Titan submersible

The submersible named the Titan took explorers down to the RMS Titanic at the ocean floor in the northern Atlantic Ocean. As constructed, the Titan was 22-foot (6.7-meter) long.

This Titan submersible reportedly imploded from water pressure in its initial descent, apparently prior to reaching the Titanic itself, but the evidence supports an explosion as much as an implosion. All five passengers were tragically killed.

Canada discovered the wreckage, although the U.S. Coast Guard had been searching for days. Reportedly the U.S. Navy had detected the likely implosion of the Titan but this information was withheld by the Biden Administration from the public and apparently the rescue efforts.

Underreported by the liberal media, as it clamors for regulation, was how this particular sub (the Titan) had successfully completed 13 trips to the Titanic in addition to other successful underwater voyages. The company in charge of the submersible, OceanGate, successfully took 46 people to the Titanic in 2021 and 2022:

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At least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate’s submersible to the Titanic in 2021 and 2022, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that oversees matters involving the shipwreck site.

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Speculation about flaws

There has been extensive discussion on the internet speculating as to possible engineering flaws in the Titan, but the cause of its implosion or explosion remains unclear.

Oxygen tank fire?

Deadly, oxygen tank fires occur in hospitals, and appear as plausible to have been the cause as the media-presumed implosion of the sub from water pressure.

Nearly a third of the sub consisted of oxygen.

A fire from a spark aboard Apollo 1 killed all the astronauts while still on the launchpad, before liftoff.

Evidence pointing towards an explosion, rather than implosion, include:

• the detection of the incident by the Navy, which would be easier if it were an explosion
• the lack of discovery of the bodies
• the lack of any distress signal that a leak would have immediately caused
• the risk of an implosion from water pressure had been exhaustively discussed and analyzed, while another risk (such as from a spark-induced fire) was perhaps overlooked.

The urge for some to say "I told you so" with their own backbiting against Stockton Rush distorts an objective understanding of what the real cause was.

Materials used

Movie director James Cameron, who has made many trips to the Titanic, criticized OceanGate for using composite materials rather than titanium (which is very expensive) or steel (which is heavy). The New York Post described Cameron's view as follows:

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The material likely led to the “critical failure” that claimed the lives of five passengers aboard the minivan-sized craft, Cameron told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “You don’t use composites for vessels that are seeing external pressure,” he said. “They’re great for internal pressure vessels like scuba tanks, for example, but they’re terrible for external pressure.”

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Managerial/personnel policy flaws of the Oceangate company

Experts raised safety concerns about OceanGate Titan in 2018, but many other experts and journalists felt that safety had been prioritized.

Titan submersible and wokeness in its personnel policies

OceanGate's CEO was Stockton Rush.

The OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush didn't hire '50-year-old white guys' because they're not 'inspirational'. Identity politics was a bigger priority in personnel policy over experience and competence.

The Titan submersible used video game controllers with inexpensive plastic parts which are known to have significant failure rates.

The website Information Liberation notes:

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Former OceanGate director of marine operations David Lochridge -- one of those "50-year-old white guys" Rush wanted to avoid hiring for not being "inspirational" enough -- was fired by Rush in 2018 after he reportedly blew the whistle on OceanGate by raising safety concerns over their first-of-a-kind carbon fiber hull and other systems. From TechCrunch, "A whistleblower raised safety concerns about OceanGate’s submersible in 2018. Then he was fired.": David Lochridge was terminated in January 2018 after presenting a scathing quality control report on the vessel to OceanGate's senior management, including founder and CEO Stockton Rush, who is on board the missing vessel. According to a court filing by Lochridge, the preamble to his report read: "Now is the time to properly address items that may pose a safety risk to personnel. Verbal communication of the key items I have addressed in my attached document have been dismissed on several occasions, so I feel now I must make this report so there is an official record in place." The report detailed "numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns," according to the filing. These included Lochridge's worry that "visible flaws" in the carbon fiber supplied to OceanGate raised the risk of small flaws expanding into larger tears during "pressure cycling." These are the huge pressure changes that the submersible would experience as it made its way and from the deep ocean floor. He noted that a previously tested scale model of the hull had "prevalent flaws." Carbon fiber composites can be stronger and lighter than steel, making a submersible naturally buoyant. But they can also be prone to sudden failure under stress.

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High Rubik's Cube solving skills of its 19-year-old passenger

The 19-year-old passenger was an expert at solving Rubik's Cube, and took it with him on the journey:

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[His mother] also told the BBC that the 19-year-old was a Rubik’s Cube obsessive who took the puzzle, which he could solve in 12 seconds, with him on the Titan. “Suleman did not go anywhere without his Rubik’s cube,” Dawood said.

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See also

• The 5 passengers on the Titan
• NY Post article about a prominent passenger who was a Frenchman living in New York City
• Planned use of Rubik's Cube by the teenager on the Titan
• Private equity