Why Was the Titanic so Important?
The Titanic provided several important lessons: it demonstrated the unprecedented capabilities of human watercraft engineering, and uncovered fatal flaws in ship design and safety. Ideas for creating the Titanic began during the early 1900s, when transportation made traveling realistic for the public. Physical construction of the massive ocean liner began in 1907, and finished 2 years later.
The Titanic hailed from Ireland; historians credit a team from Harland and Wolff, a shipbuilding company stationed in Ireland, with its construction. The team designed the Titanic to surpass all other Olympic ocean liners in size and safety. The end result featured a passenger ship capable of transporting nearly 2,500 passengers and a crew of just under 1,000. On April 10, 1912, passengers and crew members set foot to sail across the Atlantic ocean on a ship considered the safest in the world. It featured a double hull, complete with a rugged outer bottom and a second one located just above.
The Titanic uncovered several safety flaws in addition to poor mechanical and engineering designs. It left harbor equipped with enough lifeboats to fit just over half the number of passengers on board. Tragedy struck on April 14th, when the Titanic crashed into an iceberg. Fatally wounded, the ship sunk on April 15th. Its sinking demonstrated the vulnerability of people despite technology, but showed important lessons in safety techniques and ship design for avoiding future catastrophes.
