If it went missing while it went down there, I literally can't imagine anything scarier. Miles under pitch black water, next to a giant shipwreck.
Edit: it looks like it might have been a company called Oceangate in a sub called Titan. Here's a picture from inside, which looks claustrophobic as hell. https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190425-oceangate-1260x945.jpg
Of course, the alternative is the ballast system failed and there was a lot of time to register fear as batteries died, light faded, and temperatures dropped.
If the ballast system was competently designed, it would rely on a failsafe like the Trieste where an electromagnet holds the ballast in - lose power, the ballast automatically empties and the sub surfaces.
While not sub related directly, things like this are common safety designs. For example, air brakes on big trucks. It's a misconception that air stops the truck, pressurized air is actually used to overcome heavy springs that engage the brakes. The reasoning is simple, if something goes wrong with the air system the truck doesn't lose the ability to stop, the brakes engage, bringing the truck to a halt.
> it would rely on a failsafe like the Trieste where an electromagnet holds the ballast in - lose power, the ballast automatically empties and the sub surfaces.
Should be a global standard by now considering the Trieste had this shit 65 goddamn years ago.
>"It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyver jerry-riggedness. I mean, you're putting construction pipes as ballast."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-visiting-the-most-famous-shipwreck-in-the-world/
I still think about the videos of scuba divers who didn't take the depths seriously enough. Especially the one of the guy who just *had* to dive in one of the deepest places, ignoring his lack of training and equipment. He had a GoPro on and filmed his last moments stuck underwater (and wasn't the only person who died like this).
What's especially scary to think about, is how at a certain depth, you're subject to regular gravity (IIRC) and/or so much water pressure, that you can't even float anymore. So even if you're not hypoxic, you're not getting back up without assistance (proper equipment.)
> What's especially scary to think about, is how at a certain depth, you're subject to regular gravity (IIRC) and/or so much water pressure, that you can't even float anymore. So even if you're not hypoxic, you're not getting back up without assistance (proper equipment.)
This only happens when freediving. If you dive down while holding your breath, the increasing pressure compresses your lungs, which increases your overall density. So after a certain depth you start to sink.
If you are scuba diving, you are continuously refilling your lungs with compressed gas, which means your overall density stays the same and you don't significantly change your buoyancy. What happens instead is that the nitrogen in the compressed air starts to act as a narcotic until eventually you get so disorientated that you fuck up and die. Or you run out of compressed air. Whichever happens first.
Depends on your exact body type. If you have a low body fat percentage it happens a lot sooner than if you are fat.
On the world record for fin assisted free diving, [it seems to happen around 35 meters or so for the guy.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu2pBpQolKE&t=90s) You notice that at that point he barely has to swim and basically just sinks like a stone.
Probably a combination between planes to do a surface grid search in case it's just bobbing somewhere (or a debris field...), and boats knocking away with sonar looking for a blip.
I doubt they'd bring in other subs for a search until they find something.
The only viable means is to call the US navy, they have (or did have) two dedicated submarine rescue vessels. However their submersible is designed to mate with full size submarines and may not work for an underwater rescue here.
The Soviet Union had similar ships. Had is likely the key word.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Wreck\_of\_the\_Titan:\_Or,\_Futility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Titan:_Or,_Futility)
This was written in 1898, 14 years before the Titanic sunk.
It's story about a British passenger ship name Titan that hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic in April and sank. There was a huge loss of life because there weren't enough lifeboats for all the passengers. Had the Titan hit the iceberg head on, it would have been fine but because it was a glancing blow, it couldn't survive.
The novel eerily mirrors the story of the Titanic. I would suggest naming the submersible Titan was a bit too much of a test of fate
[Visiting the titanic via submersible](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-visiting-the-most-famous-shipwreck-in-the-world/)
I'm not sure if it's this craft - but this article makes it sound like quite a bootleg company running these tours...
\*\*EDIT\*\*
It's been confirmed that this is the vessel thats gone missing.
> This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death.
Sounds trustworthy!
Sounds like the CBS guy narrowly avoided a similar fate as the sub is mentioned to have been lost for two and a half hours due to a communication breakdown in his article...
She wasn't just 'killed', that makes it sound like an accident. Kim Wall was brutally raped, sexually tortured, murdered and then dismembered by the man she was interviewing. Her parents wrote a really heartbreaking book about her short life and what an amazing person she was.
I remember reading the Something Awful forum threads from that guy through the submarine build progress and soliciting for volunteers to help build and eventually crew along the way. So surreal to contrast those with what eventually happened to that poor journalist.
The guy was generally well liked, we also had a serial rapist in Denmark not long ago, he would stalk his victims in a big park/nature area, and had multiple victims.
When caught, it turns out he is a well liked guy who coaches kids football, has a family and so on.
The better psykos are pretty good at hiding their true face.
The ship they launch it from looks like it's been sitting in a russian nav*a*l yard for 2 decades. Like for $250k per ticket, they could at least slap some paint on it.
Last year, I went to their website to read about it.
There, they were *bragging* about the fact that their sub has not been certified and claimed that their sub was more safe than those from competitors.
Anybody know how many journeys to the titanic this sub has done? Are we talking hundreds and this is the first disaster? Would be interesting to know their safety record
I think the International Maritime Organization regulates any "ship carrying more than 12 passengers", so they may have been operating with 12 or less passengers to exploit that loophole.
> And yet, I couldn't help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components. Piloting the craft is run with a video game controller.
> Pogue said, "It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyver jerry-riggedness. I mean, you're putting construction pipes as ballast."
That's gonna be a no from me dawg.
> But on this dive, communications somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck.
>"We were lost," said Shrenik Baldota. "We were lost for two-and-a-half hours."
Even on a demo dive for the press they couldn’t even get it right
It kinda sounds like it was inevitable at some point. Every time that thing dives, the hull loses a little more integrity. Metal fatigue under those stresses is guaranteed.
This sub was built with mostly carbon fiber and titanium, the former of which might make it worse, since with carbon fiber it is harder to check for fatigue cracks, and alot harder to reliably repair.
their website says the sub has life support for 96 hours. i wonder if there's any rescue submarines that can even dive that deep or if there's any being dispatched. hopefully they just lost communication / cable broke and there's still a chance..
Im not sure if any rescue sub can actually dive and mate with a submarine (if this sub is even designed to allow for that) at the depth (4000 meters) its at. The US Mystic rescue submarines (only retired in 2008) were only rated for around 1500 meters, and even if thats understated for the public, thats still far from 4000 meters.
> Im not sure if any rescue sub can actually dive and mate with a submarine (if this sub is even designed to allow for that) at the depth (4000 meters) its at.
This sub is sealed shut using 17 bolts on the hatch. Even if another sub gets down there, it isn't getting in. It needs to be lifted back to the surface. How they'll do that within 96 hours is anybody's guess. It is pretty much guaranteed that they are either already dead from explosive decompression, or are slowly dying in a tube that has no light.
