequate, and many members were poorly trained” (Stewart, 2004). As a result, the primary recommendation ensured all Sailors that work on the flight deck attend firefighting within 6 months of checking onboard, and receive refresher training every three years thereafter. After a discussion of the recommended changes, it leads to a discussion of how these changes have affected current

The vast world in which we live in today inhabits people with different cultures, beliefs and faith. These uniqueness acts as a foundation to form their own identity that they are proud of. Each individuals have their own perspective on their beliefs and faith, which creates the structure of their own identity throughout their life. There are an abundant amount of novels, movies and plays that clearly demonstrate the uniqueness of identity for people to be inspired of.

Lack of documentation: According to the article there was no scientific theory of how a vessel should be build, no schematics or engineering drawings to provide a visual of how the boat would look and the blueprints “lived” in the head of the designer.

With boating accidents come the potential for injuries to self and others, and in 2016, there

Shipping accounts for 18-30% of all the world’s nitrogen oxide pollution and 9% of global sulfur oxide pollution and academic research pins sixty deaths a year and $330 billion dollars a year in health costs from lung and heart disease on pollution from the world’s ninety thousand cargo ships. Commercial shipping releases roughly 130,000 metric tons of soot per year. The risk of Mustu-like incidents can never be completely eliminated, but good training programs and high levels of standardizations have made nuclear propulsion perfectly safe in military operation. In the forty years the first nuclear propelled voyage, five of the world’s navies have combined for over 100 million miles of nuclear powered ocean travel using seven-hundred marine nuclear reactors. Nuclear power revolutionizes submarines because nuclear powered vessels don’t have to refuel and don’t need an oxygen source. Since nuclear power has become available, submarines can sustain 25 knots and remain underwater for extended periods of

This project was full of creativity yet calculated construction of a simple boat. The boat Fourtris, happened to be extraordinary and rose above the initial negative expectations. Sadly it was not the best out of them all, but it got pretty close. While doing this project there were some major components that should be discussed such as the efficiency of Fourtris (the boat), the buoyancy and it’s effects, and why our best test score was are best. Even though Fourtris could have some improvements, it was overall a successful project and was very fun to put together.

The tug Valour was a sea going vessel, owned and operated by Martians Operating Company, LP. On the 17th of January 2006, the Valour and its crew was involved in a tragic accident 40 miles off the coast of Wilmington, NC (Department of Homeland Security[DHS], 2008). In the Valour’s darkest hour it had claimed 3 lives. Although the underlying cause of the disaster was the crew’s incompetence to follow the stability letter, there were many other errors made by the crew which aggravated the situation further.

When analyzing this disaster the first thing to consider is the engineer’s design of the Titanic. The Titanic was employing many new and innovative designs that were believed to make the Titanic the safest ship ever built at that time. The engineer’s of the vessel made claims that the Titanic was “unsinkable” and that “even in the worst possible accident at sea, the ship should have stayed afloat for two to three days.” One of the features that lead them to this claim was the 16 watertight compartments in the hull of the ship. The way they were designed allowed for up to four compartments to be breached and they ship would still carry