How Titanic Broke In Half 

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I wonder, did the survivors hear the ship cracking and bending? You'd think that steel of such thickness and under such strain would produce a shitton of terryfing sounds.

The fear those poor souls must have felt as this all was happening is just incomprehensible. And the darkness of night & freezing cold waters, as well as knowing your out there all alone and no help is coming. Horror

She was built never to sink, and god did she fight trying.

Thank you for that fine forensic analysis Mr. Bodine.

Titanic stood for nearly 3 hours after impact, maybe even another 30min- hour had they not restarted the engines shows how structurally sound it was. For it to hold so long that it had to break in half is amazing in my amateur eyes. Thomas Andrews thought forsure shed be under within an hour.

I don’t know. I think the theory posited by the Titanic: Honor and Glory team and a combination of some of this to be the truth. Many survivors that said the ship broke also said that they could clearly make out a missing forward structure, and that the stern came back down on an _even keel_ , not a semi-even keel. This makes it seem like the bow and stern looked relatively connected until the fractured section submerged, but then even less people would’ve known about the break-up. And the ship didn’t have to be literally vertical, as many survivors said that it sank on an angle, while others said that it was vertical; it was likely based on perception in relation to their vicinity to the Titanic.

I like that you mentioned that the stern remained above the water before sinking completely. I was watching footage of some other ships sinking and, although a little smaller than Titanic, their exposed sterns took relatively long to sink. The Oceanos for example, her stern's final plunge took a bit of time.

After watching James Cameron's 2012 documentary then watching this again, I really appreciate how methodical and analytical your break-down of the Titanic break-up is. Thank you for all your work.

We can use modern technology, witness reports and how the wreckage look's, but there will still be the unknown factor's. This is still one of the most fascinating yet tragic topic's I've learned about. Growing up on the east coast in Halifax you see and learn lot's concerning the sinking, rescue and recovery of passenger's and bodies. I have talked to both survivor's and relatives of not just the passengers and crew of Titanic but of the recovery ships as well. Walking through the museum's and graveyard's really does put the human loss and what they went through in a different light. When you watch documentaries and read stuff on it you can get a feel for it, but when you see a kid's shoe's and other item's from passenger's and then you walk through the graveyard and see the name's of victims or a headstone erected to the memory of an unknown child it just hit's a bit harder.

Your real time animation, along with the music, is absolutely chilling. I cannot imagine the terror that those still on the ship experienced. Thank you for sharing.

A very credible and convincing summary. What bothers me personally is that it does not match the words of sailor Edward Buley (boat 12), who testified that the aft ship had swum, but without a fore ship. The statement indicates that the breakpoint must have been clearly visible for a while to the people in the lifeboats.

I spend many sleepless night on my sailboat watching titanic videos. I find this option very sound with only a neglect of mention what the boilers did as the cold seawater hit them. Many survivor accounts mention explosions.

The Titanic story still breaks me up

Since the breakup was confirmed in 1985, most Titanic researchers have come to believe it began just before the final plunge. According to this theory, Titanic, reached a high angle, over 30 degrees, and the weight of the unsupported stern caused the structure to fail, cracking from the top down. Though it must have been terrifying. Passengers would have know that the end was near. The ship was starting down and any moment now they’d be in the water. But according to naval architect, Roger Long, if the stern snapped off from a high angle, the edges of the break would have been pulled apart at the top, and pushed together or compressed at the bottom. But the broken edges of the upper decks of Titanic’s bow section don’t seem just to have pulled apart, they’re mangled and bent steeply downward. And the edges of the double bottom that should be crushed and compressed, instead appear cleanly broken off. “If it broke from this high angle, everything at the top side should be wiped clean and straight. And all the chaos, and the jumbling, and the crunching together should be down at the bottom.” Roger now thinks the breakup occurred at a shallow angle. Perhaps as little as 11 degrees. And progressed in two stages. And essentially what that means is, is that the inner bottom broke separately from the ship. First, the upper structure fails; starts to crack. The crack stops at the double bottom, which is now all that’s holding Titanic together. It starts to bend under the strain, then the sides separate, double bottom starts to fail. Tons of water pull the middle of the ship down, bending Titanic the other way. The bow heads for the bottom and the stern is the last to sink. -Titanic’s Final Moments: Missing Pieces (2006) I memorized this word for word. I started saying it in school as a joke and everyone is either really impressed or looks at me with a, “wtf are you doing with your time” kind of face. But I just wanted to share that and post it here because it sounded fitting. But don’t be fooled, this theory is far from reality. Survivor accounts all testify otherwise.