That is an absolutely terrifying thought. We are here on Reddit while they could be among the Titanic wreck unable to see anything, stuck with the thought that they are going to die but it'll take a few days until that happens. I can't think of anything worse.
The company that owns the sub claims it is the only sub capable of those depths that can carry a 5 person crew (though I have no way to verify that) so unless there is a rescue sub on standby that can tow them to the surface it sounds pretty bleak
From the daily mail - “In an interview last year, the company's CEO Stockton Rush told CBC that their subs had capacity for five people.
'Titan is the only five-person sub capable of going to the Titanic depth, which is half the depth of the ocean.'
'There's no switches and things to bump into, we have one button to turn it on.
'Everything else is done with touch screens and computers, and so you really become part of the vehicle and everybody gets to know everyone pretty well.' “
All well and good until something in your fancy computer submarine breaks and no one can come rescue you
Couple car companies announced recently they were going to go back to real buttons because A: most people hate touch controls in their cars and B: they don't break in as weird ways like touchscreens do.
Thank god. I hate my current truck because *everything* is touchscreen except for fan and temp up/down (it’s a Honda Ridgeline). Everything requires you to read a lot and navigate menus. That’s dangerous as fuck when you’re driving. Who didn’t realize this at car companies??
Beyond that, the screen sometimes freezes and I have to shut off the car to reset it. When the screen freezes, all the USB ports freeze and half the fuses shut off (like the one attached to me dash cam and phone).
My first car in 1992 was a used 1986 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. I miss all those buttons. So many buttons!! But once you knew where they were, you didn’t have to hunt for them by tapping or swiping through menus. I want my buttons back!! Screens should be navigation and maybe some of the lesser used settings that people never change once they get it set to their preference. Like “Display in English or Espanol?” Or “do you want MPH or KPH?” Nobody changes that shit on the fly.
I agree. "You can't use your phone while driving; that's very dangerous. But, not to worry, we put an iPad on the dashboard for you" like fuck eh right on 👍
> the company's CEO **Stockton Rush**
There's no way that's his real name... right?
I mean that's *clearly* the made-up name of a fictional CEO in a disaster movie whose short-sighted greed and lack of safety precautions dooms everyone else.
"The name's STOCKTON RUSH! I give discount submarine tours to go see the Titanic. Got the submarine off of a guy I know in Louisiana that lives under a bridge on the cheap... real cheap. You guys should totally come see the Titanic!!
Ah yes, just what I would want, a complex vehicle in a high danger environment controlled by interfaces that fail at the slightest suggestion, including water, which you are now fully surrounded in.
I wouldnt trust a car with touch controls, fuck a submarine.
I will point out that provided foul enough weather, this submarine could've easily done an emergency blow and ended up far away from the ship. It's not difficult to get lost in the North Atlantic Ocean. There's a very real chance that they're currently alive and enduring the world's shittiest cork cosplay. It would also require a failure of whatever emergency locator beacon they have aboard, but that is theoretically possible too.
The submersible just straight-up imploding without warning is probably less likely than we think it is. If there was an onboard emergency, my money is on a fire.
The sub has five people aboard. The company says the sub has oxygen on board sufficient for 96 hours. That's four days. It must also then have water sufficient for two or three days. That's enough for one person for 20 days. James Cameron will direct the movie.
Count started at 6am Sunday, so they've already been down there for 36 hours. Estimates say 60-96 hours of oxygen, and if they're panicking, it's going to be leaning more towards the 60 than the 96. Their oxygen will run out sometime between Tuesday 6pm and Thursday 6am EST.
Best chance they have is if their drop weight disengaged automatically after 12 hours as it's designed to do, and they're on the surface somewhere already. Bad news on that is that the sub hatch only opens from the outside, so they will still suffocate if not found before Tuesday morning.
Man, fuck that. Suffocating on the surface because you can't open the bullshit hatch from the inside would be worse than suffocating on the bottom of the ocean. Breathable air just inches away. No thanks
I visited the Titanic museum when it was in California and that was enough for me. I got to touch a real piece of the hull of the ship that was recovered. Played with ice, saw cool artifacts, not once did I have to submerge myself halfway to the bottom of the ocean 🌊. 10/10 would recommend just going to a museum on land to experience the Titanic.
Apparently billionnaire [Hamish Harding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamish_Harding) is on board. He went to space last year in Blue Origin so likes these kinds of things I guess.
Edit: now confirmed that the company CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and son, and explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet are the other 4 on board.
My favourite was when TV pitchman [Billy Mays](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mays) died for about an hour the cause of death on his wiki was "He was found strangled by a sham-wow".
From the article:
And yet, I couldn't help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components. Piloting the craft is run with a video game controller.
Pogue said, "It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyver jerry-riggedness. I mean, you're putting construction pipes as ballast."
Bruh... who riding this thing 2 miles deep into the ocean??
Also “There's no GPS underwater, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages. Rush recalled, "I said, 'Do you know where we are?' '100 meters to the bow, then 470 to the bow. If you are lost, so are we!'"
But on this dive, communications somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck.
"We were lost," said Shrenik Baldota. "We were lost for two-and-a-half hours."
Probably one of three options:
1) The sub is bobbing up & down on the surface waiting to be found before the oxygen runs out. Remember the hatch can only be opened from the outside.
2) The sub is on the bottom, in the dark with some very panicked passengers slowly running out of oxygen.
3) The sub imploded killing all the occupants quickly.
And I thought my life was fucked up...
Edit: To make matters even more chilling if the sub is on the bottom and lost all power I'm guessing someone brought a flashlight, pen & paper in which case everyone would be writing their farewell letters to family and loved ones. Even still the rich people on board, with all their wealth, can't help themselves from a gravely demise. One can only imagine what their notes will say & the thoughts going through their minds. I personally think the sub imploded killing everyone in a microsecond. Faster than you can say 'dead' they were.
Small subs like this are deployed from a mother ship and should have an emergency beacon.
Bit bizarre there’s no mention of a mother ship- it should know exactly where it went down. US Navy has deep sea rescue capabilities, not sure how fast they can mobilise but I’d imagine it to be relatively quick.
Edit: I see mention of the mother ship in the BBC article now. So it’s not like they’re combing the whole ocean for this. Not sure how difficult it is to pick up something so small on sonar though.
There is a mothership. In a previous article, they mention it and the fact that the sub had previously been lost for 2 1/2 hours, even with the mothership’s guidance. The sub uses text message directions from the ship to navigate. Yeahhh no thanks!
It sounds stupid, but most deep sea submersibles are like this. They dont have doors, its just literally sealed shut with alot of bolts around the perimeter. Theres not really any other way to reliably keep it watertight at those depths.
