The US Coast Guard is in the early stages of an investigation into the submersible’s demise
Titanic sub wreckage returned to surface
This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. © OceanGate Expeditions via AP
Mangled debris from the Titan submersible, which imploded during a dive to the Titanic wreck in the north Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, was returned to the surface on Wednesday.
Large sections of what appear to be the Titan’s hull were brought ashore in Newfoundland, Canada on Wednesday, following their retrieval earlier in the day, along with landing skids used to touch the vessel down on the ocean floor. The submersible’s rear cover was also found among the debris, the US Coast Guard said.
It is hoped that the wreckage will help reveal the cause of the critical error that resulted in the sub’s implosion, which is thought to have occurred around an hour and forty-five minutes after it began its descent to the Titanic site on June 18. All five people aboard were killed in the incident, including the vessel’s designer, Stockton Rush.
What was initially a search-and-rescue operation has become a recovery operation being overseen by the US-based Pelagic Research Services. It said on Wednesday that its workers have been “working around the clock now for ten days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones.”
🚨 JUST IN: Wreckage of the Titan submersible has been successfully retrieved from the sea floor.
The Titan is believed to have imploded last week about 1,600ft from the Titanic killing all five crew members on board instantly.
(📸 Paul Daly) pic.twitter.com/f3MwRS6NjV
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 28, 2023
Since the wreckage was located last week, several questions have been raised about the submersible’s experimental design. It was constructed with two titanium end caps, along with a carbon-fiber cylinder in between – unconventional methods that prompted criticism from some members of the deep-sea-diving community.
‘Titanic’ filmmaker James Cameron, who has visited the wreckage site of the 1912 disaster more than 30 times, was among the critics of Rush’s design. The submersible’s two titanium end caps were among the debris recovered on Wednesday. The sub’s porthole was also recovered, but with its window missing, according to the BBC.
The Titan, which was operated by the deep-sea exploration company OceanGate, was not subject to regulation. Rush had previously dismissed safety concerns, writing in an email that he was “tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation.”
The US Coast Guard is in the early stages of an investigation into Titan’s destruction. It is hoped that the probe will determine the cause of the implosion, as well as make recommendations so future tragedies can be prevented. The government agency has declared the Titan implosion to be a “major marine casualty.”
One thing is for sure, Ocean Gate is gone as a company: Regardless of if they are sued by families or are prosecuted or fined by authorities, nobody would get into their submersibles ever again.
If the CEO wanted to do tourism, why did he not buy a few Triton 13000/2 submersibles which have an acrylic sphere which is ideal for amazing underwater visibility. They do cost a bit and only take the pilot plus one passenger, but they would last a long time and be safe. Also, they do have seats …
Or, perhaps he could have approached Triton and asked them to develop a submersible with an acrylic sphere that could take more passengers to that depth in a collaboration? That would have made much more sense than developing something completely new and untested – carbon fiber rather than titanium/steel/acrylic, cylinder rather than sphere for the pressure vessel, unclassed rather than classed – and taking it to those extremes with passengers.
If something is learned from this, I hope it is not just the technical but also the psychological: Why was the CEO’s mindset so fixed that he ignored safety advice from so many sources?
The first news reports are usually the best, I copied this when I saw it.
“The US Coast Guard has found a piece of a deep-sea submersible in a “debris field” near the sunken wreck of the Titanic. The vessel’s five passengers all died in a “catastrophic explosion,” the military branch said.
“A debris field was discovered within the search area by [a Remotely Operated Vehicle] near the Titanic,” the Coast Guard’s northeastern district said in a statement on Thursday. In a press conference later that afternoon, District Commander Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters that the tail cone of the submersible was found amid the debris.
So lets see what they are saying here, first that the sub exploded, you would think that the USCG would know the difference between an explosion and an implosion”
Also this, OceanGate’s Titan submersible — a cramped, 22-foot-long vessel piloted by a gaming controller — lost communications around one hour and 45 minutes into its eight-hour descent to the Titanic wreck site, which sits about 12,500 feet below the surface roughly 900 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
So it would have been at around 3000′ when it happened, considering that it had done about ten successful dives to 12,500′ that seems a little suspicious but wait there’s more.
Possibly, however consider this, the owner of the lost vessel is Stockton Rush who is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder (2009) of OceanGate Inc. Rush has an extensive US military background which includes McDonnell Douglas Corporation as a Flight Test Engineer on the F-15 program where he spent two years at Edwards Air Force Base on the APG-63 radar test program and then on the Anti-Satellite Missile Program serving as the sole full-time representative of McDonnell Douglas. He served on the Board of Directors for Seattle’s BlueView Technologies, a manufacturer of small, high-frequency sonar systems; and he was involved in the company’s acquisition by Teledyne Inc, a leading provider of cutting-edge subsea technologies. Additionally, he has served as board member for Entomo, an enterprise software developer focused on post-sale channel management and financial reporting as well as serving as Chairman of Remote Control Technology, Inc. (RCT), a manufacturer of wireless remote-control devices for several Fortune 500 industrial clients, including Exxon, Conoco-Philips and Boeing. Moreover, he also built a fully functional heavily modified two-man submersible called Kittredge K-350. His company is based out of Everett, Washington. Did Stockton Rush provide consulting to the US Navy about operations around the Nord Stream pipelines? He certainly has the knowledge, skills, equipment and connections to be a consultant or even an active participant in this operation. Why would the US military prevent a far more capable rescue vehicle from assisting in this critical operation? The US is even preventing a multinational team effort with their best of allies. Something very fishy is going on here. Was Stockton Rush onboard the disabled submersible? Are (they) trying to ensure that he stays silent?
Well I heard that too, and there’s a lot of things which seem very peculiar. The wreckage looks more like it was exploded than imploded, and they hadn’t submerged for that long either. The US coastguard did not want anyone else involved but yet there was such a delay in retrieving any wreckage on their part.
What I also heard was that one of the millionaires on board was a ‘friend’ of Ghislaine Maxwell. A witness.
Was this just another story or did they round up this guy as well? Two birds with one stone. But all quite plausable knowing what these people do and are capable of doing. There’s a few things which don’t add up that’s for sure.
And the story of them down in the murky depths for days possibly still alive with just hours left of oxygen was a bit drawn out too, such a drama and they knew all along that they were gonners. My partner kept giving me updates and other possible stories, at first I couldn’t bear it then it became a little intriguing then more and more so🤔.