How Titanic COULD have survived: Digital model reveals how a head-on collision with the iceberg would have been less damaging than the glancing blow

Nearly 113 years after she sank, RMS Titanic is still revealing her secrets.

Incredible new digital images of the ill-fated luxury ocean liner’s remains let scientists reconstruct its demise in groundbreaking detail. 

Deep sea mapping firm Magellan Ltd sent submersibles to survey all parts of the wreck, which lies about 13,000 feet under the water’s surface in the Atlantic Ocean. 

The results, subject of a new National Geographic documentary, show Titanic like never before – as a full-scale ‘digital twin’. 

And according to the detailed 3D model, Titanic could have survived if circumstances on the night of April 14, 1912 had been only marginally different.

In fact, scientists think that a head-on collision with the iceberg would have been less damaging than the glancing blow.

‘Titanic has never given up her secrets easily,’ said Yasmin Khan, professor of modern history at the University of Oxford.

‘Viewing it has been like shining a flashlight into the dark – until now.’

RMS Titanic – owned and operated by British company White Star Line – tragically sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912 after a collision with an iceberg, killing an estimated 1,517 of the 2,224 people on board.

During the collision, Titanic only made a glancing blow against the iceberg. 

‘We used advanced numerical algorithms, computational modelling and supercomputing capabilities to reconstruct the Titanic sinking,’ Jeom-Kee Paik, professor of marine technology at University College London, told the BBC.

According to Professor Paik’s calculations, the iceberg’s 6.3-second impact left an 18 square foot gash in Titanic’s starboard (right) side. 

In all, the gash stretched across six compartments, from the ‘forepeak’ at the very front of the ship to the No. 5 boiler room further back.   

The results show that these two compartments either side of the entire incision were only just penetrated, but flooded nonetheless. 

Titanic was designed to survive the flooding of four compartments, but tragically not six – so the flooding of forepeak and No. 5 boiler room were key. 

If the lookouts had seen the iceberg and relayed their warning message mere seconds earlier, the berg’s incision may not have stretched such a length across the starboard. 

Potentially, fewer compartments would have been penetrated and history could have been very different.  

The results also reinforce the belief that many more lives could have been saved if the ship had not turned course at all. 

If Titanic had suffered a head-on collision, hundreds of souls would likely have been killed by the impact – but not thousands. 

Only the front few compartments would likely have flooded – suggesting the ship wouldn’t have sunk and could have remained afloat until a rescue ship arrived. 

It was back in 2022, that filmmaker Anthony Geffen and his team followed experts at Magellan Ltd as they mapped the wreck 12,500 feet below the North Atlantic. 

Over three weeks, they produced 16 terabytes of data, 715,000 still images, and 4K footage, capturing the Titanic in unparalleled detail. 

After extensive analysis, a team of leading historians, engineers, and forensic experts reconstruct the ship’s final moments – revealing new insights into what happened.

Among the new insights are a view of the boiler room near where the liner split in two. Some of the boilers are concave, which shows they were still operating as they were plunged into the icy water. 

A team led by Cumbria-born engineer Joseph Bell worked to shovel coal into the furnaces to keep the lights on as long as possible as the water encroached.  

All men died in the disaster but their heroic actions saved many lives by giving crew time to launch the lifeboats safely, Mr Stephenson told the BBC. 

‘They held the chaos at bay as long as possible, and all of that was kind of symbolised by this open steam valve just sitting there on the stern,’ he said. 

Also revealed by the scans is a valve in an open position, indicating that steam was still flowing into Titanic’s electricity generating system. 

This backs up eyewitness reports from the fateful night that a team of brave engineers worked right to the end to keep the ship’s lights on. 

Further analysis of the digital scans adds to the evidence clearing First Officer William Murdoch, long accused of abandoning his post. 

The position of a lifeboat davit – seen in new hi-res detail – suggests his crew was preparing a launch moments before the starboard side was engulfed, corroborating Second Officer Charles Lightoller’s testimony that Murdoch was swept away by the sea. 

Titanic broke in half just before it made its final plunge in the early hours of April 15, 1912, and now two parts of the ship – the bow and the stern – lie 2,600 feet apart.

Titanic’s stern (the back of the ship) is a twisted mess of metal after it hit the ocean floor still rotating in a counter-clockwise direction. 

The V-shaped bow is more recognisable, complete with railings, although much of it is buried under mud due to the force of impact. 

Both halves are surrounded by a field of debris consisting of bits of metal, pieces of furniture, unopened champagne bottles and even passengers’ shoes. 

The wreck wasn’t located until September 1, 1985 – a discovery that made global headlines. 

Nearly 40 years later, the 90-minute National Geographic documentary unveils ‘the most precise model of the Titanic ever created’. 

Titanic analyst Parks Stephenson, metallurgist Jennifer Hooper and mariner Captain Chris Hearn dissect the wreckage up close on a full-scale colossal LED volume stage, walking around the ship in its final resting place. 

The full footage can be seen in Titanic: The Digital Resurrection on Tuesday 15th April at 8pm on the National Geographic Channel.