Titanic is such an anomaly. The fact that there are so much contradicting evidence and unanswered questions is what makes it so fascinating.

10:23 The engines seem to fall out of the stern here, but on the bottom of the sea, they still rest on the front of the battered stern.

My heart rate climbs and I panic a little bit just thinking about this happening

11:50 - The breakup was estimated to occur over a period of 15-20 seconds by Roy Mengot. That is significant because it explains why some people might not have seen the breakup. Just a momentary distraction due to rowing, swimming, getting onto an overturned Collapsible B boat or a particular viewing angle in a lifeboat (or water) at the moment would have been sufficient to prevent someone from witnessing the actual breakup. Even Charles Lightoller was adamant that the ship didn't break apart. It could be explained by the fact that he was "busy" trying to survive during those 15-20 seconds. By the time he turned to look at the ship, he had already missed the breakup (and only saw the stern just before it sank).

Take the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels and bend it. You will see the cross section oval at the bend point with the cross section becoming shorter in the plane of the bend. This effect can be seen in the bending failure of any tube section - circular or rectangular. If you look at images of the wreckage of the Titanic on the ocean floor, you can see that the upper decks were pulled downward at the break. This effect is missing from every animation of the breakup of the Titanic that I have seen.

Very informative video, but way to dark at times. Can hardly see the breakup

Its so easy when the stern gets pulled up the stress and the manufacturer of gravity pushing it down thee braking the titanic in two!

5 minutes of just the vertical risen stern above the sea. . . for some reason i find that oddly terrifying. . .

Water is the heaviest element on earth, heavier than iron and steel. I always just assumed that the ship snapped as a combination of its entire bow-half stressing against its stern-half full of water. That, coupled with the air trapped in the ship, and the explosions in the boiler room weakening the keel.... I never assumed it was serious rocket science. Honestly I think the whole reason why there's debate at all is because the 'split' occurred much closer to the water's surface than many paintings and films depict it. Watch some of the real-time animations of the ship sinking. The split occurs almost exactly at the water line, so the raised half doesn't have very far to "collapse" back into the water. The bottom half just kind of tears off and sinks, while dragging the other half straight up. If you didn't have a clear look at it, it might just look like the ship took on a lot of water and tipped all the way up.

How interesting would it be to build a full size replica, exactly to the original design, then poke holes in it where the iceberg did and see what happens. I understand that it would be very expensive, but would be cool to see

There's no way it was as dramatic as the 1997 movie...that was just done that way to make the movie more thrilling.

0:37 hes flipping u off man O-o

You and titanic honour and glory would be amazing

0:37 he was pointing with his middle finger😂 lmao

Never would I think that something that seems so simple would be so complex.

The break up of Titanic makes perfect sense. I have a hard time believing the reenforced keel would allow the ship to break in half. Look at how the ship was propelled. Steam. Which means there were boilers. The forward boilers would have been submerged by the time it broke in half. Cold sea water on hot coal or a plugged vent line could easily cause a boiler to explode. I believe the submerged boilers exploded causing the keel of the ship to be blown out at the bottom forming a large cavity in which the heavy bow would bend bend downwards filling the cavity. That motion would have torn the top off as the bow collasped into the blown out cavity from a boiler explosion. I dont know why anyone hasnt looked at this as a viable theory. I mean im really not that educated andnit makes total sense to me.

I think that the stern detached and settled backward. Not like the ship being pushed together. I think it would be too dark for survivors to see it break up if it got pushed together.

25 knot currents cannot melt steel beams

This was very interesting. Well, done on this video.