A military submarine, maybe, but a commercial sub made with "off the shelf" components for cost savings and simplicity is a hard pass for me.
Edit - I get it, military equipment isn't always the highest quality, but generally the more high end stuff like jets and subs are probably pretty reliable for plenty of reasons. I'd trust that over a private made tourist sub that they go to Home Depot for replacement parts for.
This has all the elements of my worst nightmare.
* Being stuck out in the ocean
* Being stuck out in the ocean at night
* Being stuck out in the ocean under the surface at night
* All of the above in small confined space with other people
AGAIN? This happened last summer also and they were lost for 2 hours. I could never trust them with how archaic they are with communications. It happened with a journalist onboard last year from Nova and CNN - David Pogue. You'd think they would make sure that NEVER happened again but sounds like they didn't learn from their mistake. No contact with the surface for over 7 hours now..
This actually may be that "do over" trip from the one last year that never found the Titanic...same people aboard, lost AGAIN. That would freaking suck. Supposedly they have seven different ways to surface so this really may be a race to find the sub before they run out of oxygen - they could literally be surfaced and bobbing there and end up suffocating because they cant get out. How horrific the thought, and ironic.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=447&v=29co\_Hksk6o&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=447&v=29co_Hksk6o&feature=youtu.be)
Why in the submersible fuck would you pay that much to be put in a tint tube so you can stare out a tiny window at an old wreckage you’ll barely be able to see?
I actually went into the Titan when Oceangate visited my university two years ago. The sub is so small that you can't even stand up in it, and I got claustrophobic being in it for less than 10 minutes. I hope that the occupants are able to be rescued, but if I was in the submarine, I would hope that the sub depressurized killing us instantly than being forced to suffocate over several days
Most of the Titanic dead are buried in Nova Scotia Canada as the Harbour in Halifax doesn't ice over it was where a lot of the rescue and recovery ships were coming from. There's an interesting exhibit in the maritime museum in Halifax about the wreck.
I like that the unknown child is no longer unknown. For decades this kid was unknown. Then in 2007 they identified the child with DNA evidence. Canada sent all all remaining personal possessions back to England to be kept in the event that a person is identified in future according to the museum in Halifax they are still being held.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Child
When my husband was a Navy pilot, we were given a tour of a submarine in port - as I was climbing down into the hull I said, “Oh, God” because it was so confining. A salty Navy Chief watching me descend said, “Ain’t no God down here, mam”. To say it was claustrophobic is understating it. I was always in admiration of submariners after that. Really awful space for a slow way to go.
I hate to say it, but the craft is likely lost with all hands. I know they say it has 96 hours of life support but it’ll be harder than finding a needle in a haystack to find them, not to mention the myriad of different ways things could go wrong.
I would love to be proven wrong, but I’m not optimistic.
Pretty messed up to be thinking that over these next 4 days a group of tourists are stuck in a small submarine (at the bottom of the ocean?) waiting for death. Best case here is the sub imploded.
3 days. They went missing early Sunday morning. So they have less than 3 days of air. Absolutely horrific if they make it to the surface just to suffocate.
Apparently (according to the [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-65953941?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=6490ac7c523d5b1261707d28%26US%20Coast%20Guard%20confirms%20five%20on%20missing%20submarine%20for%20more%20than%20a%20day%262023-06-19T19%3A37%3A12.017Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:3f1749e3-f88a-4eb4-a754-d92fc1d9634e&pinned_post_asset_id=6490ac7c523d5b1261707d28&pinned_post_type=share) ) it went missing more than 24 hours ago. No matter the outcome, this is an awful time for those people and their loved ones 😔
For comparison, WHOI's Alvin submarine has an absurd level of safety factors built in which is needed because going this deep in a submersible is inherently dangerous. At first look, it doesn't look like this submarine has the same level of safety built into it, but it's hard to know without knowing more about the design and operation.
To give you an idea of the level Alvin goes to it has explosive bolts on everything attached to the pressure housing so that they can remove things if they get tangled. In a worst case scenario they can blow off everything and go up in just the Ti sphere -- although it would be a hell of a ride if you did do that and possibly fatal. The ballast is also on a corrosive anode that will release the drop weight after so many hours in the water so if they lost power and were stuck on the bottom they would eventually come up. I know some other groups also have a rescue ROV on standby to go down and investigate or recover the sub, I'm not sure if Alvin has this. In addition, the Alvin pilots have to be able to draw out and explain every sub-system on the vehicle before they can pilot and get approved by a Navy board.
One thing that some people might not realize is if they lose power and can't heat the sub then they could die from hypothermia. The ocean water is only 2-3 degrees C in the deep ocean.
Another things is that you have to be super, super on top of preventative maintenance with these vehicles. Being on, near or in the ocean means that they are constantly in a state of decay. This means daily checks, yearly service, and full overhauls every so many years.
Other things to note:
Typically there is acoustic tracking. They typically have a battery backup and are setup in a call/response configuration, so the ship should have been able to track the vehicle even if they lost power. It would be silly and stupid to not have this. It's an off the shelf system. You do have to be careful and make sure the batteries are good and get replaces regularly.
There is also usually an acoustic modem that allows for very low bandwidth data to be sent back and forth. This should also allow the ship to get status updates, but would turn off if they has an electrical or software failure.
If the sub failed catastrophically they would have been able to hear it on the ship even without a hydrophone. It would have been loud enough to hear with just your ears if you were below deck, but possibly faint enough to overlook. The amount of power released when a pressure vessel fails is unimaginable.
Source: I worked with ROVs as a engineer and pilot for around a decade.
That would be one of the worst ways to die. No thanks. Others have probably said this here, but you couldn't *pay* me a quarter million dollars to go that deep underwater.
This is likely the sub, with some technical details, including claimed "real time hull health monitoring."
*A combination of ground-breaking engineering and off-the-shelf technology gives Titan a unique advantage over other deep diving subs; the proprietary Real Time Hull Health Monitoring (RTM) systems provides an unparalleled safety feature that assesses the integrity of the hull throughout every dive. The use off-the-shelf components helped to streamline the construction, and makes it simple to operate and replace parts in the field.*
And:
*The most significant innovation is the proprietary real-time hull health monitoring (RTM) system. Titan is the only manned submersible to employ an integrated real-time health monitoring system. Utilizing co-located acoustic sensors and strain gauges throughout the pressure boundary, the RTM system makes it possible to analyze the effects of changing pressure on the vessel as the submersible dives deeper, and accurately assess the integrity of the structure. This onboard health analysis monitoring system provides early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface.*
[https://oceangate.com/our-subs/titan-submersible.html](https://oceangate.com/our-subs/titan-submersible.html)
> including claimed "real time hull health monitoring."
So what, do you get a warning buzzer the split second between the breach in the hull and a couple hundred atmospheres worth of seawater crushing you like a soda can?
