Submitted by Graeme, Jan 13, 2012 09:20

The TITANIC had additional stiffening by enclosing the promenade deck (the Cafe Parisien) in order to overcome some cracking in the superstructure observed on the OLYMPIC. However the OLYMPIC's same expansion joint design served for many years with no structural problems.

The BRITANNIC had extra expansion joints, the enclosed promenade deck, and extra hull doublers. All to improve the design - though mainly to avoid cosmetic cracking. The main strength of the hull (in all three ships) came from the main deck below the expansion joints. BRITANNIC was torpedoed and sunk in WWI when barely a year in service so it will never be known what differrence her changes made.

It is not fair to say the TITANIC design could not have survived in service. The OLYMPIC did. It might be fair to say that the TITANIC broke around her expansion joint - though as the main stress carrying deck was below the joint - this is still debatable.

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