# Titanic Question



## Jeff Taylor

I was looking at one of the innumerable Titanic do***entaries showing this week and picked up an odd fact. Apparently the electric service on Titanic was DC, logical enough back in 1912, and was at 100 volts??????????? Given that 100 volts was not a common voltage in the UK at the time, at least to my knowledge, isn't this an odd supply voltage to pick, or was it common on ships of that period. It seems odd that they would pick a voltage not common in the marketplace. Any thoughts?


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## Tmac1720

Power was generated from four 400 kilowatt engines and dynamos which were located in a special watertight compartment aft of the turbine room. Each engine was direct coupled to a compound wound continuous current dynamo with an output of 100 volts and 4000 amperes producing a collective capacity of 16,000 amperes.


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## Jeff Taylor

I assume Olympic must have been the same design, but was 100 volts typical of other major ships of the period? Mauretania? Lusitania? Aquitania? etc. Thanks, just curious.


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## Mechanic-H

Today we are used to a standard voltage, but in the days before the National Grid, there were no standard voltages.


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## Boatman25

*Power was generated from four 400 kilowatt engines and dynamos which were located in a special watertight compartment aft of the turbine room.*

This is probably why the lights stayed on for so long, until the last moments


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## Ian Harrod

Boatman25 said:


> *Power was generated from four 400 kilowatt engines and dynamos which were located in a special watertight compartment aft of the turbine room.*
> 
> This is probably why the lights stayed on for so long, until the last moments


In the "Poseidon Adventure", the lights stayed on even after the vessel capsized. Beat that!


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## billyboy

Ian Harrod said:


> In the "Poseidon Adventure", the lights stayed on even after the vessel capsized. Beat that!


And, The camera stayed the right way up too!


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## Full and by

billyboy said:


> And, The camera stayed the right way up too!


In the remake, all the control panels remained functional, fully immersed in seawater. I was impressed, shame it didn't turn out that way on the Concordia...


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## Tmac1720

H&W didn't build the Concordia.....(Gleam).... I'll get my coat... (Jester)


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## alan ward

billyboy said:


> And, The camera stayed the right way up too!


and where was all that music coming from?


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## Full and by

Rogo, Rogo, Rogo...


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## Farmer John

One of the things I remember about my few trips, no power, everything had to be battery driven, shockingly expensive to play LPs, pre cassette.

Blueys, 1965.


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## Ian Harrod

On the old DC ships, someone always had an inverter, a heavy, clumsy thing that was too big to take home when you paid off so it was usually sold to the highest bidder! Batteries were only an option if you had access to the Mate' or 2nds store!


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## TOM ALEXANDER

Had the "privilege" of being involved in a refit on a small, older B.C. Ferry (Vesuvius Queen) destined for tour work in the Dominican Republic as the Elupina Uno. Powered by a couple of old Vivian diesels if memory serves -- with generators at 110v D.C. the build date for the vessel appears to be 1950-1. All the "house" circuits, lights, etc. were at the 110v D.C.output.


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## ian fears

sailed on 2 DC ships thought they both 110v


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## Jim McFaul

Early Edison carbon filament lamps were designed to operate at 100v determined by a combination of the physics of the materials involved and the optimum costs of production.


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## Klaatu83

"It seems odd that they would pick a voltage not common in the marketplace. Any thoughts?"

Even today, not all ships are built with standard electrical generating systems. I was on three different vessels, all built by the Hyundai Shipyard in South Korea in the early 1990s, which were wired for 220 volts AC, but had electrical outlets of the type usually associated with 110 volt AC. Every room had to be supplied with a converter, and notices were posted all over the ship warning personnel NOT to plug electrical items into non-converted outlets.


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