I find it had to trust any form of submersible...

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

…after the Titan disaster. I saw a documentary on that recently, about all the details… gruesome

 

[fla4fun]

…after the Titan disaster. I saw a documentary on that recently, about all the details… gruesome

Well, I certainly wouldn’t have trusted that submersible. Most submersibles of that size have a spherical crew cabin, so that the pressure of the water is evenly distributed over the entire surface. The Titan had a cylindrical cabin, which would cause the pressure to be uneven, making it much less stable and causing extra stress to the cabin itself. Combine that with the type of material used to construct it, and it would have been a big no for me.

My understanding is that the builder of the Titan thought people were being stodgy and not willing to innovate when they stuck with the conventional shape and materials in their submersibles. He felt regulations were also hindering innovation. While I am all for innovating, you don’t make guinea pigs out of your paying customers. He needed a much longer test period to see the long term effects on his new materials in repetitive diving, and he needed to be able to concede when someone else was correct. He was stubborn and arrogant, and he paid the ultimate price. Unfortunately he took his trusting passengers with him.

I will never understand how PH Nargeolet could have believed in the Titan submersible, based on his experience with subs.

 

[_19disnA]

^^ I agree, the tremendous pressures at those depths mean you need a vehicle that is appropriately designed/tested/certified for that purpose. As I understand it, much of their operation was on a shoestring budget and they cobbled together vehicles where many industry experts had expressed serious concerns. Regulations in that type of industry are typically focused on safety and you can't cut corners on such things.

Sightseeing at a hundred feet is a LOT different technical challenge compared to diving thousands of feet to the depth of something like the wreck of the Titanic. I personally would never get into a vehicle that goes thousands of feet below the surface simply for sightseeing.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Some of the details were harrowing. They say they first lost contact with the sub completely, then they heard banging noises, like someone was banging on the hull of the stricken sub. A little while after, there was a big explosion, which turned out to be the implosion. It was harrowing showing the wreckage on the sea floor and when they brought bits up, like the viewing dome… And what if they had lived on past the final transmission? What if they were all alone down there, freezing to death, running out of air, in the dark? Makes me shudder just to think about it I actually remember watching it live on the news, whilst people hoped against hope, with that damn countdown clock to zero oxygen...

 

[dizneegirl]

They weren't freezing or running out of air. That banging wasn't from the people. It was the vehicle integrity faltering before the implosion. I'd hazard a guess that the passengers didn't have time to even consider what was happening.

 

[BrianL]

Yeah, the guy running this company was very irresponsible and had several engineers quit on him as they did not feel he was prioritizing safety. I'm not going to say that I wouldn't trust any submersible, but I would be very, very selective if the opportunity were to come along. Honestly, I probably wouldn't do anything too deep just for fun.

Now, if Captain Nemo pulls up in the Nautilus, then I'm all in, even if he is pretty crazy!

 

[fla4fun]

They weren't freezing or running out of air. That banging wasn't from the people. It was the vehicle integrity faltering before the implosion. I'd hazard a guess that the passengers didn't have time to even consider what was happening.

I agree. I mean, we can only base our belief on the results of the investigation, but those results point to a catastrophic failure occurring within milliseconds. The people onboard very likely had no knowledge of what was coming.

It’s very different from, say, the loss of the Challenger, where due to the position of switches and emergency oxygen, the facts point to the crew having knowledge of what was occurring (and probably the fact that they were unlikely to survive).

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

the fact that the pilot was using a battery operated gaming joystick is mind blowing.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

They weren't freezing or running out of air. That banging wasn't from the people. It was the vehicle integrity faltering before the implosion. I'd hazard a guess that the passengers didn't have time to even consider what was happening.

What I meant was, there were banging noises BEFORE the implosion. Knock knock… knock knock... I have no idea what they were. But people speculate.

As for the implosion itself, it was instant. Even a pinhole leak would have been like a laser cutting through the craft.

 

[firefly_ris]

Yep, no thanks. I don't think I could do a regular submarine either.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Yep, no thanks. I don't think I could do a regular submarine either.

Those are exactly the images I remember. That sub was never fit for service. Did you know that previous to this terrible incident the dome had been nearly cut off upon docking? The bolts were sliced!

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Then of course there was the Kursk tragedy. Typical Putin. Lied through his teeth. Said the submariners were safe. That oxygen lines had been established. Total fabrication.

Now we know that some of the submariners had survived the blast that was an experimental torpedo detonating. They wrote letters to their loved ones. It took a team of Europeans to demonstrate how easy it was to open an emergency escape hatch and gain entry, something the Russians had not been able to achieve. And Putin, true to his usual self, confiscated the notes. I believe I'm right in saying that the bereaved loved ones never got to read those notes. I DO remember seeing, however, on the BBC News, a weeping grandmother, having a needle shoved in her throat by some random after she publicly blamed Putin.

Love Putin's Russia

[ETA] Oh, how can I forget? Russia turned down ALL international help because they were worried that their "advanced technology" would fall in to hostile hands. They basically shoved in the knife and twisted it.

 

[LuvBulldogs]

I'd hazard a guess that the passengers didn't have time to even consider what was happening.

And isn't that better?

This is in the same category as the guy who died in the Nutty Putty cave. Under the guise of entertainment /fun, they made awful choices and died in horrible ways.

 

[tvguy]

Wonder if this has impacted business for the Atlantis submarines in the Caribbean. They only go down 100 feet, but still, there is a risk.