According to eye witness testimony they heard and saw an explosion when the ship broke apart. Maybe a boiler exploded or something

If I was a billionaire I would commission a full-scale replica of the Titanic, then damage it's hull in the same way the first was damaged just to see how it would sink

Awesome job! I believe this is the most accurate attempt at cracking the code ever done! You need to be awarded for your work!

i think that the ship had alot of weight on the stern.

Rest in peace titanic

This is the most accurate version of how Titanic sank I've ever seen...goes little bit to the james cameron movieversion. Some realy great points you made. Keep up the good work! Nice video's ! :)

The stress was when they had thousands of tons in the air when sinking caused it to snap. When you said the stern shouldn’t sink, well the double bottom (which is still attached to the stern and the bow) pulled the stern down so it took on water then it separated, with all that water in the stern caused it to go down Plus it snapped a little bit under the water ( not like the movie) which caused the stern to take on water

The ship would not pivot up amid ships. The stern would raise out of the water but much more rearward in pivot point. The bow section already flooded, only the remaining stern maintains buoyant it will be pulled down and the break will occur below surface.

I've seen alot talking about crushing forces at the keel, but this ship didn't just snap like a twig. It was pulled apart, as the bow continued sinking, so the base od the ship is still being pulled apart the whole time, not being crushed together as the top split. There's a lot of people who whitnessed the event, and alot of them described it, in just the same way as the movie showed it.

There is no way that the ship would not break in two. The ship was far too long so the more the bow went down the ship had to break from too much pressure.

I wish the back part of the ship would have survived longer by not being dragged under by the forward section

So dang creepy to see it like that, stars in the background, just like the people would have seen it happen that night. Thanks for the informative video.

Because the bow was nearly completely flooded when it sank while the stern my likely and a decent amount of trapped air inside that would explode out at a particular depth

Immense stress, and a hollow spot near where she broke.

I THINK THE WEIGHT OF THE BACK OF THE SHIP HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT AND MAYBE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHIPS BOTTOM HAD ALL THEM BOILERS WOULD HAVE EXPLORED WHEN THE COLD WATER CAME IN WEAKENING THE KEEL

I appreciate the work put into this video and I would love to see you expand your analysis of how each section of Titanic made it's way to the bottom, and not just what happened at the surface. I've watched ALOT of Titanic break up theories and this one definitely tops the cake in terms of implementing survivor testimonies, but no one witnessed the Titanic beneath the waves as it sank. I would love to see an underwater animation of this breakup theory and perhaps an analysis of each piece as it came to rest on the ocean floor. James Cameron's Newest 2012 animation had me convinced with his theory, but mainly because of how elaborate he was in terms of piecing together the different pieces and how they came to rest on the sea floor. The top-down breakup theory made sense to me after seeing the animation, but naturally I still had questions. Most involving the complete disregard of most eyewitness accounts, the "S" shape of the double bottom, and the position of the breakup. I'm still a firm believer in this theory but the bottom up breakup theories always get me thinking... The evidence you put forth in this video describes an entirely different breakup story, and it could perhaps be the most accurate of all the ones theorized so far. I'd love to see an updated version of your theory in an underwater simulation, but until then I'm leaning more on the top-down theory, although both are up for debate in my mind. Also, I'm subscribing for more awesome content, really looking forward to future Titanic vids😁👍

After watching this i had a lot of questions now been answered why the Titanic brake in two. Very good documentary explains on how the ship broke in two.

this theory may explain why some passengers say the ship went down whole

Very well done Video!This Channel needs more attention!

Now, if only we could explain what's holding those billion stars up above her.

