New Digital Scan of Titanic Offers Groundbreaking Insights into the Ship’s Final Hours

Science & Tech 12:20 09.04.2025

A detailed analysis of a full-sized digital scan of the Titanic has revealed new insight into the doomed liner's final hours.
The exact 3D replica shows the violence of how the ship ripped in two as it sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912 - 1,500 people lost their lives in the disaster.The scan provides a new view of a boiler room, confirming eye-witness accounts that engineers worked right to the end to keep the ship's lights on.And a computer simulation also suggests that punctures in the hull the size of A4 pieces of paper led to the ship's demise.

"Titanic is the last surviving eyewitness to the disaster, and she still has stories to tell," said Parks Stephenson, a Titanic analyst.The scan has been studied for a new documentary by National Geographic and Atlantic Productions called Titanic: The Digital Resurrection.The wreck, which lies 3,800m down in the icy waters of the Atlantic, was mapped using underwater robots.More than 700,000 images, taken from every angle, were used to create the "digital twin", which was revealed exclusively to the world by BBC News in 2023.

Because the wreck is so large and lies in the gloom of the deep, exploring it with submersibles only shows tantalising snapshots. The scan, however, provides the first full view of the Titanic.The immense bow lies upright on the seafloor, almost as if the ship were continuing its voyage.But sitting 600m away, the stern is a heap of mangled metal. The damage was caused as it slammed into the sea floor after the ship broke in half.

The new mapping technology is providing a different way to study the ship.The scan shows new close-up details, including a porthole that was most likely smashed by the iceberg. It tallies with the eye-witness reports of survivors that ice came into some people's cabins during the collision.Experts have been studying one of the Titanic's huge boiler rooms - it's easy to see on the scan because it sits at the rear of the bow section at the point where the ship broke in two.

Passengers said that the lights were still on as the ship plunged beneath the waves.The digital replica shows that some of the boilers are concave, which suggests they were still operating as they were plunged into the water.Lying on the deck of the stern, a valve has also been discovered in an open position, indicating that steam was still flowing into the electricity generating system.This would have been thanks to a team of engineers led by Joseph Bell who stayed behind to shovel coal into the furnaces to keep the lights on.All died in the disaster but their heroic actions saved many lives, said Parks Stephenson.

"They kept the lights and the power working to the end, to give the crew time to launch the lifeboats safely with some light instead of in absolute darkness," he told the BBC.A new simulation has also provided further insights into the sinking.It takes a detailed structural model of the ship, created from Titanic's blueprints, and also information about its speed, direction and position, to predict the damage that was caused as it hit the iceberg.

"We used advanced numerical algorithms, computational modelling and supercomputing capabilities to reconstruct the Titanic sinking," said Prof Jeom-Kee Paik, from University College London, who led the research.
The simulation shows that as the ship made only a glancing blow against the iceberg it was left with a series of punctures running in a line along a narrow section of the hull.Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable, designed to stay afloat even if four of its watertight compartments flooded. But the simulation calculates the iceberg's damage was spread across six compartments.

"The difference between Titanic sinking and not sinking are down to the fine margins of holes about the size of a piece of paper," said Simon Benson, an associate lecturer in naval architecture at the University of Newcastle.

"But the problem is that those small holes are across a long length of the ship, so the flood water comes in slowly but surely into all of those holes, and then eventually the compartments are flooded over the top and the Titanic sinks."
Unfortunately the damage cannot be seen on the scan as the lower section of the bow is hidden beneath the sediment.

The human tragedy of the Titanic is still very much visible.Personal possessions from the ship's passengers are scattered across the sea floor.The scan is providing new clues about that cold night in 1912, but it will take experts years to fully scrutinise every detail of the 3D replica.

"She's only giving her stories to us a little bit at a time," said Parks Stephenson.

