3D scan of Titanic sheds new light on doomed liner’s final moments

The amazing outcomes of a project to produce 3D underwater scans of the lost ocean liner RMS Titanic, which sank 113 years ago, are shown in a new documentary.

According to a National Geographic statement released Tuesday, "Titanic: The Digital Resurrection" narrates how deep-sea mapping firm Magellan produced "the most precise model of the Titanic ever created: a full-scale, 1:1 digital twin, accurate down to the rivet."

The Titanic was regarded as unsinkable and the biggest passenger ship in operation when it sailed on April 10, 1912.

Four days later, at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, turning her first journey into a global catastrophe. In less than three hours, she sank.

There weren't enough lifeboats on the ship to accommodate the 2,220 or so passengers. The Titanic became the most well-known shipwreck in history when the catastrophe claimed the lives of over 1,500 people. Just over 700 people survived.

Filmmaker Anthony Geffen is able "to reconstruct the ship's final moments—challenging long-held assumptions and revealing new insights into what truly happened on that fateful night in 1912" in the 90-minute National Geographic documentary, the announcement reads.

In the movie, master mariner Chris Hearn, metallurgist Jennifer Hooper, and Titanic analyst Parks Stephenson tour a full-scale model of the ship, pointing out elements that were previously obscured.

One important discovery is a steam valve that is clearly open, supporting reports that engineers remained at their positions in Boiler Room Two for over two hours following the Titanic's impact with the iceberg.

The 35 men in the boiler room may have given their lives to save hundreds of others because this kept the electricity flowing and enabled the crew to broadcast distress signals.

In order to demonstrate that the Titanic "was violently torn apart, ripping through first-class cabins where prominent passengers like J.J. Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim may have sought refuge as the ship went down," the team also reconstructs hull parts that were discovered dispersed throughout the site.