RMS Titanic

RMS Titanic (also SS Titanic) was the second of a trio of superliners intended to dominate the transatlantic travel business.{{ref|trio_ref}} Owned by the White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, the Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of its launching. During Titanic's maiden voyage, it struck an iceberg at 11:40 PM (ship's time) on Sunday evening April 14, 1912, and sank two hours and forty minutes later at 2:20 AM Monday morning.

Comparable maritime disasters

The Titanic was at the time one of the worst maritime disasters in history in terms of loss of life, a similar disaster of this scale having never happened out on the heavily travelled North Atlantic route. However, Titanic's death toll was exceeded by the explosion and sinking of the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River in 1865, where 1,700 died.

Related Topics:
''Sultana'' - Mississippi River

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The worst peacetime maritime disaster happened on 21 December, 1987, when the passenger ferry Doña Paz sank in the Philippines after colliding with the oil tanker Vector and catching fire. The sinking of Doña Paz claimed between 1,500 and 4,000 lives. However, the worst maritime disasters happened during wartime. The three worst were German ships. The SS Cap Arcona was sunk by the Royal Air Force on May 3, 1945, with an estimated death toll of more than 7,700, the Goya was sunk with an estimated 7,000 dead, and the Wilhelm Gustloff with an estimated death toll between 6,000 and 9,000, the latter two by Soviet submarines in 1945.

Related Topics:
21 December - 1987 - Doña Paz - SS ''Cap Arcona'' - Royal Air Force - May 3 - 1945 - Goya - Wilhelm Gustloff

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The Titanic was not the first White Star Line ship to sink with loss of life. The RMS Tayleur, which has been compared to the sinking of the Titanic, sank after running aground in Ireland. The Tayleur was also technically innovative when it sank on its maiden voyage in 1854. Of its 558 passengers and crew, 276 were lost. Also similar to the Titanic was the Hans Hedtoft. In January 1959 the Hans Hedtoft, a Danish liner sailing from Greenland, struck an iceberg and sank. The Hans Hedtoft was also on its maiden voyage and was boasted to be "unsinkable" because of its strong design.

Related Topics:
RMS ''Tayleur'' - Hans Hedtoft - January - 1959 - Danish - Greenland

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It has been noted that two-thirds of the passengers and crew were lost on the Titanic. The ratio has been repeated with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and the sinking of the RMS Leinster.{{ref|deathratio}}

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Both were sunk by German U-Boats in World War One.

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