Madina Mammadova\\EDnews

IEPF issued a statement regarding Azerbaijani children at the UN Human Rights Council

News line

Pashinyan arrives in Türkiye on working visit
14:56 20.06.2025
Mher Grigoryan: Azerbaijan, Armenia continue to work within border delimitation
13:03 20.06.2025
Araghchi: UN Security Council Must Respond to Israeli Attack on Khondab Nuclear Facility
11:00 20.06.2025
Belarus Contributing to Development of Azerbaijan's Industry, Says Ambassador
10:59 20.06.2025
Netherlands Embassy in Tel Aviv Damaged During Iran's Missile Strike
13:05 19.06.2025
Azerbaijan and BP Discuss Decarbonization and Energy Projects Amid Strengthening Strategic Partnership
13:00 19.06.2025
Delegates of 65th PABSEC General Assembly Begin Official Visit to Karabakh
11:54 19.06.2025
UK, German, and French Foreign Ministers to Hold High-Level Talks with Iran on June 20 in Geneva
11:44 19.06.2025
Ambassador: Azerbaijan Ready to Cooperate with Mexico in Energy Transition
11:10 19.06.2025
Azerbaijan Showcases Literary Heritage at Beijing International Book Fair
17:00 18.06.2025
Minsk Hosts Public Discussion on Return to Western Azerbaijan
16:55 18.06.2025
German Foreign Minister Urges Iran to Make Concessions, Supports Israel’s Concerns
16:41 18.06.2025
Explosions Rock Eastern Tehran Amid Escalating Israel-Iran Tensions
15:38 18.06.2025
Türkiye’s Strategic Role in the Turkic World Genci Muçaj
15:10 18.06.2025
Khamenei: Iran Will Emerge Victorious in Conflict With Israel
13:51 18.06.2025
Mobilization Against Peace: Armenia's Return to a Radical Past
17:01 17.06.2025
Israel prepares more complex operation against Iran
13:50 17.06.2025
Armenia and India discuss evacuation of Indian students from Iran
12:01 17.06.2025
Navies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan start joint exercises
11:58 17.06.2025
Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency: 1,258 hectares cleared of mines last week
11:53 17.06.2025
More than 600 citizens of 17 countries evacuated from Iran via Azerbaijan
11:44 17.06.2025
IEA: Azerbaijan falls short of OPEC+ quota by 0.08 million b/d in May
11:41 17.06.2025
Iran attacks military sites in Tel Aviv, Haifa with 'new weapon' and drones
11:37 17.06.2025
Foreign diplomats briefed on addressing IDP issues in Azerbaijan
11:33 17.06.2025
Israeli-linked hackers claim to have hacked Iran's Bank Sepah
11:29 17.06.2025
Turkic states' investment promotion platform launched
10:53 17.06.2025
Israel strengthens borders with Egypt and Jordan, some troops withdrawn from Gaza
15:16 16.06.2025
Israel says it has full control of Tehran's airspace
15:11 16.06.2025
Poland plans to evacuate its citizens in Israel via Jordan
15:07 16.06.2025
10 Tajik citizens evacuated from Iran via Azerbaijan
13:58 16.06.2025
Erdogan and Pezeshkian spoke by phone, discussing Turkey's mediation
13:52 16.06.2025
Some AZAL flights scheduled for today have been canceled, while others have been suspended until the end of the month
13:35 16.06.2025
Erdogan and Putin discussed the Israel Iran conflict
13:17 16.06.2025
Azerbaijani and Uzbek Foreign Ministers discuss security issues in the region J
13:03 16.06.2025
Presentation of books dedicated to the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan held in Paris
12:48 16.06.2025
Kremlin: Russia has handed over more than 6000 bodies to Ukraine
12:27 16.06.2025
It is still unclear what exactly the European Union wants
14:15 14.06.2025
The Caspian Sea is not a dividing, but a unifying factor.
14:02 14.06.2025
Trump and Zelensky Will Not Meet at NATO Summit Due to Risk of Conflict
12:04 14.06.2025
Fitch affirms Azerbaijan's investment grade, raises country ceiling to 'BBB'
10:46 14.06.2025
Hamısı