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‘You’re remembered for the rules you break’: OceanGate CEO who was piloting the Titan admitted in 2021 that the sub’s construction had ‘broken some rules’ (fortune.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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“I’d like to be remembered as an innovator,” he said, speaking from the interior of one of OceanGate’s submersibles. “I think it was [famous American General Douglas] MacArthur that said, ‘You’re remembered for the rules you break.’”

“I have broken some rules to make this,” he conceded. “I think I’ve broken them with logic and good engineering behind me. The carbon fiber and titanium—there is a rule that you don’t do that. Well, I did.”

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yikes. I appreciate that some people love to do extreme things, but this one just seems like a bad idea. You couldn't pay me to ever get into a sub like this.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

If it was just him and his buddies getting on this sub and doing dangerous voyages then I see no problem.

But to ignore industry experts and invite paying clients onto your ultra-dangerous submarine, well that's not a good look.

The simple fact that there was no possible egress without outside assistance should have been reason enough to scrap the design. With constant safety issues on what seems like every single one of their dives, I'm actually amazed that the Titan didn't kill someone sooner.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Honestly, it's almost certainly possible to make a deep sea tour sub like this that's reasonably safe, if even more expensive (though given the only clientele for this kind of tourism is so incredibly rich I'm not sure this really matters). Consider that subs capable of operating at this depth have existed for a long time, for example, the Alvin , which was built in the 60s, can go to the wreck of the Titanic and even deeper, and yet still gets used today.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Yeah, James Cameron has been to the Titanic and back 33 times. And to the Mariana Trench, and who knows where else. It's not impossible to do it safely, but that requires spending money on the correct materials, listening to your engineers, cross checking with third party engineers, and not rushing things. Carbon fiber is a stupid material for a sub hull, using different materials with different expansion and contraction rates for your pressure vessel is a stupid decision, not having a way for the passengers to self-rescue is stupid, using a wireless controller without (multiple) hardwired backups is stupid.

The entire thing reeks of a CEO who doesn't want to take the time to do things properly in fear of investors losing interest. And I get that fear, I work for a small company as well (not building submarines) and you do have to move quickly with a lot of things. But you DON'T rush things when human safety is a factor.

That sub should have been remotely operated dozens of times and gone through multiple iterations before they ever let a living creature inside it. It should have been x-rayed between every dive to find microfractures in the brittle carbon fiber hull. Multiple prototypes should have been built and extensively tested to find flaws in the design or assembly process.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Wow apparently that Alvin was built by General Mills! (Electronic division.) Like the cereal company. Also it say:

In an emergency, if Alvin were stuck underwater with occupants inside, the outer body, or cladding, of the submersible could be released and discarded using controls inside the hull. The titanium sphere would then rise to the surface uncontrolled.

That's a good idea. I wonder if they just are not allowed to go on the alvin no matter how much they pay, and thats why they chose other option?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I wasn't suggesting that they actually use that sub for their tour, the Alvin does have actual work it does (has made some pretty important contributions to science to my knowledge, for instance in visiting thermal vents) so I doubt they'd be allowed to just rent it out for sightseeing. Rather, I was more trying to point out using it as an example that building a reasonably safe and reliable sub for this kind of depth is not only possible, it has been for quite some time now. It reflects extremely poorly on the design and operators of the Titan that it could not.