Ocean Grave
The US Coast Guard has released more footage of the debris of OceanGate’s doomed Titan submersible, which imploded during its descent to the site of the Titanic wreck last year, killing all five people on board.
Captured by the Coast Guard’s remotely operated vehicle, the footage shows the drone approach the submersible’s horrifically mangled pressure hull, along with spherical domes that once formed the front and end of that compartment.
This is the best look yet at what was once the pressurized portion of the Titan. The initial footage, released earlier this week, depicted the tail cone, left mostly intact because it was part of the submersible’s non-pressurized portion that contained its life support system.
The pressure hull was largely composed of carbon fiber, a decision which has come to be widely criticized, as the material is thought to be too fragile to survive such depths compared to stronger alternatives like titanium, especially when paired with the submersible’s unusual pill shape. As the footage shows, all that remains of the carbon fiber are the black fragments scattered around wreckage. Some of the titanium components, meanwhile, appear intact.
Safety Last
The footage was released as part of an ongoing hearing to investigate the chain of events that led to the disaster.
At the heart of the controversy is OceanGate’s former CEO Stockton Rush, who died on board the vessel. Rush had once bragged that safety was a “waste,” and bemoaned regulations that he saw as stifling innovation. He also sued one of his engineers for raising safety concerns.
The submersible’s unorthodox design, which Rush advocated for, has also come under the microscope. The carbon fiber was already an usual choice of material in itself — even more so with the revelation that it was only pressure tested to destruction once, and failed.
At the hearing, OceanGate’s former engineering director Tony Nissen testified that he was fired in 2019 after protesting that the Titan’s hull was unsafe. He also said that Stockton had no interest in complying with the industry’s standard — although not legally mandatory — regulations.
“I wouldn’t say there was no effort,” Nissen said, as quoted by The New York Times. “There was no desire by Stockton to go do it.”
The hearing, which began Monday, will last for two weeks. Expect even more damning details to emerge.
More on OceanGate: The Doomed Sub’s Final Messages Before Imploding Are Pretty Grim
