Also, how did the ice penetrate steel?
Thanks!
There's been some argument it was low-quality steel that wasn't very resilient to the arctic temperatures in the North Atlantic. IIRC the berg didn't "penetrate" the steel so much as it just broke through a seam between panels which, again, was exasperated by the cold conditions and possibly low-quality steel.
I'm not sure what you want to know about the pumps. Pumps are designed to move things, usually liquids, from one place to another. The pumps on the Titanic, as one might expect, were able to move water from flooded areas back out to sea. So long as the incoming water was less than the rate the pumps could work the pumps would be effective in conditions where the ship was being flooded with water. (Most likely in small leak conditions, or where storms had gotten water onto the ship.) The pumps weren't designed to prevent sinking in the case of a hull breach.
The ship had more water-tight compartments than most other ships of the time. It wasn't thought that more were needed. The ship was designed to be able to stay afloat with the water-tight compartments completely flooded. The impact with the iceberg breached beyond the water-tight compartments and into the forward most compartment that was not water-tight. Then, as explained in the movie (TWICE, in fact), the water flooded the fourth compartment which spilled over the water tight ones and took the ship down. As the compartments filled with water and the bow of the ship got heavier and heavier it began to sink causing the stern to rise higher and higher into the air. (The stern never really flooded) The stress of having to hold the stern in the air caused the keel to break, splitting the ship, and begin to flood as water rushed in. The bow went down almost completely flooded.
The stern went down not completely flooded but obviously flooded enough to sink but as it sank the crushing weight of the water on the air-filled stern crushed it as it descended to the ocean floor. (This is why the bow is mostly intact and the stern is a crushed messed.)
R&W: You're not liked, as has been said, because you only post threads like this. Asking questions trying to get people to do research for you, learn things for you, and report back results. You want us to be your personal PAs. You don't really "discuss" things, talk over things, etc. You ask a question and expect answers to help you out.
That's not the kind of relationship we're really into at this point in our lives.
Typing a question like "how did Titanic's pumps work" into Google nets several results not the least of which is the Wikipedia article for the ship. Searching for the word "pump" in the article gets you to this paragraph:
Within only 45 minutes of the collision, at least 13,500 long tons (13,700 t) of water had entered the ship. This was far too much for Titanic's ballast and bilge pumps to handle; the total pumping capacity of all the pumps combined was only 1,700 long tons (1,700 t) per hour. Seawater was pouring into Titanic 15 times faster than it could be pumped out. Andrews informed the captain that the ship was doomed and that she could remain afloat for no longer than about two hours.
Want to know what a "bilge pump" is?
Wikipedia:
What is the bilge? Wikipedia:
The bilge is the lowest compartment on a ship, below the waterline, where the two sides meet at the keel.
What is bilge water? From the same article:
The word is sometimes also used to describe the water that collects in this area. Water that does not drain off the side of the deck drains down through the ship into the bilge. This water may be from rough seas, rain, leaks in the hull or stuffing box, or other interior spillage. The collected water must be pumped out to prevent the bilge from becoming too full and threatening to sink the ship.
See how the internet works?
