History Channel Documentaries

Titanic's Achilles Heel (2007x23)

Air date: Jun 01, 2007

For years, the focus of the Titanic disaster has been on the notorious iceberg that gouged the ship as it cruised through the North Atlantic in April 1912. But was the iceberg the only thing that contributed to the sinking of this legendary vessel? In this eye-opening program, follow the History(R) crew as it explores the explosive theory that the doomed liner may have had a fatal design flaw - one which could have caused it to sink even if it had not struck the iceberg. While examining data from the crew's pioneering 2005 expedition to the Titanic wreck site, marine architect Roger Long was shown a document from the Belfast shipbuilder Harland and Wolff, which illustrated a curious feature of the Titanic - a poorly designed expansion joint. Could this have been the weak point in the ship that caused it to break in two as it sank on the night of April 15, 1912? To find out, elite divers Richie Kohler and John Chatterton, along with their team, return to the Titanic, and later explore the wreck of its equally ill-fated sister ship, the Britannic, in search of evidence to substantiate Long's theory. Featuring advanced CGI technology, archive documents and photographs, as well as footage from the modern-day History(R) expeditions, "Titanic's Achilles Heel" is a remarkable journey into the ongoing legacy of a ship that continues to capture the world's attention.