What oft-repeated historical innaccuracy bugs you most?

2016-04-21T10:14:37-04:00

We've all seen it at least once; somebody who probably should know better says something we know to be demonstrably false. I've got several of these; the Bismarck was the most powerful battleship ever, the Nazis weren't socialist, etc. But the one that I saw yesterday ticks me off the most; the watertight bulkheads on the Titanic were a design flaw. Nope, they were fine for the design.

Response by 1stSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 21 at 2016 10:17 AM

2016-04-21T10:17:15-04:00

That the Sherman Tank was awesome, when in actuality it was a gas bomb waiting to go off.

Response by SSG Ed Mikus made Apr 21 at 2016 10:18 AM

2016-04-21T10:18:08-04:00

I saw this somewhere the other day as well. while i was not sure, i didn't think that was right.

Response by Col Jim Harmon made Apr 21 at 2016 10:26 AM

2016-04-21T10:26:03-04:00

The U.S. is a democracy.
That one should be right at the top of everyone's list.

Response by Capt Walter Miller made Apr 21 at 2016 10:34 AM

2016-04-21T10:34:05-04:00

Good question! Bothers me: The false idea that President Lincoln freed the slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation. The EP only freed slaves in the areas of the country not currently under federal control. The 13th Amendment ended involuntary servitude in the USA. The story is brilliantly told in Spielberg's "Lincoln".

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 21 at 2016 10:37 AM

2016-04-21T10:37:32-04:00

I've actually got three:

1. That the US had only a minor/late role in WWI

2. That there was only one, vs. the actual two, Socialist Revolutions in Russia

3. That the P-51 was the "best" fighter of WWII

Response by 1LT Aaron Barr made Apr 21 at 2016 10:42 AM

2016-04-21T10:42:21-04:00

I was limited in the amount of what I could write in the question itself so I thought I'd add to why the bulkheads were NOT a design flaw. ANY hollow object whose material is heavier than water that floats has a limit of the amount of weight that can be added before the weight exceeds its buoyancy and causes it to sink. The engineers who designed the Titanic knew this as well as the weight and volume of the ship, the weight of a given amount of water and how much that weight would cause the waterline of the ship to lower. They also knew that flooding will stop when the level of the water in a flooded compartment equalizes with the surrounding ocean.

Titanic had 15 watertight bulkheads dividing the ship into 16 compartments. Any two compartments or the front four compartments could be flooded without the ship sinking. It would obviously settle lower in the water but the reserve buoyancy from the rest of the ship would keep it afloat. However, if more than the front 4 compartments were breached, the weight of the water would exceed the reserve buoyancy and cause the ship to sink.

Much of the criticism of the Titanic's bulkheads revolves around the idea that they weren't high enough nor were they sealed from the top. The 'problem', so the story goes, is that the compartments not being sealed from the top allowed water to top the bulkheads and flood the next compartment aft, which was only exacerbated by the bulkheads being too low allowing this to happen more quickly than otherwise. These are false criticism as neither would've changed the outcome given the damage that the Titanic sustained.

As the front 5 compartments flooded, the weight of the water pulled the ship down by the bow. No matter how high the bulkheads were, they couldn't stop this and even if the bulkheads extended all the way to the very top of the vessel, the flooding would continue and cause the ship to sink. The same would apply even if the bulkheads could be sealed from the top; the weight of the water already within the front five compartments would've dragged the ship under by the bow and caused the interior of the ship to flood from above once the bow itself was dragged under water.

