Titanic tourist sub goes missing in Atlantic Ocean, June 2023

[arielilane]

Statement from Capt. Hamish Harding's family and Action Aviation company recently posted on their website.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671249087843237889

https://twitter.com/WFLAJosh

 

[Gardenista]

Funny you should ask...
Starlink...

Elon Musk breaks silence on Titanic submarine that reportedly used Starlink internet

The sub disappeared on Monday, sparking a search for the vessel before it runs out of oxygen

www.independent.co.uk

This reporter is so privileged he doesn't even know what can happens when a bunch of devices hop on an internet connection. Either that or he's just saying this for dramatic effect.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Not sure if this has been posted, but here are the seven safety systems to help the sub return to the surface:

A visual guide to the Titanic sub rescue mission

Rescue teams are in a race against time as they battle poor visibility in a huge search area.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[gitana1]

Highlights from Day One as the search for the missing Titanic submersible continues

Coverage on this live blog has ended. Please click here for the latest updates.

www.nbcnews.com

The CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush, is on board the missing submersible that vanished during a mission to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, the company said Tuesday.

There's just 41 hours of oxygen supply left on the missing vessel, which is carrying five people, a U.S. Coast Guard official said Tuesday as the search for the Titan submersible continues.

The submersible is part of an OceanGate Expeditions tour that offers passengers a once-in-a-lifetime experience to explore the Titanic wreckage. It went missing Sunday after losing contact with the research vessel Polar Prince...

Why would the CEO get in a jimmy-rigged vessel?

 

[acutename]

Question : If they're found alive (& I hope so !), wouldn't they need to decompress on the way up so as not to get the 'bends' ?
They are in a submersible and not scuba diving, so as long as they're o.k., they could be raised as swiftly as possible ?

I think the idea is that the "cabin" is normal pressure and oxygen.... assuming it is functioning. Also I have been wondering if they are in complete darkness...they need the heater working too because it is seriously cold down there...and they discourage food and drink because of the limited waste facilities. It seems like torture if they are still alive and they are all smart so they would know how bad it is IMO.

 

[gliving]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671251709270581250

 

[MassGuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671273534134296578

 

[MassGuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671273758831550465

 

[ch_13]

The NY Times reports that a lot of people in the industry were very concerned about the sub's design.

OceanGate Was Warned of Potential for ‘Catastrophic’ Problems With Titanic Mission (Published 2023)

Experts inside and outside the company warned of potential dangers and urged the company to undergo a certification process.

www.nytimes.com

Leaders in the submersible craft industry were so worried about what they called the “experimental” approach of OceanGate, the company whose craft has gone missing, that they wrote a letter in 2018 warning of possible “catastrophic” problems with the submersible’s development and its planned mission to tour the Titanic wreckage.
...
The signatories — more than three dozen people, including oceanographers, submersible company executives and deep-sea explorers — warned that they had “unanimous concern” about OceanGate’s development of the Titan submersible, the same craft that is now missing in the North Atlantic with five people on board.


Edit - Here's a link to the actual letter: https://int.nyt.com/data/documentto...etter-to-ocean-gate/eddb63615a7b3764/full.pdf

 

[heartandsoul]

Based on the fact they were using a game controller to pilot the submersible, I would not hold my breath that there was a black box onboard.
Not a dumb question!

JMO

Absolutely mind blowing.

 

[Telltale]

RSBM

I'm not sure I understand this statement from 10 Downing Street. Why are they waiting to be asked to provide help in the search, especially since they are the host nation of NATO's submarine rescue capacity. There are at least three reported British citizens on the missing sub, and they need to be asked to offer assistance?

Hamish Harding - British citizen
Shahzada Dawood - British citizen
Sulaiman Dawood - British citizen

I don't get it. If the UK has NATO-approved submarine rescue capacity, what are they waiting for?


edited spelling

NATO submarine capability has a limit of around 600m. Military subs in general range from about 300m-600. There is a range naturally ofc dive significantly below that - this tends to be the safe dive depth, but few stay down deeper for any length of time.

Now the UK sets it's safe diving depths at 4/7th of the theoretical maximum, and every military tries not to advertise such a military edge. So let's say the NATO sub can reach theoretically (it had not been tested to our knowledge) 1200m under dier circumstances.


The Titanic's wreck is at a depth of nearly 4000m.

They can reach it.

The searchers know this, the Royal Navy knows this, they arn't about to make this desperate search about them

Neither can Russia with its titanium sub (2000m) or the US sub-rescue-sub (theoretically 3000m) can reach it either.

How Deep Can Submarines Go Underwater? - Maritime Page

Explore how deep can submarines go underwater, what affects their diving depth, the history of submarine technology, and the different types used for exploration.

maritimepage.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Soon after, details emerged about the sub's non-standard design that did not meet regulations, including steering apparently handled by a $30 Logitech F710 wireless PC game controller from 2010.

