How many hours did Titanic stay afloat after hitting the iceberg?

Titanic stayed afloat for 2 hours and 40 minutes after striking the iceberg. The collision occurred at about 11:40 p.m. ship’s time on 14 April 1912, and the ship disappeared beneath the North Atlantic at approximately 2:20 a.m. on 15 April.

The interval was long enough for the crew to send distress signals and begin loading lifeboats, but too short to evacuate everyone safely. Titanic had received several warnings about sea ice that day and was travelling at roughly 22 knots when lookouts spotted the iceberg. The ship could not turn quickly enough to avoid it.

The impact damaged the starboard side and allowed water into six of the ship’s sixteen main compartments. Titanic had been designed to remain afloat with up to four forward compartments flooded, so the damage exceeded its survival assumptions. Pumps could slow the flooding but could not remove water fast enough.

A common mix-up is to count the time until rescue rather than the time Titanic remained afloat. The rescue ship Carpathia arrived later; the 2-hour-40-minute figure ends when Titanic sank, not when survivors were picked up.