The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently concluded its investigation into the OceanGate Titan submersible disaster. According to the summary report released on October 15, an already weakened hull caused the deep sea tourist vessel to implode while it was en route to visit the wreckage of the RMS Titanic in June 2023, killing all five passengers on board.
But according to their findings, investigators noted that the submersible wasn’t damaged shortly before its final voyage. Instead, initial layered fractures known as delaminations formed in its carbon fiber composite exterior eight dives earlier during a trip taken in July 2022.
“We found that the Titan pressure vessel likely sustained damage after it surfaced at the end of dive 80 in the form of one or more delaminations, which weakened the pressure vessel,” the investigation’s authors wrote in their report, adding that additional damage “of unknown origin” further weakened the submersible after its 82nd dive.
“The existing delaminations and additional damage that deteriorated the condition of the pressure vessel between dive 82 and the casualty dive (dive 88) resulted in a local buckling failure that led to the implosion of the Titan,” reads the summary.
The NTSB also described the Titan’s engineering process as “inadequate,” resulting in a vessel containing “multiple anomalies” that didn’t meet the required strength and durability needed to repeatedly reach a depth of over 10,700 feet.
“Additionally, OceanGate’s analysis of Titan pressure vessel real-time monitoring data was flawed, so the company was unaware that the Titan was damaged and needed to be immediately removed from service after dive 80,” wrote NTSB officials.
On June 18, 2023, OceanGate’s surface ship crew lost contact with the submersible about 105 minutes into its roughly 2.5 mile trip to the Titanic.. The ensuing international search effort ultimately encompassed over 10,000 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean. After four days, dive teams located the first section of debris, confirming the deaths of all five passengers including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
In September 2024, the US Coast Guard released a map detailing Titan’s 322,917-square-feet debris field located about 1,600 feet from the Titanic’s bow. At its last known depth of 11,033 feet, the ocean exerts 5,500 pounds per square inch (psi) of force on an object. The immense pressure would have caused Titan to implode in less than 20 milliseconds, faster than a human brain could comprehend it happening.