The men who designed the Titanic weren't foolish nor did they shirk their duty to the safety of the ship's passengers and crew, at least as far as the bulkheads go. Titanic's bulkheads were high enough that the water would NEVER top the bulkheads provided that the ship didn't have enough compartments opened to the sea to cause her to sink. If, however, enough compartments were opened and the pumps not able to keep ahead of the flooding, she would've sank no matter what else happened. Plenty of military vessels, with far more comprehensive subdivision and higher bulkheads sealable from above have sunk when the amount of hull opened to the sea was too much. Titanic was no different and to criticize the designers for not wasting resources on what would've amounted to polishing the brass on their ship as she sank is a disservice to them and their profession.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Apr 21 at 2016 11:24 AM

2016-04-21T11:24:32-04:00

A number of factors contributed to the sinking in which "watertight" compartments aren't sealed on top is just one. They were open on top because it was a cruise ship with crew needing rapid access. When the ship pitched forward, the water overflowed forward into others, making the ship tip down much faster. Brittle steel plates on the hull, problematical rivets, and the list goes on. However, at the time the fabrication was pretty much state of the art. Titanic sank because nobody was figuring a ship would be driven into an iceberg for a glancing blow at speed. So the ship was operated outside of it's unknown limits and Murphy's Law applied. Like airliners, it typically takes a series of specific things going wrong in a specific sequence to bring one down. BTW, there's an interesting history on the Liberty Ships splitting their spines. The HMS Hood had a well know vulnerability to plunging fire in which it's last turn was started about 30 seconds too late and a low odds shot ended it all.

Response by Capt Walter Miller made Apr 21 at 2016 11:47 AM

2016-04-21T11:47:17-04:00

I am in a Facebook group about Battleships. They are always creaming over the Yamato.

Reading “The Bombers and the Bombed” by Dr. Overy. Hitler abolished all the unions, but as you point out, there was a strong streak of socialism in German culture. Amazing to relate that the Germans had a program to pay workers for time lost – if their factories were out of action due to Allied bombing! Maybe that is where the US automakers got the idea for job banks.

I think one of the enduring appeals of the Titanic story is that somehow the iceberg opened up 4 of the 6 watertight compartments. Did someone say, “God himself couldn’t sink this ship”?

Walt

Response by MSG Brad Sand made Apr 21 at 2016 11:53 AM

2016-04-21T11:53:59-04:00

As a student of history, the question brings to many things too the surface to list here. The one that always drives me crazy are the ones about the Crusades. That is was something that the Christian West initiated out of a historical vacuum, and not a reaction to hundreds of years of Muslim aggression or that is was Western land grab, ETC.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 21 at 2016 1:16 PM

2016-04-21T13:16:01-04:00

1LT Aaron Barr The misconception that Roman Gladiator Battles were blood baths.It is widely believed that these battles resulted in 30 men dying in one fight and 1 in 200 fights always resulted in killing. The truth is that gladiators were really expensive (think about the training and equipment). An injured man always resulted in the fight coming to an end. Gladiators were very well cared for by those that owned them.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 21 at 2016 2:22 PM

2016-04-21T14:22:37-04:00

That Democrats have always been the party of the minorities, the workers, the underprivileged, the huddled masses. The KKK, for example, was their pet group throughout the late 1800s and into the very early 1900s. Historical and irrefutable fact!!!

Response by LTC David Brown made Apr 21 at 2016 7:54 PM

2016-04-21T19:54:23-04:00

The requirements for more life boats were one of the factors that resulted in the Eastland sinking. http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,7,1,1,12

Programs A-Z | WTTW Chicago

Response by MCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 24 at 2016 4:00 AM

2016-04-24T04:00:01-04:00

Let's see...

1. Medieval folk were dirty and smelly - bathing rarely.
2. The Salem Witch Trials killed hundreds of supposed witches.
3. There was only one Inquisition.
4. The US Navy has been around since 1775.
5. Madonna was a good singer...

There are others, but those are a good start.

Response by CPL James Zielinski made Apr 29 at 2016 9:20 AM

2016-04-29T09:20:21-04:00

That the Republican party is the party of the KKK when in fact the Democrat party formed the KKK to keep northern Republicans from coming south and registering blacks to vote, and that the parties had a secret meeting at some time in the 60's where they switched platforms so that the Republicans could ascend the mantle of hate. I'm sorry to be political, but this really grates me.