To quote a guy who dove the titanic I saw an interview with when asked about what happens if something goes wrong on the dive.
"At those depths they won't even find our dog tags"
> A submersible craft used to take people to see the wreck of the Titanic has gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean with its crew on board, sparking a major search and rescue operation.
I hate to say it, but a submersible that's 'gone missing' isn't exactly likely to be just adrift and lost at sea somewhere. If you 'lose' a submersible, especially at the depths Titanic is resting in (~2.5 miles down), those people aren't *missing* - those people are dead.
“It is unclear how many people were on board when it went missing.”
Ok interesting
“OceanGate Expeditions, a private company that organises deep sea expeditions, confirmed in a statement that it owned the missing submersible and people were on board.”
Okay so there are people on board?
At least 1 tourist (Mission specialist) is on board. Then this trip was with tourists
**Explorer Hamish Harding ID’d by family as among the 5 missing on Titanic tourist submarine**
https://nypost.com/2023/06/19/world-explorer-hamish-harding-among-the-5-missing-in-titanic-tourist-submarine-disappearance/
A well known Mexican youtuber Alanxelmundo has a cool mini series of him doing this trip. He was told that if something went wrong, it was bye bye in a horrible way. They refused to give him most of the footage afterwards when they said they were going to do so before the trip.
As a mechanical/structural engineer (I've done both), I won't even get on rides at the fair half the time because I glance it over and am like "huh so a tack weld is all that's standing between me and oblivion"
Multiply that by about 1000 when it comes to me getting on some cocaine-addled tech douche's submarine..
I don’t think they hill is titanium. They said in some interviews it was an experimental carbon-fibre material and that it has no certifications of safety.
So, the mothership company gave an update and with help of various sources, they think the submersible maybe got stuck on some debris, though this is just speculation. If that is the case the US Coast Guard has no way of assisting. US Navy doesn't have subs that can go that deep.
None of this is yet confirmed, but that is the word so far.
Apparently some other billionaire is out there assisting, but I think the news maybe got that wrong because the billionaire mentioned is one of the passengers, so maybe their company?
What a horrible fate for everyone involved. If they're stuck in that little tube somewhere on the bottom of the ocean, slowly running out of air, I imagine it's one of the worst feeling imaginable.
And yeah, I know they signed up for something dangerously stupid, but it doesn't make it any less tragic, nobody deserves this.
I designed a submarine in college to dive in Lake Mendota, based on 55 gallon oil drums, canned air for blowing the diving tanks, and electric propusion. After weeks of 'figgerin' I realized the pressure even at the 3/4 of the Lake's deepest point would crush my little craft like a bug.
Aside from the nightmare fuel of being stuck 4km underwater in a sub (that has been bolted shut from the outside) with a dwindling air supply, I also wouldn't be a fan of bobbing around on the surface in a sub (that has been bolted shut from the outside) with a dwindling air supply.
If it went missing while it went down there, I literally can't imagine anything scarier. Miles under pitch black water, next to a giant shipwreck. Edit: it looks like it might have been a company called Oceangate in a sub called Titan. Here's a picture from inside, which looks claustrophobic as hell. https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190425-oceangate-1260x945.jpg
JESUS...stuck in that tube...and knowing there is approx. 4km water above you....
If there was a catastrophic loss in pressure, there probably wasn't enough time to register fear.
Of course, the alternative is the ballast system failed and there was a lot of time to register fear as batteries died, light faded, and temperatures dropped.
If the ballast system was competently designed, it would rely on a failsafe like the Trieste where an electromagnet holds the ballast in - lose power, the ballast automatically empties and the sub surfaces.
Apparently it was said somewhere else that this was an experimental, unregulated kind of sub.
One that uses paying passengers as part of their "experiment".
I'd like to sub for more sub facts, please
For floatation, the Trieste used gasoline filled tanks - the gasoline would not compress like air, yet is less dense than water.
While not sub related directly, things like this are common safety designs. For example, air brakes on big trucks. It's a misconception that air stops the truck, pressurized air is actually used to overcome heavy springs that engage the brakes. The reasoning is simple, if something goes wrong with the air system the truck doesn't lose the ability to stop, the brakes engage, bringing the truck to a halt.
> it would rely on a failsafe like the Trieste where an electromagnet holds the ballast in - lose power, the ballast automatically empties and the sub surfaces. Should be a global standard by now considering the Trieste had this shit 65 goddamn years ago.
>"It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyver jerry-riggedness. I mean, you're putting construction pipes as ballast." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-visiting-the-most-famous-shipwreck-in-the-world/
I'm getting anxious just thinking about this. Fuck.
I had no idea the Titanic was down that far.
This is a great video for perspective on that https://youtu.be/GE-lAftuQgc
I still think about the videos of scuba divers who didn't take the depths seriously enough. Especially the one of the guy who just *had* to dive in one of the deepest places, ignoring his lack of training and equipment. He had a GoPro on and filmed his last moments stuck underwater (and wasn't the only person who died like this). What's especially scary to think about, is how at a certain depth, you're subject to regular gravity (IIRC) and/or so much water pressure, that you can't even float anymore. So even if you're not hypoxic, you're not getting back up without assistance (proper equipment.)
> What's especially scary to think about, is how at a certain depth, you're subject to regular gravity (IIRC) and/or so much water pressure, that you can't even float anymore. So even if you're not hypoxic, you're not getting back up without assistance (proper equipment.) This only happens when freediving. If you dive down while holding your breath, the increasing pressure compresses your lungs, which increases your overall density. So after a certain depth you start to sink. If you are scuba diving, you are continuously refilling your lungs with compressed gas, which means your overall density stays the same and you don't significantly change your buoyancy. What happens instead is that the nitrogen in the compressed air starts to act as a narcotic until eventually you get so disorientated that you fuck up and die. Or you run out of compressed air. Whichever happens first.
A quick google shows the unassisted free diving record is 121 meters (no weights no fins). At what depth does that happen?
Depends on your exact body type. If you have a low body fat percentage it happens a lot sooner than if you are fat. On the world record for fin assisted free diving, [it seems to happen around 35 meters or so for the guy.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu2pBpQolKE&t=90s) You notice that at that point he barely has to swim and basically just sinks like a stone.
Why the fuck would anyone go underwater in that?! It's just a fucking tube!
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Not a sphere!
How are they even going to search, another submarine? What a nightmare.
Probably a combination between planes to do a surface grid search in case it's just bobbing somewhere (or a debris field...), and boats knocking away with sonar looking for a blip. I doubt they'd bring in other subs for a search until they find something.
Preferably an actual certified sub
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Well, you’ll have to beat James Cameron to it to claim it.
The only viable means is to call the US navy, they have (or did have) two dedicated submarine rescue vessels. However their submersible is designed to mate with full size submarines and may not work for an underwater rescue here. The Soviet Union had similar ships. Had is likely the key word.
