Naval mine ship, HMHS "Britannic", which was the sister ship of the RMS "Titanic." During World War II, the U-boat fleet, which dominated much of the battle of the Atlantic, was small at the beginning of the war and much of the early action by German forces involved mining convoy routes and ports around Britain. German submarines also operated in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Caribbean Sea, and along the U.S. coast. Initially, contact mines (requiring a ship to physically strike a mine to detonate it) were employed, usually tethered at the end of a cable just below the surface of the
Sinking of the RMS Titanic reduced the rudder's effectiveness, therefore impairing the turning ability of the ship. Had Murdoch turned the ship while maintaining her forward speed, "Titanic" might have missed the iceberg with feet to spare. In 2010, Louise Patten asserted that her grandfather Charles Lightoller claimed that the helmsman Robert Hichens initially panicked and turned the rudder in the wrong direction and that subsequently Bruce Ismay ordered the boat to continue "Slow Ahead" in the belief that "Titanic" was unsinkable. This, allegedly, had never been revealed because of the insurance implications. In the event, "Titanic"s heading changed just in time to avoid a