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News Titanic Tours Submersible missing in atlantic ocean

DragRacer said:
You can’t inflate anything at that depth due to tremendous pressure differential.

Even if the tank of compressed air were contained inside the hull of the submarine, there would need to be either a manual valve or a solenoid to open to release the air into whatever bladder or air bag that was attached to a lift cable.

The exterior pressure of the water would simply push through the valve as soon at it were opened, filling the internal air tank immediately with water and exploding it.
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exactly. Water pressure at 3800meters of seawater is 2.5 tonnes (2500kgs) per square inch. Nothing will inflate, it would need to be dragged up with a cable or similar mechanical attachment.
 
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So probably they wont be at the bottom of the sea since there's apparently like 6 different backups to get the thing up in case of a power failure - unless they got tangled in a fishing net, would that sink them right back to the deep end?

I might be an idiot but if they are on surface wouldnt at least someone have satphone with them, I assume it should be working as long as they arent underwater?

So if those arent options that leaves hull breach or being stuck in the Titanic debris itself. But I'm a sherbro and not a sailor, please enlighten me.

What are the chances of ever finding this thing if it's really down at the bottom?
 
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Back in WW1 once the US navy got involved they were quick to target German U-boats. One of their techniques to destroy them was to drop a steel net on top of it and sink it. If it sunk to a retrievable depth they would often get the U-boat and loot it for intel. A lot of times when they opened the hatch the horrors they saw were beyond your wildest imagination. Claw marks at the hatch, gunshots everywhere, cannibalism....
 
Doughie99 said:
if the submersible lost pressure then that's instant death for everyone. If it sprung even a TINY leak then it's death for everyone. The water will come in at enormous pressure and simply probably cut any steel in it's path = sayonara for everyone.

more likely they had a total power failure or mechanical failure.
vehicle is rated for 96hrs oxygen for 5 people so they have maybe approx 2 days left... (as of now) assuming that ALL FIVE are still alive.
There is NO transferring people to another vehicle at those depths, nope.

issue i'd imagine is.....when they find it they HAVE to bring it up via a tow or via cables and i just don't know if they have another vehicle rated to go that deep etc to tow it back up (assuming it is still watertight).

Honestly i don't hold out much hope for them, being slightly fatalistic.
The Sea can be very unforgiving and ....given the location you have to say grimly ironic.

Final comment.... I find it personally inappropriate for any company to be making money off of an absolute tragedy that the Titanic sinking was. (ok the movie...that happened but i feel like Cameron did it to partly to honor the ship and it's lost souls).
1,500 men and women and children died that night and nobody should be charging random tourists vast sums to see it. Just my view on that.

Have respect for the dead, it should not be a tourist attraction for rich folk.
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Dizzy said:
How long is appropriate before trips start being made to see the remnants of this disaster?
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I don't want to be the Harbinger of Doom here but...... (i'm gonna be)

.......having thought about it....my feeling is that....probably the carbon-fiber hull failed, maybe at the join area where it mated with the titanium end-cap. (I don't think mixing materials for something like that is a good engineering design decision).
If it did catastrophically implode, & they find debris (they may and may not) they might never be able to tell what actually happened as it would just be crushed beyond recognition of what it once was.

Also...one more point.... it was 1h45mins into a dive and it usually takes 2 to 2.5hrs to reach the Titanic wreck. So it was i'd say for sure quite deep, maybe nearly at 12,000ft when it hit a problem, so.... i'd say probably structural failure resulting in total loss of vehicle and occupants.
 
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Doughie99 said:
I don't want to be the Harbinger of Doom here but...... (i'm gonna be)

.......having thought about it....my feeling is that....the carbon-fiber hull failed, maybe at the join area where it mated with the titanium end-cap. (I don't think mixing materials for something like that is a good engineering design decision).
If it did catastrophically implode, & they find debris (they may and may not) they might never be able to tell what actually happened as it would just be crushed beyond recognition of what it once was.

Also...one more point.... it was 1h45mins into a dive and it usually takes 2 to 2.5hrs to reach the Titanic wreck. So it was i'd say for sure quite deep, maybe nearly at 12,000ft when it hit a problem, so.... i'd say probably structural failure resulting in total loss of vehicle and occupants.
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Good enough for me.
Case closed.
Call off the search .
 
I'm starting to think they'll never even find it. It's a big ocean. Ships and planes much much larger than that thing have simply evaporated into thin air out there (most likely at the bottom somewhere). It would be a miracle if they even find the vessel, much less living occupants.
 
Doughie99 said:
am quite sure they did that a day or two ago.
only question is..... can they get the right equipment there in time..... it's a very big IF....
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I believe the ship that can bring up underwater items is arriving late tonight/early morning but they still have to find it
 
Doughie99 said:
I don't want to be the Harbinger of Doom here but...... (i'm gonna be)

.......having thought about it....my feeling is that....the carbon-fiber hull failed, maybe at the join area where it mated with the titanium end-cap. (I don't think mixing materials for something like that is a good engineering design decision).
If it did catastrophically implode, & they find debris (they may and may not) they might never be able to tell what actually happened as it would just be crushed beyond recognition of what it once was.

Also...one more point.... it was 1h45mins into a dive and it usually takes 2 to 2.5hrs to reach the Titanic wreck. So it was i'd say for sure quite deep, maybe nearly at 12,000ft when it hit a problem, so.... i'd say probably structural failure resulting in total loss of vehicle and occupants.
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My question about a catastrophic hull failure is that we know they put out some type of distress signal. I’m imaging if there was a failure then they wouldn’t even have time to do that. It’d be over before they even realized what happened

Their last pinged location was practically on top of the wreckage. I saw another reporter discussing how he went on a far more advanced sub in 2000 and a strong underwater current got a hold of them and literally pushed them under the propellers of the wreckage where they just had to ride it out and eventually got out from under it. I’m wondering if it was something like that now
 
RollSonnenRoll said:
My question about a catastrophic hull failure is that we know they put out some type of distress signal. I’m imaging if there was a failure then they wouldn’t even have time to do that. It’d be over before they even realized what happened
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That's a very good point and it might well make my assumption about a hull breach invalid. Any hull breach would mean basically instant death and I read there WAS one emergency ping. So...not sure.
Maybe there was cracking from the hull that they heard or felt? and managed to get off a kinda "mayday" ping before it failed completely? I guess I'm really just speculating to be honest.
The latitude and longitude of the vessel should be known quite accurately, the issue is getting another submersible or ROV down there to locate it. I do think they'll locate it but .....i'm doubtful there's anyone left to rescue.
 
On the carbon-fiber hull .....I just found this online, which does sounds ominous :

In 2018, while David Lockridge was serving as the company’s director of marine operations, he tried sounding the alarm over the submersible’s hull design but was ignored and fired, according to legal documents obtained by The New Republic.

OceanGate reportedly sued Lockridge for breach of contract after he refused to OK manned tests. Lockridge then filed a counterclaim, stating in part that “visible flaws” had been noticed in “carbon end samples for the Titan,” the vessel that is now missing. Its hull is made of five-inch-thick carbon fiber.

The documents stated that Lockridge “again stressed the potential danger to passengers of the Titan as the submersible reached extreme depths. The constant pressure cycling weakens existing flaws resulting in large tears of the carbon. Non-destructive testing was critical to detect such potentially existing flaws in order to ensure a solid and safe product for the safety of the passengers and crew.”

Lockridge alleged that the company’s leadership also refused to pay for a viewing portal that could withstand more than 4,300 feet of pressure; the wreck of the Titanic lies 13,000 feet underwater.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lost...h-missing-tourists_n_6491847fe4b025003ee688c8
 
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