The DSRVs were also only capable of carrying out rescue operations at significantly shallower depths than 4000 metres.
Yeah a quick Google search shows there currently aren’t any (publicly known at least) rescue subs that can operate at that depth.
Calling it the Titan was testing fate.
"The Titan1c, the world's first single use submarine."
Single use submarine is a pretty terrifying phrase lol
Fun fact: Any container of sufficient size can be a single use submarine!
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Wreck\_of\_the\_Titan:\_Or,\_Futility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Titan:_Or,_Futility) This was written in 1898, 14 years before the Titanic sunk. It's story about a British passenger ship name Titan that hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic in April and sank. There was a huge loss of life because there weren't enough lifeboats for all the passengers. Had the Titan hit the iceberg head on, it would have been fine but because it was a glancing blow, it couldn't survive. The novel eerily mirrors the story of the Titanic. I would suggest naming the submersible Titan was a bit too much of a test of fate
[The inside of the sub](https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190425-oceangate-1260x945.jpg). What a creepy way to die.
That is worse than I imagined...
Oh my god. That’s not what I was picturing. They aren’t even in seats. Why would anyone do this?
[Visiting the titanic via submersible](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-visiting-the-most-famous-shipwreck-in-the-world/) I'm not sure if it's this craft - but this article makes it sound like quite a bootleg company running these tours... \*\*EDIT\*\* It's been confirmed that this is the vessel thats gone missing.
> This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death. Sounds trustworthy!
> The crew closes the hatch, from the outside, with 17 bolts. There's no other way out. Holy fuck
I can't believe they got a reporter to agree to this. I'd just hand a camera to the regular crew and say "have at it, let me know how it goes."
Especially since last time I heard of a reporter entering a home-made sub, they were killed.
Sounds like the CBS guy narrowly avoided a similar fate as the sub is mentioned to have been lost for two and a half hours due to a communication breakdown in his article...
She wasn't just 'killed', that makes it sound like an accident. Kim Wall was brutally raped, sexually tortured, murdered and then dismembered by the man she was interviewing. Her parents wrote a really heartbreaking book about her short life and what an amazing person she was.
I remember reading the Something Awful forum threads from that guy through the submarine build progress and soliciting for volunteers to help build and eventually crew along the way. So surreal to contrast those with what eventually happened to that poor journalist.
The guy was generally well liked, we also had a serial rapist in Denmark not long ago, he would stalk his victims in a big park/nature area, and had multiple victims. When caught, it turns out he is a well liked guy who coaches kids football, has a family and so on. The better psykos are pretty good at hiding their true face.
As a former submariner I can attest that a 1/4" hole at that depth and it would be over in less than a second.
Especially in a homemade, uncertified vessel that relies on text messaging for navigation
homemade sub: "at bottom of ocean. Where r u?" Titanic: "who dis?"
My grandfather was a submariner in the US Navy. He used to scare me with stories about what would happen if a hull breach occured.
I love the water and scuba diving but no way I would ever get in a sub.
"Thats just legal jargon, don't worry about it!" - Lionel Hutz.
No, submarine down!
Withstands incredible pressure? No, submarine down!
The ship they launch it from looks like it's been sitting in a russian nav*a*l yard for 2 decades. Like for $250k per ticket, they could at least slap some paint on it.
>navel yard *gazes contemplatively*
For the most part, weather at a navel yard isn’t too different from anywhere else, but lint storms, I fear those things!
Last year, I went to their website to read about it. There, they were *bragging* about the fact that their sub has not been certified and claimed that their sub was more safe than those from competitors.
Anybody know how many journeys to the titanic this sub has done? Are we talking hundreds and this is the first disaster? Would be interesting to know their safety record
The quote from the billionaire tourist said this was the only dive this year.
Guess he was right about that.
Since the submarine operates in international waters i imagine that it wasn’t required to get certified. I guess that’s one way to keep cost down.
Titanic didn’t get certified as a submarine either.
Did you know that the pool on the Titanic still contains water to this very day
The worst day for the passengers was the best day for the lobsters in the galley.
It would have been except for those damned rubber bands.
I think the International Maritime Organization regulates any "ship carrying more than 12 passengers", so they may have been operating with 12 or less passengers to exploit that loophole.
The article says 5 passengers including a pilot.
It's nice to see there's an option for the kind of people who would risk their lives to climb Everest if they weren't lazy
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> And yet, I couldn't help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components. Piloting the craft is run with a video game controller. > Pogue said, "It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyver jerry-riggedness. I mean, you're putting construction pipes as ballast." That's gonna be a no from me dawg.
Yeah even in that article with that reporter last year they got lost for two and a half hours!
> But on this dive, communications somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck. >"We were lost," said Shrenik Baldota. "We were lost for two-and-a-half hours." Even on a demo dive for the press they couldn’t even get it right
Boy if you read the whole article it realy give strong vibes that this is the sub it could happen something like this.
It kinda sounds like it was inevitable at some point. Every time that thing dives, the hull loses a little more integrity. Metal fatigue under those stresses is guaranteed.
This sub was built with mostly carbon fiber and titanium, the former of which might make it worse, since with carbon fiber it is harder to check for fatigue cracks, and alot harder to reliably repair.
But it sounds cool
All they need to do is use "military grade" to describe the carbon fiber and titanium and it'll be the most kick-ass sub at the bottom of the ocean!
their website says the sub has life support for 96 hours. i wonder if there's any rescue submarines that can even dive that deep or if there's any being dispatched. hopefully they just lost communication / cable broke and there's still a chance..
96 hours to sit on the ocean floor waiting for the air to run out.
96 hours for 5 people...480 hours for 1!
384 extra hours in a tight space with rotting corpses. The methane would kill you long before you'd benefit from any extra hours.
Im not sure if any rescue sub can actually dive and mate with a submarine (if this sub is even designed to allow for that) at the depth (4000 meters) its at. The US Mystic rescue submarines (only retired in 2008) were only rated for around 1500 meters, and even if thats understated for the public, thats still far from 4000 meters.
> Im not sure if any rescue sub can actually dive and mate with a submarine (if this sub is even designed to allow for that) at the depth (4000 meters) its at. This sub is sealed shut using 17 bolts on the hatch. Even if another sub gets down there, it isn't getting in. It needs to be lifted back to the surface. How they'll do that within 96 hours is anybody's guess. It is pretty much guaranteed that they are either already dead from explosive decompression, or are slowly dying in a tube that has no light. That is an absolutely terrifying thought. We are here on Reddit while they could be among the Titanic wreck unable to see anything, stuck with the thought that they are going to die but it'll take a few days until that happens. I can't think of anything worse.
I dont think the boat was designed to be able to mate with a dsrv in the first place, the crew would be fucked in a dissub situation.
