Missing Titanic submarine: Vessel plagued by concerns about possibly ‘catastrophic’ technical issues before it disappeared
Brady Knox
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The tourist submarine that went missing while surveying the wreck of the Titanic was the subject of concerns from experts and observers over its design and lack of certification by any kind of marine regulatory body.
Titan, a Cyclops-class manned submersible, was designed and built by OceanGate, Inc., for “site survey and inspection, research and data collection, film and media production, and deep sea testing of hardware and software,” according to the company. While it has been touted by the company as a state-of-the-art machine, experts and observers expressed concerns about several technical features.
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In 2018, the Marine Technology Society sent a letter to OceanGate, expressing its “unanimous concern” regarding the Titan submersible.
“This letter is sent on behalf of our industry members who have collectively expressed unanimous concern regarding the development of ‘TITAN’ and the planned Titanic Expedition,” the letter, obtained by the New York Times, read. “Our apprehension is that the current experimental approach adopted by OceanGate could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry.”
The letter specifically took issue with the company’s decision to forgo DNV-GL class rules.
“Your representation is, at minimum, misleading to the public and breaches an industry-wide professional code of conduct we all endeavor to uphold,” it read.
Following the disappearance, the MTS announced that it has “no official information or comment to offer.”
OceanGate is open about its lack of a DNV-GL classification, which is meant to assure “ship owners, insurers, and regulators that vessels are designed, constructed, and inspected to accepted standards,” according to the company’s website. Its reasoning for eschewing classification was the claim that the classification process was too lengthy, and smothered innovation.
“While classing agencies are willing to pursue the certification of new and innovative designs and ideas, they often have a multi-year approval cycle due to a lack of pre-existing standards,” a blog post on OceanGate’s website read. “Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation.”
Criticisms of safety standards were a theme of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush’s public statements on the sub. In a 2022 episode of CBS journalist David Pogue’s Unsung Science podcast, Rush was dismissive of safety standards.
“You know, at some point, safety is just pure waste,” he said. “I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed, don’t get in your car, don’t do anything. At some point, you’re going to take some risk, and it really is a risk-reward question.”
Pogue himself was invited on a trip inside the Titan sometime before its disappearance, and in a subsequent report relayed his concerns over its “improvised” design.
“I couldn’t help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised,” he said, adding that some components seemed “jerry-rigged.”
Pogue also read out the waiver passengers have to sign, which warns that the vessel “‘has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, motion trauma, or death.’”
The reporter also relayed a concerning incident when the Titan got lost for five hours while Pogue was in the control room, leading to the team cutting off internet access so he couldn’t tweet about it.
“To be clear, I was not on the sub that day — I was on the ship at the surface, in the control room. They could still send short texts to the sub, but did not know where it was. It was quiet and very tense, and they shut off the ship’s internet to prevent us from tweeting,” he tweeted.
https://twitter.com/Pogue/status/1670835763536183297?s=20
The OceanGate CEO also appeared to stress the importance of recruiting younger workers to inspire passengers. Rush said that he didn’t want to hire “50-year-old white guys,” specifically ones who are ex-Navy, because they weren’t “inspirational.”
https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1671372796876984320?s=20
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Others familiar with the matter reported concerns about the structural integrity of the Titan just weeks before its disappearance.
“Have been contacted by reliable informant who says that he warned about Titan submersible having structural issues five weeks ago,” former Royal Navy Rear Admiral Chris Parry tweeted.
https://twitter.com/DrChrisParry/status/1670868373515665439?s=20