OceanGate suspends operations after deadly Titan expedition

[mystery-ak]

 OceanGate suspends operations after deadly Titan expedition
by Lauren Sforza - 07/06/23 2:29 PM ET

The company that owned the submersible that imploded on its way to visit the 1912 wreck of the Titanic last month has suspended its expeditions. 

OceanGate owns the Titan submersible, which went missing June 18 after it lost communication less than two hours into its dive to visit the wreckage more than 2 miles beneath the ocean’s surface. The company said later that it believed all five passengers of the submersible to be dead following the U.S. Coast Guard’s determination that a debris field found near the last known location of the submersible was consistent with the “catastrophic implosion of the vessel.”

A notice on the top left corner of the OceanGate Expeditions website states that the company “has suspended all exploration and commercial operations.”

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was among the five passengers on the Titan submersible, along with Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet. 

more
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4083926-oceangate-suspends-operations-after-deadly-titan-expedition/

[mystery-ak]

Glue Holding Together The Doomed Titan Submersible Was Like 'Peanut Butter,' CEO Said
Brianna Lyman
2–3 minutes

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush once compared the glue used to hold the doomed Titan submersible together to “peanut butter.”

Rush made the statement in a 2018 video on the company’s YouTube channel, saying the glue used on the sub was “pretty thick, so it’s not like Elmer’s Glue, it’s like peanut butter.”

The deceased CEO also said the vessel’s carbon-fiber hull design was “pretty simple” and that “if we mess it up, there’s not a lot of recovery.”

The submersible departed off the coast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, June 18 but lost contact with the mother ship less than two hours after it began its descent in search of the Titanic wreckage. The imploded Titan debris was found days later near the infamous shipwreck.

Questions about the safety of the submersible were raised not only in the immediate aftermath but for years before the doomed mission. At least some of the sub’s electrical systems were allegedly designed by interns.

“The whole electrical system – that was our design, we implemented it and it works,” 2017 WSU Everett graduate Mark Walsh said in 2018. “We are on the precipice of making history and all of our systems are going down to the Titanic. It is an awesome feeling!”

morehttps://dailycaller.com/2023/07/06/titan-submersible-glue-peanut-butter-rush/

[Kamaji]

I've seen speculation that the ultimate cause of the disaster was a failure of the glue joint, possibly due to the different rates of expansion/contraction of the titanium and the carbon fiber.

[Smokin Joe]

Simple fact. Failure of propulsion or electrical systems would not likely mean anything other that inability to maneuver and bottoming. If the Sub's crush depth was adequate, that alone would not lead to implosion.

[Kamaji]

Simple fact. Failure of propulsion or electrical systems would not likely mean anything other that inability to maneuver and bottoming. If the Sub's crush depth was adequate, that alone would not lead to implosion.

Very true.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

I imagine everyone on the wait list for tickets is so very disappointed that they've "suspended" operations....

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I'm tired of hearing about this now. Not sure I care anymore. The people who willingly went were idiot IMO.

[mountaineer]

Oli London
@OliLondonTV

Leaked emails from OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who died alongside 4 others when the Titan submersible imploded have revealed he was warned repeatedly that the submersibles design was flawed and putting lives at risk.
Source: Daily Mail

https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1677640102892249090

[240B]

I've seen speculation that the ultimate cause of the disaster was a failure of the glue joint, possibly due to the different rates of expansion/contraction of the titanium and the carbon fiber.

True. However the craft was completely ALL electric. If they lost electricity then EVERYTHING on the craft would be shut down. He had some makeshift failsafe of sorts which involved dissolving ropes holding sandbags. The Wile E. Coyote plan was that if they lost power over several hours the ropes would break, drop the sandbags, and the sub would pop to the surface automatically.

It is unknown if this system was ever actually tested in real circumstances. And even if it was, this would assume that they had the time to wait for the ropes to dissolve and that the craft had enough buoyancy to rise. Silly, amature idea.

Also, there has been no discussion of simple 'panic'. I have seen people do very crazy (even suicidal) irrational things when they are facing death. There could very well have been complete pandemonium inside the sub when things started to go wrong. It is doubtful the Captain had a means of incapacitating and restraining people who lose all control and start wrecking everything around them.

It was a death trap, with a deadly naïve oblivious Captain.

[Kamaji]

True. However the craft was completely ALL electric. If they lost electricity then EVERYTHING on the craft would be shut down. He had some makeshift failsafe of sorts which involved dissolving ropes holding sandbags. The Wile E. Coyote plan was that if they lost power over several hours the ropes would break, drop the sandbags, and the sub would pop to the surface automatically.

It is unknown if this system was ever actually tested in real circumstances. And even if it was, this would assume that they had the time to wait for the ropes to dissolve and that the craft had enough buoyancy to rise. Silly, amature idea.

Also, there has been no discussion of simple 'panic'. I have seen people do very crazy (even suicidal) irrational things when they are facing death. There could very well have been complete pandemonium inside the sub when things started to go wrong. It is doubtful the Captain had a means of incapacitating and restraining people who lose all control and start wrecking everything around them.

It was a death trap, with a deadly naïve oblivious Captain.

True enough, but a loss of electric power, coupled with the failure of the ballast-dropping system, would not lead to the implosion of the craft itself, just to the death by asphyxiation or cold of the people inside.

[PeteS in CA]

Ya think?!