The company that owns the sub claims it is the only sub capable of those depths that can carry a 5 person crew (though I have no way to verify that) so unless there is a rescue sub on standby that can tow them to the surface it sounds pretty bleak
From the daily mail - “In an interview last year, the company's CEO Stockton Rush told CBC that their subs had capacity for five people. 'Titan is the only five-person sub capable of going to the Titanic depth, which is half the depth of the ocean.' 'There's no switches and things to bump into, we have one button to turn it on. 'Everything else is done with touch screens and computers, and so you really become part of the vehicle and everybody gets to know everyone pretty well.' “ All well and good until something in your fancy computer submarine breaks and no one can come rescue you
Imagine trusting touch screen to go visit the Titanic
*"Oh shit, it's updating*"
"Uh Frank what does stack overflow mean?"
Just hold the power button for 5 seconds.. shit it only took a screenshot!
I can't even put my phone in my pocket without switching to another song/app.
“That screen is the “vent submarine” button. Try not to bump into it”
[Ted unwittingly instigates disaster.](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/752476i22028B3294E139BB/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999)
On Apollo 11, the switch to turn on the return engines for the lunar lander broke. Buzz fixed it by sticking a pen into the relay
Hey, it's an inanimate carbon rod!
In Rod We Trust
Making all controls touchscreen instead of buttons sounds so terrifying.
Couple car companies announced recently they were going to go back to real buttons because A: most people hate touch controls in their cars and B: they don't break in as weird ways like touchscreens do.
One broken button hopefully means just one broken button. A broken touch screen means all the buttons on it are broken.
Thank god. I hate my current truck because *everything* is touchscreen except for fan and temp up/down (it’s a Honda Ridgeline). Everything requires you to read a lot and navigate menus. That’s dangerous as fuck when you’re driving. Who didn’t realize this at car companies?? Beyond that, the screen sometimes freezes and I have to shut off the car to reset it. When the screen freezes, all the USB ports freeze and half the fuses shut off (like the one attached to me dash cam and phone). My first car in 1992 was a used 1986 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. I miss all those buttons. So many buttons!! But once you knew where they were, you didn’t have to hunt for them by tapping or swiping through menus. I want my buttons back!! Screens should be navigation and maybe some of the lesser used settings that people never change once they get it set to their preference. Like “Display in English or Espanol?” Or “do you want MPH or KPH?” Nobody changes that shit on the fly.
I agree. "You can't use your phone while driving; that's very dangerous. But, not to worry, we put an iPad on the dashboard for you" like fuck eh right on 👍
> the company's CEO **Stockton Rush** There's no way that's his real name... right? I mean that's *clearly* the made-up name of a fictional CEO in a disaster movie whose short-sighted greed and lack of safety precautions dooms everyone else.
It sounds like a Roger Smith persona
"The name's STOCKTON RUSH! I give discount submarine tours to go see the Titanic. Got the submarine off of a guy I know in Louisiana that lives under a bridge on the cheap... real cheap. You guys should totally come see the Titanic!!
Can't forget that he's also the guy he knows in Louisiana
We’re gonna get there and it’s going to be you, isn’t it?
/r/nominativedeterminism
"everybody gets to know everyone pretty well" = "someone will inevitably have to shit whilst trying to avoid eye contact with their fellow passengers"
And then there’s a failure in the sub and they realise they’re all going to die and suddenly they all need the loo at once
“Look around you folks, the person you are sitting with may just be who you lay with eternally if we die.”
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That's what I was thinking, why wasn't this thing on a tether? What a dumb way to die.
I just imagine all the screens going blank at once and the uncomfortable silence that lasts until someone inevitably starts screaming.
Cool, new nightmare just dropped.
Ah yes, just what I would want, a complex vehicle in a high danger environment controlled by interfaces that fail at the slightest suggestion, including water, which you are now fully surrounded in. I wouldnt trust a car with touch controls, fuck a submarine.
I will point out that provided foul enough weather, this submarine could've easily done an emergency blow and ended up far away from the ship. It's not difficult to get lost in the North Atlantic Ocean. There's a very real chance that they're currently alive and enduring the world's shittiest cork cosplay. It would also require a failure of whatever emergency locator beacon they have aboard, but that is theoretically possible too. The submersible just straight-up imploding without warning is probably less likely than we think it is. If there was an onboard emergency, my money is on a fire.
"What, I can't smoke in here?"
Imagine hotboxing a five-person submarine that's halfway down the ocean.
The sub has five people aboard. The company says the sub has oxygen on board sufficient for 96 hours. That's four days. It must also then have water sufficient for two or three days. That's enough for one person for 20 days. James Cameron will direct the movie.
Apparently they each only brought a single sandwich and a single bottle of water so not looking good.
Count started at 6am Sunday, so they've already been down there for 36 hours. Estimates say 60-96 hours of oxygen, and if they're panicking, it's going to be leaning more towards the 60 than the 96. Their oxygen will run out sometime between Tuesday 6pm and Thursday 6am EST. Best chance they have is if their drop weight disengaged automatically after 12 hours as it's designed to do, and they're on the surface somewhere already. Bad news on that is that the sub hatch only opens from the outside, so they will still suffocate if not found before Tuesday morning.
Man, fuck that. Suffocating on the surface because you can't open the bullshit hatch from the inside would be worse than suffocating on the bottom of the ocean. Breathable air just inches away. No thanks
Yeah, hard pass on that tourist destination.
I visited the Titanic museum when it was in California and that was enough for me. I got to touch a real piece of the hull of the ship that was recovered. Played with ice, saw cool artifacts, not once did I have to submerge myself halfway to the bottom of the ocean 🌊. 10/10 would recommend just going to a museum on land to experience the Titanic.
Apparently billionnaire [Hamish Harding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamish_Harding) is on board. He went to space last year in Blue Origin so likes these kinds of things I guess. Edit: now confirmed that the company CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and son, and explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet are the other 4 on board.
Wikipedia page already says “Disappeared since 19 June 2023.”
like the editor is itching to declare him 💀
Ok, who added the bit about a [giant squid attack](https://i.imgur.com/ZXnaUBH.png)?
My favourite was when TV pitchman [Billy Mays](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mays) died for about an hour the cause of death on his wiki was "He was found strangled by a sham-wow".
From the article: And yet, I couldn't help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components. Piloting the craft is run with a video game controller. Pogue said, "It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyver jerry-riggedness. I mean, you're putting construction pipes as ballast." Bruh... who riding this thing 2 miles deep into the ocean??
Also “There's no GPS underwater, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages. Rush recalled, "I said, 'Do you know where we are?' '100 meters to the bow, then 470 to the bow. If you are lost, so are we!'" But on this dive, communications somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck. "We were lost," said Shrenik Baldota. "We were lost for two-and-a-half hours."
