Oceangate Titan

[jviss]

I'm surprised there's no discussion of this on the forum. (Maybe I missed it?).

I found this in another forum, with which I agree:

"There’s a massive search effort underway. Information about the safety of the vessel, and the cavalier attitude in that regard of the CEO, is surfacing.

The most likely failure scenario is that the hull failed and imploded, which would have happened remarkably quickly at depth; probably less than a second. Mercifully, the end for the occupants was quick; they probably didn’t even know it happened, and if they did see signs the hull was failing, that realization didn’t last long.

I find it remarkable that tourists with so much money could assume such extraordinary risk. I wonder if they knew, or had even research the history of this vessel? Its issues are in the public record. If they did research it, they chose to ignore it. I mean, the manufacturer of the view port wouldn’t even certify the maximum depth of that part past 1300 meters. The Titanic is at just shy of 4000 meters.

God rest their souls, and bless their survivors."

 

[kappykaplan]

jviss, tks for posting this. I've been following the story in the news. Very scary.

 

[Rick Webb]

My claustrophobia meter pegged when a previous sightseer mentioned that even if they were able to surface on their own, they are not able to get out of the thing as they are bolted in from the outside.

Not a design feature I'd relish as an occupant.

 

[jviss]

It is scary. It disturbs me, thinking of the passengers.

My claustrophobia meter pegged when a previous sightseer mentioned that even if they were able to surface on their own, they are not able to get out of the thing as they are bolted in from the outside.

Not a design feature I'd relish as an occupant.

Agreed. The company clearly didn't care much about safety, and the system didn't have much of anything in the way of rescue systems, if any. I would have thought it would at least be making regular pings so it could be located. But apparently not.

 

[Kings Gambit]

I’ve been watching the news on it daily as well. There is a lot of hopeful talk and actions transpiring. If it requires two to two and a half hr for the submersible to descend to 3,800 m, but surface communication with it was lost after 1 hr and 45 min, then…? If if did not implode before reaching the bottom, (1) did it continue its dive w/o the communication that it needs to find the wreckage and become hung-up somehow?, or (2) did it surface w/o communication and become lost at the surface?

I doubt the mother ship would start searching b/fTitan was declared overdue, something like 6-8 hr after loss of communication so it might have drifted afar if surfaced. However, it’s incomprehensible to me that the sub would not have an emergency “radio beacon” to alert the mother ship that it had surfaced (unexpectedly) without regular communication, etc., and report its location. But if it did surface w/o working beacon the CG would have found it by now anyway. Very odd. Regrettably, the most parsimonious explanation, i.e., the one with the fewest ad hoc postulates, is that it imploded, likely at a depth greater than 3,000 m, b/f reaching the bottom. That would be in the range of about 5,000 to 5,600 p.s.i. of hull pressure.

 

[kloudie1]

Pressure vessel Injun-Ear types will know how touchy/tricky external pressure design is.. some art, some engineering. Combine that with a carbon fiber composite shell and its propensity to fail catastrophically without warning (see mast failures in the around the world race) , and I think they'll be looking at recovery of a squashed, fragmented machine.. Really unfortunate and sad.

 

[Kings Gambit]

It’s fairly well known among those who pay much attention that “pressure cycling” weakens the containing structures. We hear about this frequently with respect to aircraft and pressurized cylinders (SCUBA tanks) but also less well-known, with respect to certain oceanographic equipment deployed deep. Titan evidently had a few “successful dives” to the wreck and back; but it evidently did not have in place a hull certification program, at least not a rigorous one, to revise the limit of depth safely attainable after repeated cycling.

 

[Kings Gambit]

My claustrophobia meter pegged when a previous sightseer mentioned that even if they were able to surface on their own, they are not able to get out of the thing as they are bolted in from the outside.

Not a design feature I'd relish as an occupant.

It probably would not help survival chances much even if the hull could be open via a hatch when surfaced. These craft ride low in the water when at the surface, awash with seas; at least with respect to the sphere containing the crew. In short, the compartment (sphere) would begin to flood if opened. These submersibles are brought aboard the mother ship after surfacing before the hatch is opened for crew exit. If the crew could exit with the craft awash b/f flooding completely (and sink), then there they’d be in the water with no “boat.” Not standard procedure.

 

[Kings Gambit]

It is scary. It disturbs me, thinking of the passengers.

Agreed. The company clearly didn't care much about safety, and the system didn't have much of anything in the way of rescue systems, if any. I would have thought it would at least be making regular pings so it could be located. But apparently not.

It might not be pinging if destroyed; however, there are fully encased pingers used in oceanography research that would survive destruction of the craft itself. They would have to be activated, however. I admit surprise that if pingers are attached, why are they not operating all of the time? Battery issues? If you find the pinger w/o the craft, you know what likely happened.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Latest. Canadian vessel Horizon Artic’s ROV reports discovery of “debris field” near wreck ofTitanic. Presumably a fresh one.

 

[rgranger]

Latest. Canadian vessel Horizon Artic’s ROV reports discovery of “debris field” near wreck ofTitanic. Presumably a fresh one.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Watching coverage, it appears that the next Titanic-related disaster movie or documentary is slowly taking shape.

 

[ggrizzard]

Coast Guard is putting out a presser at 3:00 PM EDT today (Thursday).

 

[Kings Gambit]

Report all crew believed perished from catastrophic implosion/failure of pressure compartment on the way down.

 

[kappykaplan]

Report all crew believed perished from catastrophic implosion/failure of pressure compartment on the way down.

So sad . . .

 

[rgranger]

Watching coverage, it appears that the next Titanic-related disaster movie or documentary is slowly taking shape.

Too soon

 

[Rick Webb]

Watching coverage, it appears that the next Titanic-related disaster movie or documentary is slowly taking shape.

I said the same thing three days ago.

I also told my wife I was not going to watch the new movie either.

 

[capta]

I also have been watching this since the beginning and I thought more toward hypoxia than implosion. The first indication of a problem was when communication was lost, though nobody could find any reason for it. I think they just quietly fell asleep and there was nobody to play with the game controller. If, in an uncontrolled descent, it could be miles away from it's intended track.
I doubt that the military would admit to it, but I'm pretty sure an implosion of that size could be heard by military underwater listening devices from hundreds of miles away, if not more.
And the Titanic claims 5 more lives 113 years after the original disaster.

 

[Rick486]

Stand by for the law suits......

 

[kappykaplan]

I doubt that the military would admit to it, but I'm pretty sure an implosion of that size could be heard by military underwater listening devices from hundreds of miles away, if not more.

News reports this evening that it's likely that a Navy acoustic system heard the implosion on Sunday night and the Navy passed the information to the Coast Guard.