New Commercial Dive to the Titanic

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Billionaire Plans Dive to the Titanic in a Newly Designed Submersible

A new headline has shaken the deep-sea world. Larry Connor, an Ohio real estate billionaire, is reportedly spending $10 million on a dive to the Titanic wreck. The mission comes just two years after OceanGate’s Titan sub imploded in June 2023, killing five people. Unlike Titan’s carbon-fiber hull, the new Triton sub will use an acrylic sphere and undergo far stricter testing. Engineers say it will be built to reach 13,100 feet with improved safety.

Couldn't get me down there...

 

[fla4fun]

Billionaire Plans Dive to the Titanic in a Newly Designed Submersible

A new headline has shaken the deep-sea world. Larry Connor, an Ohio real estate billionaire, is reportedly spending $10 million on a dive to the Titanic wreck. The mission comes just two years after OceanGate’s Titan sub imploded in June 2023, killing five people. Unlike Titan’s carbon-fiber hull, the new Triton sub will use an acrylic sphere and undergo far stricter testing. Engineers say it will be built to reach 13,100 feet with improved safety.

Couldn't get me down there...

Me either, at least not in some “new design” sub built with untried materials. The subs used by Woods Hole and Ifremer to reach the Titanic were built using technology that had been proven for many years. I wouldn’t have gone down to the wreck in them myself (tiny bit claustrophobic), but I wouldn’t have been concerned that the sub would disintegrate during the dive either. There are just some times that you can’t take shortcuts and I feel this is one of them

At least they are smart enough to use a sphere shape instead of a cylinder . . .

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

If you don't cut corners like the last guy I believe it can be done.

Would I go? No. Would cost too much and I am fine with just seeing footage/pics.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

As far as I'm concerned, it's all just too depressing. Assuming he makes it down there and back up, what will it accomplish? He's seen a grave. Bravo.

[ETA] I guess, there is a certain fascination with the Titanic and I could understand why people want to see the wreck before it totally vanishes...

 

[NannyBeBe]

Engineers say it will be built to reach 13,100 feet with improved safety.

And the builders of the Titanic said it was unsinkable. No thank you.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Remember this?

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

This is the proposed sub...

 

[fla4fun]

This is the proposed sub...

Looks like there are only two seats and no room for passengers (assuming there would be rich guy and then someone qualified to pilot the sub). Is this supposed to be a one and done or do they plan on multiple dives?

On the other hand, if they start to get any micro cracks in that, they will definitely see them . . .

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Looks like there are only two seats and no room for passengers (assuming there would be rich guy and then someone qualified to pilot the sub). Is this supposed to be a one and done or do they plan on multiple dives?

On the other hand, if they start to get any micro cracks in that, they will definitely see them . . .

It says that it's a two person sub.

 

[fla4fun]

And the builders of the Titanic said it was unsinkable. No thank you.

No, the builders Harland and Wolff did not say that. A journalist writing for Shipbuilder Magazine before the Titanic sailed said that the watertight compartments made the Titanic “practically unsinkable”. Even the operators, White Star Line, made no such claim, at least not publicly. When the disaster happened everyone forgot about the word “practically” and the magazine. There were one or two high ranking executives at White Star who, in interviews after the sinking, stated that they had believed the ship was unsinkable due to all the safety precautions they had taken. It didn’t help that her sister ship, Olympic, had a collision with another ship prior to Titanic sailing and although there was significant damage, the Olympic did not sink. The watertight compartments did what they were supposed to. It was this accident with Olympic that pushed back the work on Titanic and changed her maiden voyage date by almost a month, from March 20th to April 10th. I often wonder if she had kept the March sailing date, would she have made her crossing successfully and ended up just a small footnote in history. . .