<Tr> <Td> Speed: </Td> <Td> 12.0 knots (22.2 km / h; 13.8 mph) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Crew: </Td> <Td> 55 Officers and crew </Td> </Tr> <P> The SS Californian was a British Leyland Line steamship that is best known for its inaction during the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, despite being the closest ship in the area . The United States Senate inquiry and British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry into the sinking both concluded that the Californian could have saved many or all of the lives that were lost, had a prompt response been mounted to the Titanic's distress rockets . The U.S. Senate inquiry was particularly critical of the vessel's Captain, Stanley Lord, calling his inaction during the disaster "reprehensible". </P> <P> Despite this criticism, no formal charges were ever brought against Lord and his crew for their actions . Lord disputed the findings and would spend the rest of his life trying to clear his name . In 1992, the UK Government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch re-examined the case and while condemning the inaction of the Californian, also concluded that due to the limited time available, "the effect of Californian taking proper action would have been no more than to place on her the task actually carried out by Carpathia, that is the rescue of those who escaped...(no) reasonably probable action by Captain Lord could have led to a different outcome of the tragedy ." </P>

Was there a ship close to the titanic
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