 Riveter at work on Consolidated bomber, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas. October 1942 |
Not ship. Not British. Wrong time period.
Posted on 04/19/2008 8:00:26 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Book by metallurgists blames rivets for Titanic tragedy
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[Note: The October 1942 photo of a WWII American woman worker was taken about 31 years after the first rivet was hammered into the Titanic during its construction phase in Ireland. A photo of any WWII American working during the massive WWII War effort is not appropriate in a story about the possible cause of the Titanic’s tragic demise. The photo has been removed. ]
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NEW YORK - The tragic sinking of the Titanic nearly a century ago can be blamed on low grade rivets that the ship's builders used on some parts of the ill-fated liner, two experts on metals conclude in a new book.
"Under the pressure to get these ships up, they ramped up the riveters, found materials from additional suppliers, and some was not of quality," said Foecke, a metallurgist at the U.S. government's National Institute of Standards and Technology who has been studying the Titanic for a decade.
This spelling is the same as a “Föcke.”
In German, when there is an umlaut (the two dots) over the vowels a, o or u, you pronounce it with your tongue flattened on the top of your mouth or towards the rear of your mouth.
The best approximation I can write is “Foae-cka.”
If any woman was responsible it would have to be Violet Jessop. She was a stewardess on the Olympic (Titanic’s sister ship) when it had it’s collision. She was a stewardess on the Titanic. She was also a nurse on the Britannic (Titanic’s other sister ship) when it was sunk during WW1.
The woman was cursed.
Rosie. Go rivet an iron,then iron my shirt.
Why link to a dumba** forum that changed the title of the original article? The photo is from WW2. The original article says nothing about women being involved.
You got it! It was like a giant ice tray. Pretty stupid construction, if you ask me. Wonder where they thought that water was going to go.
The whole post was an abuse of truth with the titling and photo. I'm seeing a lot this sort of thing from people with axes to grind.
The ship was supposed to survive holing as I recall and folks were surprised when it failed.
i agree though it’s convenient to blame women....there is more to ship building rather than simply who rivets
Nor did I. I read it once, then searched for keywords. The article linked to the thread does not even contain the word "female," "woman," "women," "ladies," or "lady." Talk about a dishonest (and boneheaded) headline.
You are right.Had they hit the berg straight on it would not have caused the gash that ran past serveral of the water tight bulkheads which doomed the ship.I think this story on bad rivets is so much hooey.
Yep, like the flawed design --and-- perhaps the arrogance of design and safety engineers to not require adequate lifeboats.
Archives studied referenced (if you read the links in comment) suggested Riveters quickly hired may well have been composed of women, because of historical events in Europe which effected employment/the workplace at the time of the building of the Titanic.
| "Until the first immigrant wave of Irish in the late 1830s, it was respectable for native born white single women to work in these factories. However, it was always understood that they would return to domestic pursuits after marriage. The immigrants changed the nature of the work force, while at the same time new technologies changed the types of jobs they performed. Mills became more structured and time-oriented, machines spun faster determining the pace of production, and employment was no longer seasonal. The Irish women saw factory work as a permanent job and so had a different outlook on their position." |
RELATED:
| The blight which devastated Ireland's potato crops in the late 1840's was not confined to Ireland alone. It also descended upon other countries, notably Belgium and the Netherlands. It is true that these countries also lost a percentage of their populations through famine-related deaths: the Netherlands suffered a death toll of 60,000 and Belgium lost 48,000 ‑ about 2% and a little over 1% of their respective populations. Yet at the same time Ireland, under the control of the British Government, lost a staggering 13% of its population to death by disease and starvation. |
FWIR, and where the alleged shoddy rivets come in, is that the collision ripped (and flooded) along a number of compartments, more than what the design could stand, er, anticipated.
So, the rivets giving way more easily than they should contributed to the problem.
Now, Typhoid Mary was cursed - being a carrier of typhoid and her only skill/trade was cooking.
| Riveter at work on Consolidated bomber, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas. October 1942 |
Not ship. Not British. Wrong time period.
I do believe that by the 1940s ships were mostly welded, not rivited. Both my parents worked in the Kaiser shipyards in Portland, OR......welding liberty ships.
This meant that even if the Titanic successfully made its maiden voyage, the ship would probably have ended up back at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in a few years to repair the metal fatigue damage from the use of sub-par structural steel. Remember, after the Titanic sank the earlier sister ship Olympic underwent major structural upgrades to ensure the ship would stay afloat longer in case of another impact with an iceberg.
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