A search is underway for missing submarine that takes people to see Titanic
apnews.com
A search is underway for a missing submersible that carries people to view the wreckage of the Titanic. Canadian officials say the five-person submersible was reported overdue Sunday night about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John's, Newfoundland and that the search is being led by the U.S. Coast Guard. The owner of the ship that launched the submersible confirmed that it was operated by OceanGate Expeditions, which has been operating annual voyages since 2021 to the wreckage of the iconic ocean liner. In a statement, the company said it is working to bring the crew back safely.
    • Onii-Chan@kbin.social
      15·
      2 years ago

      Built with shit from Home Depot, controlled with a literal Logitech game controller, construction pipes as ballast… holy fuck, why would anybody agree to go 3.7km below the surface of the ocean in that deathtrap?

      • StringTheory@beehaw.orgEnglish
        7·
        2 years ago

        Made out of a fiberglass tube (catastrophic failure) and titanium end caps (cracks) instead of steel.

        “Steel is real.”

        • Pigeon@beehaw.orgEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          Titanium cracks under pressure, I take it?

          Or is the join between the cap and the fiberglass body potentially more of a problem?

          • rustyspoon@beehaw.orgEnglish
            7·
            2 years ago

            Everything cracks under pressure, I’m not exactly sure what the above commenter is getting at. If the sub was steel the walls would be thinner. With titanium the walls are thicker. Without knowing the dimensions of the material we can’t know whether it was built to high enough standards.

          • ZapBeebz@beehaw.orgEnglish
            4·
            2 years ago

            I mean, anything will crack under pressure. The biggest issue I see is uneven compression of the two materials coupled with different fatigue behaviors. I’d feel a lot safer if the whole submarine was titanium, honestly. Barring that, a couple inches of solid steel would be just as comforting.

          • StringTheory@beehaw.orgEnglish
            3·
            2 years ago

            I would be worried about both. Joining two very different materials that need to deal with crazy pressures seems like a really bad idea.

          • Uniquitous@lemmy.oneEnglish
            1·
            2 years ago

            As I understand it, titanium is strong but brittle. It won’t bend, but it will break.

    • demvoter@kbin.social
      5·
      2 years ago

      Wow, that is super sketchy. Now I am not at all surprised this happened. Hope that company has a shit ton of insurance.

        • NattyNatty2x4@beehaw.org
          6·
          2 years ago

          There’s also a conspiracy that my farts smell like rancid carrots because the government puts carrots up my butt while I’m sleeping

        • FaceDeer@kbin.social
          5·
          2 years ago

          They’re playing a really long game if so. Submarines like this weren’t even conceived of yet when the Titanic went down, it’d take tremendous foresight to have set this up.

        • mobyduck648@beehaw.org
          5·
          2 years ago

          An easily disproved one too, as the sister ships weren’t actually identical. Also the recent scan on the ship revealed the hull number 401 on one of the propellers putting another nail in the coffin of the idea the ship is actually the Olympic.

        • Storksforlegs@beehaw.org
          1·
          2 years ago

          It’s not a great theory. I’m pretty sure it would have made more money transporting passengers hundreds of times over

  • BobQuasit@beehaw.org
    19·
    2 years ago

    I find it strangely hard to care about the fate of a handful of multimillionaire tourists when hundreds of refugees died last week due to the indifference of the Greek authorities - and the media barely noticed.

      • CeruleanRuin@lemmy.one
        2·
        2 years ago

        I am, however, enjoying the gradual turn from the search and rescue efforts to assigning blame and pointing out all the noted issues with the vessel that went missing - and the pushback from people saying it was completely safe.

        History repeats itself.

    • CeruleanRuin@lemmy.one
      1·
      2 years ago

      We should all just be glad that James Cameron wasn’t on board. Imagine never getting another one of his movies because he Heart -of-the-Ocean’ed himself.

  • TheOtherJake@beehaw.org
    12·
    2 years ago

    …officials are working to get a remotely operated vehicle that can reach a depth of 6,000 meters (about 20,000 feet) to the site as soon as possible.

