The Titanic sank after colliding with a large iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912, during its maiden voyage. The impact caused a series of hull breaches along about 300 feet of the ship's starboard side, allowing water to flood into the forward compartments

. The flooding began in the first five compartments, including cargo holds and boiler rooms. As these compartments filled with water, the bow of the ship dropped deeper into the ocean, causing water to spill over bulkheads into succeeding compartments in a chain reaction

. This progressive flooding overwhelmed the ship's pumps, which could only handle a fraction of the incoming water, leading to a rapid increase in the ship's displacement and a growing list first to starboard, then to port

. Structural factors contributed to the sinking. The rivets fastening the hull plates failed due to brittle fracture caused by the collision impact and the cold water temperature, which allowed water to enter through seams and cracks

. The steel plates also buckled and tore, worsening the flooding. As the bow sank lower, the angle of the ship increased, eventually reaching about 45 degrees before breaking apart. The boilers in the forward section broke loose due to structural failure and fell to the sea floor as the ship split

. The Titanic ultimately sank bow-first into the Atlantic Ocean within about two and a half hours after the collision

. In summary, the Titanic sank because the iceberg collision caused extensive hull damage that allowed uncontrollable flooding of multiple compartments, leading to loss of buoyancy and structural failure that caused the ship to break apart and sink