titanic

[almusic10]

how big was the titanic, compared with the ships made today?

[Fibonacci]

I think the following website will answer your question

http://www.rpsoft2000.com/shipsize.htm

[scmissionary]

I'm nots sure of ship sizes today bu here is some information on the Titanic:
Its length is 882 1/2 feet long, (three or four city blocks). It was a ship with anchors that weigh 15 1/2 tons, with each chain link weighing 175 pounds. It had a double bottom 5 feet thick to insure additional safety.

[morbidstorm]

And it was the first ship to have a swimming pool on board as well. (not a joke or pun by the way)

[Octavius]

Titanic was 882.5 feet in length and 46,300 tonnes.

Project Genesis (ordered in 2006) which is a class of Royal Caribbean cruise ships and is due to be delivered in 2009 (not yet named but likely to be called 'Genesis of the Seas' will be 1,181 feet long and 220,000 tonnes.

By far the giant of the seas is the supertanker Knock Nevis (formerly the Jahre Viking) which is 1,504 feet (more than the length of 4 football pitches and about 1.25 Eiffel Towers!) and 650,000 odd tonnes when fully loaded, launched in 1981, damaged during the Iran/Iraq war and refloated in 1991. This tanker has a crew of 40 and is unable to negotiate the English Channel when laden.

Accordingly a new breed of ship called the Freedom is apparently being built and is said to be designed to be 1 mile long, with the ability to fit the Titanic, Queen Mary, USS Nimitz and the Knock Nevis (Jahre Viking) within it.

http://www.dxman.com/undir/big-ship/jahre%20vi king.htm

[Matheous]

I can't quite get my head around the method used to measure a ship's 'weight' versus the amount of water it displaces.....eg. the weight of it being as if it was on dry land? not ,of course forgetting tonnes & tons....

[Octavius]

Most ships I think are recorded using "dwt" which is short for deadweight tons. The deadweight of a ship is the weight of what it carries, which is mostly its cargo, but also includes fuel, stores, etc. The weight of the ship itself is called its "lightweight". Deadweight + lightweight = displacement.

In the shipping world, a ton is not always a measurement of weight. The confusion is caused by the old custom of measuring merchant ships' capacity in 'tons' of 100 cubic feet. (Originally the 'tons' or 'tuns' were large barrels used to carry cargo).

Two tonnages are calculated for merchant ships. Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) measures the interior volume of the ship, with a few minor exceptions. Much of this volume is unprofitable to the owners, but it is the measurement generally quoted, as it gives a general idea of a ship's size. Net Registered Tonnage is also calculated. This includes only the volume capable of being used for profitable purposes and excludes spaces unavailable to passengers or cargo, such as the engineroom, fuel tanks and the crew's quarters. Taxes and charges are often based on NRT.

The real weight of a merchant ship is generally only of interest to her designers. It is known as displacement, as it is equal to the weight of the water displaced by the ship when floating at her designed waterline. Deadweight varies widely, according to the ship's function. A large cruise ship may have a deadweight of as little as 7,000 tons, while a very large oil tanker may have a deadweight of more than 300,000 tons. It may be noted that that deadweight is generally given in British tons of 2,240 pounds, or in tonnes of 1,000 kilograms.

So using only 'GRT - gross tonnage' as a comparison:
Titanic - 46,238 tons
Knockl Nevis - 236,710 tons
Freedom - 158,000 tons

The confusion arises between what is important to ship designers and builders, the Board