>>47164771This.
The Titanic was more than likely swapped with its sister ship, the Olympic (iirc, I can never keep track of the Olympic and Gigantic's histories, sue me), which had previously suffered a major harbor collision that damaged its superstructure (This damage was EXACTLY where the Titanic snapped).
The Titanic was reported to have had a mysterious fire burning in its lower decks from the time it left port, along with other odd quirks like an uncanny list, which is in line with superstructure damage.
The ship was very under-capacity, which, for a maiden voyage of a ship of this fame and hype, was odd. A number of high profile guests all suddenly cancelled their voyages before departure.
The captain chosen to command the Titanic was an extraordinarily odd choice to command a supposedly historic ship, being essentially an all-but-incompetent, infamous numbnuts.
The captain of the nearby ship that picked up survivors behaved very strangely the night of the Titanic's sinking, he kept asking people bringing him reports what color the signal flares were, and asking for a specific, non-standard color, that the Titanic did eventually fire. He was also stationed where he was, doing nothing in particular, for no real reason.
The internal investigation and legal proceedings following the accident happened quietly, with almost unheard of expediency, and entirely behind closed doors.
By all accounts, the idea was to sink the damaged Olympic, claim the undamaged Titanic's insurance policy, and let the Titanic continue a quiet life of work elsewhere.
A patsy of a captain was chosen, and a salvage crew was on standby to rescue the underfilled Titanic's crew, and was told to await a certain signal.
The real disaster was a navigation fuckup that put the "Titanic" some ways away from where it was supposed to sink, and the poor emergency maneuvering of the ship resulting in the collision causing far more damage to the hull than anticipated, and so sinking much faster.