9/11: I kick serious butt Titanic: oh yeah? Remember me

Mr. Mengot's theory has only one 20-second-long breaking. But there were two separate stages of the breakup. His theory has only 2 risings of the stern; eyewitnesses saw 3 different risings (low angle, high angle, and nearly perpendicular). Several peoples' testimonies illustrate the 3 rises with 2 breaks in between them. Here is Lady Duff Gordon, and just one example: "There was no excitement aboard the Titanic. We were probably a thousand feet away. Suddenly I clutched the sides of the lifeboat. I had seen the Titanic give a curious shiver. Almost immediately we heard several pistol shots and a great screaming arise from the decks. Then the boat’s stern lifted in the air and there was a tremendous explosion. After this the Titanic dropped back again. The awful screaming continued. Two minutes after this there was another great explosion. The whole forward part of the great liner dropped down under the waves. The stern rose a hundred feet, almost perpendicularly. The boat stood up like an enormous black finger against the sky. Little figures hung to the point of the finger and dropped into the water.... The great prow [stern, actually] of the Titanic slowly sank as though a great hand was pushing it gently down under the waves. As it went the screaming of the poor souls left on board seemed to grow louder. It took the Titanic perhaps two minutes to sink after that last explosion. It went down slowly without a ripple." She did miss describing the 2nd rising, which happened during the "two minutes" that she mentioned.

An informative video. By the Way, have you considered contacting Titanic: Honour and Glory? You seem like a good modeller and I'm sure you could help them.

The ship is in a surprisingly good condition considering what she went through.

RIP Titanic and the 1,500 souls that perished when the Titanic sank

I've heard rumors claiming that had the ship rammed the iceberg it would've most likely survived. To think in such a scenario where everyone aboard would've survived...

I thought it was just simply the keel couldn't support the entire weight of the stern for long and in broke though the double keel managed to keep on

Good demonstration.

But wouldn't that compress the upper decks?

I wonder how many fashioned their own flotation contraption and survived.

I had absolutely no idea that the breakup occurred that fast! Thanks for this interesting video.

Such a great video. Long live titanic

Aft Grand Staircase didn't survive... nor the 1st Class Smoking Room... :(

I feel like there's some truth to both theories. This one for the bottom-up breaking where the keel pushes up, and the other theory where the stern falls back and the bow sinks like a rock, pulling the stern up with the ship capsizing to seem to turn away from some survivors and not really staying up in the air for so long. The bow has no buoyancy in it, so it cannot move back upwards at all. The only time it does any sort of see-saw motion is after it's detached from the stern and starts free falling. So I think what happens is the keel and lower decks compress, the hull fractures and the boat deck bends, probably in front of the third funnel, with the bow going lower all the time. The stern settles back, but is still attached through the middle decks and the weight of the bow drags the stern under enough to flood it considerably, though the ship lists to port because of the uneven water weight as it rises up into the air. The stern is considerably under water almost standing straight up, but because of that list it is now facing a different direction, rather than spinning in place. The air in the stern counteracts the weight of the bow and forces it to detach during this same moment and aerodynamics forces the bow to see-saw and go upright as it free falls. The stern at this point might rotate slightly, but pretty soon ends up going under. If I could animate I would make my own visualization of this, but it's basically a combination of this and the other theory, mostly using the other theory for the stern section. I'm not entirely convinced the stern would stay up in the air for as long as shown. Neither theory is wrong, but both theories have things that they share and things they could take from each other to make one unifying theory. I'm pretty sure as Titanic HG works on the break-up more and more they may notice a lot of this stuff too. They've definitely updated their split theory since they made their real time sinking video and it appears to be a sort of combination of both theories in a way. Of course we only see what was on the surface, so even if it's not shown in their animations it's still possible with the motions the ship goes through. They even say at certain angles the split is very easy to miss. Of course we'll also be waiting until the game is released to see all the damage the decks go through during the breakup.

I already know how Titanic broke in half. I've been watching a lot of TV about Titanic and I know how. The stern of Titanic went up to a high angle over 30 degrees, then the structure begins to fail, then it starts to crack and boom, Titanic breaks in half.

Very interesting, we know the power goes out minutes before the break up, the single ended boilers in boiler room one is what powered the dynamos. If this bottom up theory is correct then once the dynamos lost steam pressure and stopped producing power that would indicate there was a major and sudden incident in Boiler room one to cause the sudden lose of steam pressure. Boiler room one so happens to be the location of ground zero of the break up.

Very neat and insightful video covering this idea of it. From what I understand of structural engineering this does sound pretty plausible. Interesting.

