The Titanic was an Olympic class cruise ship under the British White Star Line, with a displacement of 46000 tons. Construction began on March 31, 1909 at the Harland and Wolff shipyards, and was launched on May 31, 1911. It was completed and tested on April 2, 1912.

The Titanic was the largest and most luxurious passenger ship in the world at that time, with the reputation of "unsinkable". On its first voyage, it departed from Southampton, England and headed towards New York, USA. At around 23:40 on April 14, 1912, the Titanic collided with an iceberg, causing a rupture from the starboard bow to the middle of the ship and flooding five watertight compartments. At around 2:20 am on April 15th, the Titanic's hull broke into two pieces and sank to a depth of 3700 meters at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Out of 2224 crew members and passengers, 1517 died, with only 333 bodies recovered. The sinking of the Titanic was the deadliest maritime disaster in peacetime, and its wreckage was not rediscovered until 1985, under the protection of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.