As the potential disaster gripped social media, details about OceanGate's historyof avoiding or complaining about safety regulations emerged. In particular, people began sharing a CBS Sunday Morning segment broadcast in November 2022 that shows reporter David Pogue visiting the Titan, which he later boarded for an expedition to the Titanic.

During the CBS clip, Rush gives Pogue a tour of the sub, noting the presence of "only one button" in the entire vessel and saying that a sub "should be like an elevator." Pogue also mentions how many pieces of the sub seem improvised, including off-the-shelf computer displays, a lighted overhead grab bar "from Camper World," and using construction pipes as ballast. During that segment, Rush holds up a Logitech F710 Wireless controller that appears to have 3D-printed thumb-stick extensions and says, "We run the whole thing with this game controller."

The Logitech F710 controller, introduced in 2010, is a wireless dual-thumbstick gamepad for PCs that uses 2.4 GHz communications to a USB receiver. While its chunky design appears outdated by today's standards, it has been in continuous production for 13 years, and it usually sells for about $29.99 on Amazon.

Shortly after news of the Logitech controller aboard the Titan spread on Tuesday morning, the Cheap Gamer Twitter account, which regularly posts video game deals, posted an Amazon link to the Logitech F710 controller on Twitter, and the item quickly sold out.

Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

While rescuers fear for OceanGate crew, Logitech F710 PC gamepad sells out within minutes.

arstechnica.com

 

[Warwick1991]

I think the idea is that the "cabin" is normal pressure and oxygen.... assuming it is functioning. Also I have been wondering if they are in complete darkness...they need the heater working too because it is seriously cold down there...and they discourage food and drink because of the limited waste facilities. It seems like torture if they are still alive and they are all smart so they would know how bad it is IMO.

If the cabin wasn't pressurized at that depth, they'd be dead. If the people were recovered alive, they might need a hyperbaric decompression chamber for hypothermia, not the bends.

 

[acutename]

Why would the CEO get in a jimmy-rigged vessel?

1. no- the CEO trusts his technology
2. did they check everything 2 or 3 times before descending or get "sloppy?"
3. how many times has this vessel been down and up- do we know?

 

[JennieM]

Ditto x2 on the hard no. Gotta count in imstilla.grandpa too. When I went out there to his garage yesterday and told him about this. He said well, I can’t tell y’all what he said. After 48 years, I’ve learned just to walk away and not get him started. He can stay out there and talk to the walls about how we had no business down there in the first place. Again, again and again…

Sounds like a wise man.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Seawolf park in Galveston has a mounted WWII sub that you can go through. It was so tight that I could only stay about 2 minutes and had to "run" out. I couldn't breath. I just can't imagine being trapped in such a situation.

Point Loma in San Diego also has a submarine you can tour.

 

[Lexiintoronto]

You bring up a good point. I never even thought about the lack of water or food onboard. Start to finish this dive was supposed to be approx. eight hour dive, so I doubt they brought along many supplies.

JMO

TY. I read about their possible lack of supplies. I’m worried about different things today. Water, hypothermia, carbon dioxide buildup and oxygen depletion. And the father and son.

And are any friends or relatives of the people in the sub on the mother ship?

 

[acutename]

If the cabin wasn't pressurized at that depth, they'd be dead. If the people were recovered alive, they might need a hyperbaric decompression chamber for hypothermia, not the bends.

we just have no idea what went wrong or how bad it is...all systems? just communication? it is like a bad Star Trek episode and I do not mean to make light of the human misery. Usually with equipment (tranportation, nuclear, etc.) there is a strict maintenance and maintenance check schedule. Wonder if they had one?

 

[Amonet]

The BBC Breakfast guest described the journey as "very relaxing, very comfortable" and even fell asleep on the way down to see the wreckage. "It couldn't be lower tech, you just drop down for 2 and half hours," Mike explained. "The ship is propelled by very tiny motors that look like a fan you would have on your desk and it is steered by an X-box joystick from a game system.

The more I read about this, the more of a batshit tin pot idea it sounds.

I think when we hear playstation/xbox controller, then our brains maybe equate that with 'toy' and that makes it sound ridiculous and low tech? But I think the technology in it is the same as what you'd use if you were designing your own controller, so why spend a million on designing something you can buy for $50? It's very unlikely imho that this is the part that's gone wrong. They have backups, so I don't think the batteries in all of them failed at the same time.

It might 'sound' crazy, but I think with this part that's all it is, that it 'sounds' stupid, but really the only thing that matters is if it works, has reliability, and backups.

 

[Orlguy]

Has this been confirmed or denied, or have I missed this? Granted, Dr. Boxall said it was ”second hand Information”,and it is The Mirror reporting, but does seem logical that a warning signal would be sent at least automatically if something catastrophic occurred, even if the crew were incapacitated.

missing Titanic sub sent distress signal before silence in mystery disappearance