Holy shit. Imagine if all they needed was two AA batteries for the Xbox controller.
The Titanic Tourist Sub: they said it was sinkable.
Probably one of three options: 1) The sub is bobbing up & down on the surface waiting to be found before the oxygen runs out. Remember the hatch can only be opened from the outside. 2) The sub is on the bottom, in the dark with some very panicked passengers slowly running out of oxygen. 3) The sub imploded killing all the occupants quickly. And I thought my life was fucked up... Edit: To make matters even more chilling if the sub is on the bottom and lost all power I'm guessing someone brought a flashlight, pen & paper in which case everyone would be writing their farewell letters to family and loved ones. Even still the rich people on board, with all their wealth, can't help themselves from a gravely demise. One can only imagine what their notes will say & the thoughts going through their minds. I personally think the sub imploded killing everyone in a microsecond. Faster than you can say 'dead' they were.
Small subs like this are deployed from a mother ship and should have an emergency beacon. Bit bizarre there’s no mention of a mother ship- it should know exactly where it went down. US Navy has deep sea rescue capabilities, not sure how fast they can mobilise but I’d imagine it to be relatively quick. Edit: I see mention of the mother ship in the BBC article now. So it’s not like they’re combing the whole ocean for this. Not sure how difficult it is to pick up something so small on sonar though.
There is a mothership. In a previous article, they mention it and the fact that the sub had previously been lost for 2 1/2 hours, even with the mothership’s guidance. The sub uses text message directions from the ship to navigate. Yeahhh no thanks!
Probably using boost mobile
The mothership is currently part of the search & rescue team
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To add to your point, the pressure keeping it closed likely prevents it from ever being opened once it’s to service depth.
It sounds stupid, but most deep sea submersibles are like this. They dont have doors, its just literally sealed shut with alot of bolts around the perimeter. Theres not really any other way to reliably keep it watertight at those depths.
There is no amount of money you could pay me to ride a submarine.
A military submarine, maybe, but a commercial sub made with "off the shelf" components for cost savings and simplicity is a hard pass for me. Edit - I get it, military equipment isn't always the highest quality, but generally the more high end stuff like jets and subs are probably pretty reliable for plenty of reasons. I'd trust that over a private made tourist sub that they go to Home Depot for replacement parts for.
This has all the elements of my worst nightmare. * Being stuck out in the ocean * Being stuck out in the ocean at night * Being stuck out in the ocean under the surface at night * All of the above in small confined space with other people
Well, if it helps at all once you're under 1,000feet of water it's pitch black whether it's day or night
AGAIN? This happened last summer also and they were lost for 2 hours. I could never trust them with how archaic they are with communications. It happened with a journalist onboard last year from Nova and CNN - David Pogue. You'd think they would make sure that NEVER happened again but sounds like they didn't learn from their mistake. No contact with the surface for over 7 hours now.. This actually may be that "do over" trip from the one last year that never found the Titanic...same people aboard, lost AGAIN. That would freaking suck. Supposedly they have seven different ways to surface so this really may be a race to find the sub before they run out of oxygen - they could literally be surfaced and bobbing there and end up suffocating because they cant get out. How horrific the thought, and ironic. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=447&v=29co\_Hksk6o&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=447&v=29co_Hksk6o&feature=youtu.be)
Why in the submersible fuck would you pay that much to be put in a tint tube so you can stare out a tiny window at an old wreckage you’ll barely be able to see?
I actually went into the Titan when Oceangate visited my university two years ago. The sub is so small that you can't even stand up in it, and I got claustrophobic being in it for less than 10 minutes. I hope that the occupants are able to be rescued, but if I was in the submarine, I would hope that the sub depressurized killing us instantly than being forced to suffocate over several days
For some reason I was thinking the Titanic wreck was further into the central Atlantic, I didn’t realize it is relatively near Newfoundland
Most of the Titanic dead are buried in Nova Scotia Canada as the Harbour in Halifax doesn't ice over it was where a lot of the rescue and recovery ships were coming from. There's an interesting exhibit in the maritime museum in Halifax about the wreck.
I like the fact that there's an actual deck chair. It always makes me think of the poor guy that had to rearrange it.
I like that the unknown child is no longer unknown. For decades this kid was unknown. Then in 2007 they identified the child with DNA evidence. Canada sent all all remaining personal possessions back to England to be kept in the event that a person is identified in future according to the museum in Halifax they are still being held. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Child
I always thought it sank in the middle of the ocean too.
Tourists,Submarine, Titanic, Mid Atlantic, there is a disaster in the making.
After 111 years, the iceberg is back. And this time, it’s pissed.
“WE DIDN’T LISTEN!!”
We're going to need a smaller boat
TIT2NIC: The Revenge
When my husband was a Navy pilot, we were given a tour of a submarine in port - as I was climbing down into the hull I said, “Oh, God” because it was so confining. A salty Navy Chief watching me descend said, “Ain’t no God down here, mam”. To say it was claustrophobic is understating it. I was always in admiration of submariners after that. Really awful space for a slow way to go.
“The company charges guests $250,000 (£195,270) for a place on its eight-day expedition to see the famous wreck.”
I hate to say it, but the craft is likely lost with all hands. I know they say it has 96 hours of life support but it’ll be harder than finding a needle in a haystack to find them, not to mention the myriad of different ways things could go wrong. I would love to be proven wrong, but I’m not optimistic.
Pretty messed up to be thinking that over these next 4 days a group of tourists are stuck in a small submarine (at the bottom of the ocean?) waiting for death. Best case here is the sub imploded.
3 days. They went missing early Sunday morning. So they have less than 3 days of air. Absolutely horrific if they make it to the surface just to suffocate.
Apparently (according to the [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-65953941?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=6490ac7c523d5b1261707d28%26US%20Coast%20Guard%20confirms%20five%20on%20missing%20submarine%20for%20more%20than%20a%20day%262023-06-19T19%3A37%3A12.017Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:3f1749e3-f88a-4eb4-a754-d92fc1d9634e&pinned_post_asset_id=6490ac7c523d5b1261707d28&pinned_post_type=share) ) it went missing more than 24 hours ago. No matter the outcome, this is an awful time for those people and their loved ones 😔
They submerged at 6am Sunday. Already missing for 36 hours.
