How the “Titan” sank: what is known about the explosion on the submarine that was headed for the wreckage of the “Titanic”

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The search operation of the submarine “Titan”, which was headed for the wreckage of the sunken “Titanic”, has ended. Debris was found on the seabed, which proved that the ship exploded, and the tourists who were on it died. However, their chances of survival seemed minimal already after 4 days of searching, as the oxygen supply on the boat was only enough for 96 hours. Currently, they will continue to search the area to find the bodies of the dead passengers of the underwater vehicle, but it is not known whether this will be successful. CNN, Reuters and the BBC write about how the search mission was carried out, about the causes of the tragedy and the dangers for subsequent research missions. The wreckage of the “Titan” was found 500 meters from the sunken “Titanic”. The wreckage was located on the ocean floor, approximately 500 meters from the bow of the “Titanic” at a depth of 4 km below the surface in a remote corner of the North Atlantic, where the ship was headed with tourists and researchers. “Titan” was recognized by five large pieces of wreckage discovered by search teams. The first fragment found was the vessel’s bow cone, located outside the pressure hull. Then a “large field of debris” was discovered. It was this discovery that became the first sign of an underwater disaster. Later, several more fragments of the boat’s hull were found under water. The capsule or so-called “black box” of the ship has not yet been found. There were five people on board. In particular, billionaire businessman and researcher Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French researcher Paul-Henri Narjolet, executive director of OceanGate Stockton Rush – the company that made this underwater trip. They all died. OceanGate Submarine How Titan Was Found The ROVs used to search for the missing Titan submersible are powerful machines equipped with lights, cameras and technology. They are designed specifically to go deep. The machines are connected to the vessel, which remains on the surface of the water. When the vehicle reaches the depth of the sea, the pilot on the ship must orient himself to where the machine is. Everything that happens at depth is recorded on cameras, and the pilot can control the search operation remotely. Submarine “Titan” for 5 people. Photo: OceanGate It was these machines that found garbage and debris on the ocean floor, which turned out to be fragments of a sunken ship. On June 23, 2023, the US Coast Guard announced that it was ending its five-day search for the Titan. When and how the “Titan” exploded. It is currently unknown when and under what circumstances the ship exploded. However, the location of the wreckage field relatively close to the Titanic and the time when communication with the ship was lost suggest that the disaster occurred on the day the boat sank, Sunday, June 18. The U.S. Navy separately said it had detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion (an explosion directed inward rather than outward) near the location of the submarine when communication with it was lost. The sound was picked up by a top-secret system designed to detect enemy submarines. OceanGate Director Stockton Rush. Photo: OceanGate Experts point out that the implosion is also indicated by the volume of the ship wreckage field. If the version about the explosion inside the ship is confirmed, it would mean that the tourists died instantly on the day of the sinking. A few days ago, it was reported that sounds similar to knocking were recorded at the place of search for “Titan”. However, the US Coast Guard notes that there is no apparent connection between them and the explosion. “It was a catastrophic ship explosion that would have created a significant broadband sound there that would have been picked up by sonar buoys,” said Rear Admiral John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District. During the search, listening devices did not pick up any signs of a catastrophic failure or malfunction that led to the deaths of the submarine’s passengers, Moger said. That is, the department does not assume that speeding up the search operation could have saved people’s lives. Robotics on the seabed will continue to collect evidence of the disaster. Director James Cameron of the famous film “Titanic” James Cameron, who made 33 dives to the wreck, says that the news about the death of the “Titan” did not come as a surprise to him. “The only scenario that could explain the disappearance of the vessel was an explosion,” he said. According to him, searching for the missing passengers for several days was a mistake, it was necessary to honor the memory of the dead crew members already on Monday, June 19. Will they be able to raise the wreckage of the “Titan” Captain Mark Martin, a rescue specialist and deep-sea diving pilot, said that it is likely to be able to raise the wreckage of the submersible “Titan”. The operation will require an equipped ship and a crane with a wire that can reach a depth of 4,000 meters. Photo from the Titanic expedition in December 2021. Photo: OceanGate According to the captain, recovery teams will also need one or two remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), which have already played a key role in finding traces of Titan. The ROVs will work with a crane to scoop pieces of the submarine into large “baskets” or attach the pieces to straps for a crane that will lift them to the surface. How safe was the “Titan” In 2018, experts expressed concern about the safety of the submarine “Titan”. The submarine made its first sea dive to a depth of 4,000 meters in December 2018, and in 2021 it dived for the first time to the place where the Titanic is located. “Titanium”. Photo: OceanGate However, some industry experts and a whistleblower employee were concerned about its safety. In particular, the owner of OceanGate decided to refuse the certification of the vessel by independent experts. It is the American Bureau of Shipping, the leading classifier of underwater vehicles, or the European quality assurance and risk management group DNV, which sets safety standards for the design of underwater vehicles. According to Konen, OceanGate told passengers that the Titan was an experimental vessel that had not been approved or certified by any regulatory body. How dangerous is a trip to the remains of the Titanic The disappearance of the submarine “Titan” during a visit to the wreckage of the “Titanic” raised the question of what risks are associated with such an expedition to the depths. In the autumn of 1911, a huge block of ice broke off from a glacier in the southwest of the huge Greenland ice sheet. During the following months, it slowly drifted south, gradually melting under the influence of ocean currents and wind. On April 14, 1912, an iceberg 125 meters long collided with the passenger ship Titanic. The ship sank in less than three hours. More than 1,500 passengers and crew members died. The sunken Titanic. Photo: Vertical The sunken ship currently lies at a depth of approximately 3.8 km under the waves. Its ruins attract tourists and researchers. However, this journey can be dangerous. The deep ocean is very dark. Sunlight is very quickly absorbed by water and cannot penetrate much deeper than about 1000 m from the surface. Members of expeditions to the crash site described descending to the wreckage for more than two hours in complete darkness. And only then the bottom of the ocean is suddenly illuminated by the lights of the underwater vehicle. With line of sight limited to a few meters illuminated by the truck-sized underwater vehicle’s onboard lights, navigating at such depths is a challenge, and it’s easy to get disoriented on the seabed. Passengers on previous Titanic voyages with OceanGate have described how difficult it is to find your way once you reach the bottom of the ocean. Mike Rice, a TV comedy writer who worked on The Simpsons and took part in a trip to the Titanic last year, said: “When you hit the bottom, you don’t really know where you are. Blind at the bottom of the ocean, knowing that” The Titanic” is out there somewhere, but it’s so dark that we spent 90 minutes looking for it.” For more than 100 years, the wreckage of the “Titanic” gradually decomposes on the seabed. Photo: Vertical Also, the deeper the object sinks into the ocean, the greater the water pressure around it becomes. “That’s about 200 times the pressure in a car tire,” said Robert Blaziak, an ocean researcher at Stockholm University. A submarine’s movement is also affected by bottom currents, which, although not as strong as on the surface, can involve the movement of large amounts of water. In addition, many experts expect that the effects of these currents will eventually bury the wreckage of the Titanic in sediments. For more than 100 years on the seabed, the wreckage of the “Titanic” gradually decomposes primarily due to corrosion. Read also: The wife of the captain of the missing submarine is a descendant of the couple from the “Titanic”

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