Hindenburg vs Titanic: Survival Rates
The Hindenburg disaster is often compared with the sinking of the Titanic, and there is a common misconception that the Hindenburg crash was more deadly. In fact, the opposite is true.
Only 32% of those on the Titanic’s maiden voyage survived the sinking. For certain groups of people, such as Third Class passengers and crew, the survival rate was even lower, and Second and Third Class men fared even worse; only 10% of Second Class men (15 of 157) and 14% of Third Class men (69 of 476) survived the sinking.
In contrast, the majority of passengers and crew on the Hindenburg’s last flight survived the disaster (which was not caused by the flammability of the Hindenburg’s covering, which is another misconception).
Survival Rate on Hindenburg
| On Board | Survived | Died | Percent Survived | |
| Passengers | 36 | 23 | 13 | 64% |
| Crew | 61 | 39 | 22 | 64% |
| Total | 97 | 62 | 35 | 64% |
Survival Rate on Titanic
Figures for the Titanic tragedy differ slightly among various sources, but the numbers presented by the United States Senate Inquiry are generally representative:
| On Board | Survived | Died | Percent Survived | |
| 1st Class | 329 | 199 | 130 | 60% |
| 2nd Class | 285 | 119 | 166 | 42% |
| 3rd Class | 710 | 174 | 536 | 25% |
| Passengers | 1,324 | 492 | 832 | 37% |
| Crew | 899 | 214 | 685 | 24% |
| Total | 2,223 | 706 | 1,517 | 32% |
Titanic survival rates as determined by United States Senate Inquiry (click to enlarge)
A comparison of the two disasters reflects especially poorly on the officers of the Titanic. The Hindenburg disaster took less than a minute, and survival was largely a matter of chance. The RMS Titanic, on the other hand, took almost two and a half hours to sink, and the ship remained level for much of that time; if the Titanic’s officers had acted with competence and professionalism there could have been an orderly evacuation. Instead, many of Titanic’s lifeboats were launched less than half full. Tragedy on a large scale was unavoidable, given the shortage of lifeboats carried by Titanic, but an orderly evacuation, taking full advantage of the lifeboats’ capacity to hold 1,178 persons, would have saved almost 500 additional lives.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
After the Titanic disaster they didn’t stop building oceanliners. So why after the Hindenburg did they cancel airship travel? People don’t stop flying after an airplane crash. I’d love to see a return of the zeppelin. With much more advanced technology it should be safer. Fill it with hydrogen, I’d ride in it.
With the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic …my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims and the survivors….may they all rest in peace…….sorry i mispelled peace…..
Also you’re being very unfair. Titanic has 2,200 while the Hindenberg had about 200. So numbers are a bit skewed. Also it is true it took the ship 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink. However We have to take out about 40 minutes to find out what was going on and to deduce the ship would sink. You then lose about another 20 minutes or so at the end when it would have been impossible. So you’re dealing with about an hour and 40 minutes to get the lifeboats ready and sent off. Dealing with passengers who don’t know what’s going on to avoid a panic with time not on your side.
Now that being said the officers are not blameless but a lot of this has to with Captain Smith. He canceled a lifeboat drill, had the officers seen the lifeboats full they would have been less afraid that they’d buckle something that they couldn’t deal with. The women and children first order wasn’t being followed the same way on both sides of the ship which further slowed the loading. Again Smith should have checked his orders were being followed the way he wanted. With one officer believing it was women and children first and should remain that way until no more women and children were on board while the other it was women and children first and then men when there were no more women and children in sight.
The size of the ship doesn’t help either with third class being forgotten about until it was too late. Had they helped them up to boat deck right away more lives could have been saved.
Honestly though this is more on Smith than the officers as a whole. No on recalls seeing him really that night. Cancelling the lifeboat drill was a killer, it was a new ship and people were still learning what their jobs were. Trying to learn it when the ship is sinking is a poor time to start learning. So yeah they failed but I believe had that happened on another voyage and the officers had time to gel it may have changed. Still the Hidenberg crew did a great job and honestly were amazing.
There does have to be some fairness given to the Titanic officers though who were dealing with hubris and a clock that was against them.
In fairness to the officers, many passengers very foolishly refused to get into the lifeboats.
interesting facts thanks
What does it mean when it says “In fact, the opposite is true.”
Also, what was the loss of property in the disaster? because i could not find it.
Melanie,
It means the people who think the Hindenburg was more deadly than the Titanic are wrong. The survival rate on the Titanic was only 32%, where as the survival rate of the Hindenburg was 64%.
If only the Titanic had been filled with Hydrogen like the Hindenberg,
the tragic sinking could have been avoided!
I like that! Funny.
Both Titanic and Hindenburg had sister ships traveling home in the opposite direction. Olympic was going back to England while the Graf Zeppelin was on its way back to Germany from South America.
this is really great and will help me on my project on the Hindenburg!!!
PEACE OUT
-OAMEK!!
great page, wish the airship era was still with us – so much class