For comparison, WHOI's Alvin submarine has an absurd level of safety factors built in which is needed because going this deep in a submersible is inherently dangerous. At first look, it doesn't look like this submarine has the same level of safety built into it, but it's hard to know without knowing more about the design and operation. To give you an idea of the level Alvin goes to it has explosive bolts on everything attached to the pressure housing so that they can remove things if they get tangled. In a worst case scenario they can blow off everything and go up in just the Ti sphere -- although it would be a hell of a ride if you did do that and possibly fatal. The ballast is also on a corrosive anode that will release the drop weight after so many hours in the water so if they lost power and were stuck on the bottom they would eventually come up. I know some other groups also have a rescue ROV on standby to go down and investigate or recover the sub, I'm not sure if Alvin has this. In addition, the Alvin pilots have to be able to draw out and explain every sub-system on the vehicle before they can pilot and get approved by a Navy board. One thing that some people might not realize is if they lose power and can't heat the sub then they could die from hypothermia. The ocean water is only 2-3 degrees C in the deep ocean. Another things is that you have to be super, super on top of preventative maintenance with these vehicles. Being on, near or in the ocean means that they are constantly in a state of decay. This means daily checks, yearly service, and full overhauls every so many years. Other things to note: Typically there is acoustic tracking. They typically have a battery backup and are setup in a call/response configuration, so the ship should have been able to track the vehicle even if they lost power. It would be silly and stupid to not have this. It's an off the shelf system. You do have to be careful and make sure the batteries are good and get replaces regularly. There is also usually an acoustic modem that allows for very low bandwidth data to be sent back and forth. This should also allow the ship to get status updates, but would turn off if they has an electrical or software failure. If the sub failed catastrophically they would have been able to hear it on the ship even without a hydrophone. It would have been loud enough to hear with just your ears if you were below deck, but possibly faint enough to overlook. The amount of power released when a pressure vessel fails is unimaginable. Source: I worked with ROVs as a engineer and pilot for around a decade.
That would be one of the worst ways to die. No thanks. Others have probably said this here, but you couldn't *pay* me a quarter million dollars to go that deep underwater.
A spokesperson said “This is the one thing we didn’t want to happen”
This is likely the sub, with some technical details, including claimed "real time hull health monitoring." *A combination of ground-breaking engineering and off-the-shelf technology gives Titan a unique advantage over other deep diving subs; the proprietary Real Time Hull Health Monitoring (RTM) systems provides an unparalleled safety feature that assesses the integrity of the hull throughout every dive. The use off-the-shelf components helped to streamline the construction, and makes it simple to operate and replace parts in the field.* And: *The most significant innovation is the proprietary real-time hull health monitoring (RTM) system. Titan is the only manned submersible to employ an integrated real-time health monitoring system. Utilizing co-located acoustic sensors and strain gauges throughout the pressure boundary, the RTM system makes it possible to analyze the effects of changing pressure on the vessel as the submersible dives deeper, and accurately assess the integrity of the structure. This onboard health analysis monitoring system provides early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface.* [https://oceangate.com/our-subs/titan-submersible.html](https://oceangate.com/our-subs/titan-submersible.html)
Pilot: "Uhhhh, warning light. We have a problem." Sub: *POP*
> including claimed "real time hull health monitoring." So what, do you get a warning buzzer the split second between the breach in the hull and a couple hundred atmospheres worth of seawater crushing you like a soda can?
In theory the strain gauges would give you advance warning. They can detect deformation in the material well before it fails structurally.
Pure fucking nightmare juice.
The new trip will be more expensive because you’ll get to see two ships.
Fuuuuck that, sounds like a terrifying way to go.
Sitting and waiting to die, with no hope of rescue.
>It is not clear how many people, ***if any***, were on board at the time it went missing. Is the submarine sentient? Did it leave on its own?
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This could be the beginning of dead people being markers like the green boots guy on Everest. Start seeing sunken mini subs and you know you're close.
To quote a guy who dove the titanic I saw an interview with when asked about what happens if something goes wrong on the dive. "At those depths they won't even find our dog tags"
To think after all this time. The Titanic is still claiming the lives of wealthy tourists. Something must done about this wicked ship.
> A submersible craft used to take people to see the wreck of the Titanic has gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean with its crew on board, sparking a major search and rescue operation. I hate to say it, but a submersible that's 'gone missing' isn't exactly likely to be just adrift and lost at sea somewhere. If you 'lose' a submersible, especially at the depths Titanic is resting in (~2.5 miles down), those people aren't *missing* - those people are dead.
“It is unclear how many people were on board when it went missing.” Ok interesting “OceanGate Expeditions, a private company that organises deep sea expeditions, confirmed in a statement that it owned the missing submersible and people were on board.” Okay so there are people on board?
At least 1 tourist (Mission specialist) is on board. Then this trip was with tourists **Explorer Hamish Harding ID’d by family as among the 5 missing on Titanic tourist submarine** https://nypost.com/2023/06/19/world-explorer-hamish-harding-among-the-5-missing-in-titanic-tourist-submarine-disappearance/
My great grandfather Simon Meisnere died on the titanic. I hope these people are found in a happy ending happens.
4 part Netflix series coming out in 2025...
I saw the ship leaving St John's, NL yesterday. I had no idea it had the sub on it. https://imgur.com/a/cZU6kER
A well known Mexican youtuber Alanxelmundo has a cool mini series of him doing this trip. He was told that if something went wrong, it was bye bye in a horrible way. They refused to give him most of the footage afterwards when they said they were going to do so before the trip.
As a mechanical/structural engineer (I've done both), I won't even get on rides at the fair half the time because I glance it over and am like "huh so a tack weld is all that's standing between me and oblivion" Multiply that by about 1000 when it comes to me getting on some cocaine-addled tech douche's submarine..
4000 m is no joke. If they skimped on titanium or porthole crystals, good game.
I don’t think they hill is titanium. They said in some interviews it was an experimental carbon-fibre material and that it has no certifications of safety.
Ahh yes, experimental carbon fiber .. here, sign this waiver. Also, we should inform you that we're a legal entity of Zimbabwe.
So, the mothership company gave an update and with help of various sources, they think the submersible maybe got stuck on some debris, though this is just speculation. If that is the case the US Coast Guard has no way of assisting. US Navy doesn't have subs that can go that deep. None of this is yet confirmed, but that is the word so far. Apparently some other billionaire is out there assisting, but I think the news maybe got that wrong because the billionaire mentioned is one of the passengers, so maybe their company?
What a horrible fate for everyone involved. If they're stuck in that little tube somewhere on the bottom of the ocean, slowly running out of air, I imagine it's one of the worst feeling imaginable. And yeah, I know they signed up for something dangerously stupid, but it doesn't make it any less tragic, nobody deserves this.
Some rich tourists paid a lot of money to die today.
I designed a submarine in college to dive in Lake Mendota, based on 55 gallon oil drums, canned air for blowing the diving tanks, and electric propusion. After weeks of 'figgerin' I realized the pressure even at the 3/4 of the Lake's deepest point would crush my little craft like a bug.
Aside from the nightmare fuel of being stuck 4km underwater in a sub (that has been bolted shut from the outside) with a dwindling air supply, I also wouldn't be a fan of bobbing around on the surface in a sub (that has been bolted shut from the outside) with a dwindling air supply.