Did any of the passengers report having seen the ship breaking asunder? I think I recall the general surprise and amazement when submersibles saw the wreck for the first time lying on the seafloor in two sections with the stern about half a mile away from the bow. Hmm. :)

0:31 No one will literally talk about the middle finger?

But if the stern had gone near vertical how could the engines stay in place?

The only think that i question about your theory is : Why did the Aft tower and the Foward tower had split away by the Bow's and Stern's section ??

My theory is that the ship didn't actually break. it broke in water. it was the stress that made it look like it broke in two the 3rd funnel fell when it was stressing hard so it made it look like the ship broke at a really low angle. The titanic is cracking at the 3rd funnel base and cracking just behind it too. The stern rose to a 60 degree angle and that is when the stern is breaking the middle piece until not that much remains of it and the stern rose up to 75 degrees up.then the middle part breaks off and now the stern and bow are seperated. and the stern sunk. ouch sorry for my bad grammar and english, idk why my english is like this today lol.

Despite popular theory that has existed for a century, it has now been discovered that the Titanic did not split in two on the surface, but spit somewhere under the ocean on its way to the bottom of the sea.

I haven't even watched the video but it's kinda obvious the titanic collapsed under it's own weight and went "hehe I commit split in half"

honor and glory have to make another one now!

In other words, take an empty roll of Christmas wrapping paper and bend it in half. Does it tear from the top down, or buckle at the bottom first?

The Titanic broke in the middle though between the second funnel and Third funnel.

wait, there is a problem here... you depict the ship as having an even keel, and thats why it doesnt capsize. What would change with the 10° list to port?

There is something else besides force, or major stress that can forced steel to come apart; metal fatigue. This is why steel paperclips break if you bend them back and forth enough. This is what mostly likely happened to B deck. It initially acted like a hinge, but after flexing one way and then another during the break up, metal fatigue caused the steel the deck was made of to fail. This failure most likely occured when the area of the break was under water and the relative bouyancy of the air filled aft section acted against the weight of the water filled forward section causing B deck to essentially tear. This would also account for the conflicting witness reports.

We should make another titanic and sink it like the og to find out how it actually went down and broke

Imagine being that one unlucky person whose cabin kept water out and your stuck in your cabin as all this goes on. And then you go to the bottom of the ocean.

The titanics in 3 pieces. The debris that was found was a huge chunk that broke off during the breakup.

Great work, but it’s too dark. You should have converted the light to daylight. I know that’s not historically accurate, but it would have made the animation much clearer.

Then how in hell is the keel stretched?

Poor Tom Lysnkey might have to re-write some major parts...

My question is. Was the keel one piece or multiple pieces welded together. And it broke at a weld.

R.i.p for every one on titanic I hope you have a great day and never go on a ship called the unsinkable ship

The hull broke in just before and below of the 3rd Funnel and between 3rd and 4th funnel, because there was the high engine room on the tank top. Below the 3rd funnel were the boiler rooms 1 and 2 on the tank top. The theory of a break only between 2nd and 3rd funnel is not correct. A short middlepart of the hull was totally destroyed through the breaks.

There are SO many stars in this video's night sky, even James Cameron would think it is overkill. :D

Water pressure build up in the front lower compartments Water is heavier when concentrated in one spot. 60k or 70k tons being hoisted up into the air, stress in the middle.. There’s your answer

This was very interesting and very informative to watch.

This makes the most sense to me.

6:30 he called the aft Grand Staircase second class. It was first class and first class permanent, that is not an area that can be released for second class use as it connects to over 4 first class areas; First Class Smoking Room, First Class Lounge, Cafe Parisian, and the Á La Carte restaurant.

This theory does explain a lot, but it does fail to explain one thing. Parts of the ship that were in the firing line of the compression failure (namely the boilers from Boiler Room 1 and the double bottom pieces) are almost pristine aside from a century of corrosion. If these parts of the ship were compressed then shouldn't the boilers resemble scrunched up coke cans and the double bottom a scrunched up ball of paper?

I think that too much water poured into the ship and it became so heavy it broke.

I'm happy with the length of this, as Titanic videos can be a real time sink.