Here’s the video on the report I mentioned in my prior comment:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/SSTi

It concludes the bridge officers made the optimum turn, anything else would have been worse (e.g. by slashing the stern as well) apart from steering directly *into* the berg. The bow of the ship was by far the strongest portion because the highest risk of collision was head-on. Also, only the forward water-tight compartment (or two) would have been ruptured. The ship and people on it would have been fine — except for the unfortunate crew members who had living quarters in the bow. But who steers directly into an obstacle?

“The Titanic’s sister ship Olympic rammed a U-boat during WWI and survived.”

Ramming a U-boat would have been like squashing a grape for Titanic. But remember how Titanic’s other sister ship Britannic also went to the bottom on its maiden voyage in WWI, in a near inexplicable manner.

I don’t think anyone noted that the lifeboats they had sailed off 40% empty. They’d have done better to have lifeboat drills.

Also, the definitive 100-year review of the sinking pretty much debunks all the popular stories about low-quality steel, money-saving shortcuts that sacrificed safety, etc. The Titanic was actually extremely well built, over engineered re specifications, the safest of ships of the era.

In fact, during the CSPAN (so you know how dry and detailed it was) program on the review one of its authors said White Star line “overcompensated” by building in very expensive but pointless safety improvements in its other ships after the Titanic sinking.

The fact is that Titanic sideswiped a berg that sliced through five of its watertight compartments. No ship was going to survive that. But it was an extremely low probability event.

Now, if the bridge officers had steered directly *into* the berg (rather than away from it, leading to the sideswipe) it would have kept sailing right on home with a dented bow, and today be the answer to a trivia question: “What famous ocean liner steered straight into an iceberg on its maiden voyage?” But who making an instant decision is going to decide to steer a ship *into* an iceberg?

BTW, Titanic’s sister ship Britannic *also* sank on its maiden voyage(!) — even after all the extra safety improvements were built into it. It was serving as a hospital ship in WWI when it either hit a mine or was hit by a German torpedo.

The thing is, such a small explosion should have done little damage to such a big ship with so many (more!) water-tight compartments … but Britannic sank like a stone with serious loss of life. Why it sank so quickly is to this day a much bigger mystery than the causes of the Titanic’s sinking … though it’s never gotten the public’s attention.

The Titanic’s sister ship Olympic rammed a U-boat during WWI and survived.

If I were travelling on Titanic 3rd class I probably would not have spoken English and been woken up at midnight by a crewman speaking incomprehensible. I would’ve had to understand English and figure out how to get through hallways up top to the lifeboat deck. But also been blocked by locked gates.

Had the ship sitting ten miles away had been listening to its radio, it would have arrived in an hour to rescue the poor souls