We hear stories of sailors surviving ships sinking due to being inside compartments filled with air. Why can’t we just build ships with compartments designed to do this in case of sinking?
In: Engineering
We do.
Ships are built with bulkheads and watertight compartments which let’s them take damage in certain spots and stay afloat
RMS Titanic is probably the most famous ship with good compartmentalization. It had 16 watertight compartments and could stay afloat if up to four were flooded, but damage to more than four results in too much weight and not enough buoyancy and then sinking.
Warships had much more extensive compartmentalization because they were expected to have a good number flood during action.
But in the end, some of your compartments will flood and you can’t make useful unfloodable compartments, only unless ones filled with foam like on really small boats
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