    The 5-person submersible, named Titan, is capable of diving 4,000 meters or 13,120 ft. “with a comfortable safety margin,” OceanGate said in its filing with the court.

    but…after looking up on Wikipedia

    …a wreck that lies over 12,000 feet (3,700 m) below the surface…

    • neuropean@kbin.social
      10·
      2 years ago

      I think they’re advertising the depth limit of the recovery vehicle, not claiming that the wreck is actually at 20,000 feet.

    • Pigeon@beehaw.org
      8·
      2 years ago

      It might be best practice to use a vessel rated for considerably deeper than you actually go, in case of some problem in the hull?

      • Pigeon@beehaw.org
        4·
        2 years ago

        And/or it’s just a description of a particular vehicle they’re bringing that was most convenient to get there quickly.

    • FaceDeer@kbin.social
      6·
      2 years ago

      Maybe they’re concerned that it no-clipped through the sea bottom and wound up deeper than the Titanic’s current location?

  • TheLoneMinon@lemm.ee
    10·
    2 years ago

    This shits going to keep happening as companies continue to rush commercialization of “Extreme” Travel.

    • ZapBeebz@beehaw.org
      12·
      2 years ago

      I am hopeful, but not necessarily optimistic…if it lost power and descended below crush depth, no amount of life support is bringing them back.

      • Pigeon@beehaw.org
        2·
        2 years ago

        Someone else in the other thread about this said they have magnetically attached ballasts that can be jettisoned so the sub floats if power is lost.

        It’s also designed to go down to the floor where the Titanic is. Was it also passing over deeper water? I’dve assumed they’d release it from a boat above the titantic fairly directly.

    • Tin@beehaw.org
      2·
      2 years ago

      This may be true, but how much time does it take to surface to avoid decompression sickness if they are found? This, of course, assumes that the surface in the same vehicle.

      • mobyduck648@beehaw.org
        6·
        2 years ago

        The inhabitants of the submarine aren’t under pressure directly like scuba divers are, they’re at atmospheric pressure while inside which is why the pressure hull needs to be so strong to resist the hundreds of PSI outside - it’s the pressure difference that crushes things in this case. If they are rescued there’ll be no requirement to decompress slowly as their bodies were never under pressure and at risk of the bends (when nitrogen bubbles form in your blood with often lethal results) to begin with.

        The inhabitants of the Kursk during that submarine disaster were subjected to high pressure in their last hours but that was because the water slowly flooding their compartment compressed the air like a piston, this isn’t a concern for this submarine as it goes far deeper than the Kursk and the slightest fracture to the hull would kill them instantly in a violent implosion.

  • Dane@beehaw.org
    6·
    2 years ago

    Even if I had a stupid amount of money, there’s no way in hell I would pay someone to stuff me inside what seems to be an over-sized propane tank, then send me to depths where the water pressure is so extreme it will literally crush you.

    Just…no.

  • khalic@beehaw.org
    4·
    2 years ago

    I hope there’s some kind of black box… what would be worse than it happenning again one day because we don’t know what happenned.

    • ZapBeebz@beehaw.org
      4·
      2 years ago

      It’s controlled with a knockoff Xbox controller. I’ll bet the “black box” is a cassette recorder bought from Goodwill for $3 and then spray painted black

    • StringTheory@beehaw.org
      2·
      2 years ago

      BBC said that this sub (Titan) was damaged last year, and this was its first dive since being “repaired.”

        • StringTheory@beehaw.org
          4·
          2 years ago

          That is the worst part to me. This kid’s main interests were Rubik’s cubes and volleyball. At least all these old guys had an interest in the Titanic and knew what they were getting into.

          I feel bad for the kid.

    • kingofmadcows@startrek.website
      10·
      2 years ago

      Gabe Newell, yes the owner of Valve/Steam, has an ocean research organization that owns a submarine designed to dive down to 10km, to some of the deepest parts of the ocean.