What was RMS Titanic?

15 April marks the anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic.

When it was launched in 1911, more than 100 years ago, it was the world's biggest and most luxurious ship.

The construction of the huge liner was seen as a very big achievement at the time, and was even described by some as "unsinkable".

However, just four days into its first voyage from the UK to America, it hit an iceberg and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean.

To this day, the Titanic disaster and the hundreds of people who lost their lives are still remembered.

Keep reading to find out more about the famous ship.

Titanic was the largest man-made object ever to have taken to the seas, at the time of its construction.

Two men designed the ship - Alexander Carlisle and Thomas Andrews.

It took three years to build the liner in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, with 15,000 people involved in the process.

Titanic's construction cost around £1.5 million - which is around £170 million in today's money.

When Titanic was launched, in May 1911, it was seen as the peak of Belfast's golden age of shipbuilding.

More than 100,000 people packed the docks in Belfast to watch the launch.

Titanic was a huge ship.

It weighed 24,000 tonnes, and measured 269 metres long, 28 metres wide, and over 53 metres tall - that's the same height as Nelson's Column in central London.

It had ten decks, three engines and its furnaces burnt through over 600 tonnes of coal a day.

Titanic's full title was RMS Titanic as it was a Royal Mail ship carrying nearly 3500 sacks of mail including all sorts of letters and packages.

Titanic's first voyage saw the huge ship leave Southampton, on the south coast of England, on Wednesday 10 April 1912.

The liner stopped off in northern France and Ireland to pick up more passengers, before starting its journey across the Atlantic Ocean, on its way to America.

RMS Titanic was scheduled to arrive at Pier 59 in New York City on the morning of Wednesday April 17 1912.

There were more than 2,200 people on board Titanic on its maiden voyage - around 1,300 passengers and 900 crew.

However, the ship wasn't full and could have had around another 1,300 people on board.

Passengers on Titanic came from many different backgrounds and had different reasons for travelling.

There were businessmen on board heading to the US to make important deals and holidaymakers travelling for leisure. While other people just wanted to experience life on board the world's biggest and most luxurious ship.

A lot of people, including families, were also travelling to make a better life for themselves in America.

At 11.40pm on Sunday 14 April 1912, the Titanic was just four days into its first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean when it struck an iceberg.

Within minutes of hitting the iceberg the ship began to take on thousands of tonnes of sea water through holes in its side.

The captain, Edward J Smith, ordered the lifeboats to be lowered, with women and children taking the first spots.

There were enough spaces for 1,000 passengers, which was not enough for all the people on board.

In addition, many of the available boats were launched only half full.

When it started sinking, Captain Smith remained on board the ship and it's thought that he drowned when it sank.

When the Titanic sank, the nearest ship to answer its calls for help was the Carpathia, but it was four hours away so was only able to rescue some of the passengers.

Around 700 passengers were rescued, however more than 1,500 people are thought to have died.

As it sank, the Titanic broke into two parts before it settled on the ocean floor.

For decades people searched for the wreckage.

In 1985, ocean explorers found it 2.5 miles underwater and 370 miles off the east coast of Canada.

In 1987, the first salvage expedition collected 1,800 Titanic artefacts, and in 1998 a section of the hull was raised.

In 2010, the site was mapped by robots and in 2012 the wreck became a site protected by Unesco - Also known as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Three years ago, never before seen footage of the shipwreck was released by ocean explorers.

While parts of the wreck were in surprisingly good condition, it appeared that other features had been lost to the sea.