# "Titan" submersible investigation begins \[28-June-2023\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** breaking-news\ **Created:** [June 28, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242 "2023-06-28T16:34:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/441 "2024-09-10T09:18:20Z")
> **[Ex-employees of Titanic submersible's owner to testify before Coast Guard panel](https://apnews.com/article/titan-submersible-implosion-hearing-781869f0509625a16b7fe363913f7f2a)** > > Former employees of the company that owned an experimental submersible that imploded on its way to the wreck of the Titanic are scheduled to testify before a Coast Guard investigatory board. The public hearings are scheduled to start September 16 and last two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/442 "2024-09-11T04:22:03Z")
Thanks for that, @PastTense . I haven’t been following the upcoming Titan submersible case. The public hearing phase of the USCG inquiry will start on 16 September in North Charleston, South Carolina which is along the state’s Atlantic coastline in the middle of its coastline. That is a little north (along the coast) of Beaufort and Hilton Head Island (which are near Savannah GA), and a fair distance south of Myrtle Beach. Here is a USCG press release on it ➜ [https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3854599/us-coast-guard-to-convene-public-hearing-into-the-loss-of-titan-submersible](https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3854599/us-coast-guard-to-convene-public-hearing-into-the-loss-of-titan-submersible) ⇦ titled, **U.S. Coast Guard to convene public hearing into the loss of Titan submersible**. The hearing’s location is Charleston County Council Chambers, located at 4045 Bridge View Drive, North Charleston, South Carolina. USCG says there will be live-streaming, with details to be released as the date nears. And, The formal hearing is scheduled to convene daily at 8:30 a.m. EDT on the following dates: Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024 Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024 Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024 Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 (if necessary) The formal hearing was convened by Vice Adm. Peter W. Gautier, deputy commandant for operations. An MBI (Marine Board of Investigation) is the highest level of investigation in the Coast Guard. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/443 "2024-09-16T13:09:52Z")
Hearings have started; live at: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QZ8v2yUQgLI/hqdefault.jpg "LIVE: Coast Guard hears from former OceanGate employees on Titan implosion") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ8v2yUQgLI) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/444 "2024-09-19T04:57:48Z")
David Lockridge is testifying. He worked on the submersible and tried to blow the whistle on it, but got muzzled by a threat of litigation. He says that there were literally holes in the lamination that were revealed by shining a torch on it. So Rush fixed it - by spraying truck box lining on the holes. I’ve concluded Rush wasn’t just grossly incompetent. He was evil. > **[Stockton Rush Jerry-Rigged Repairs on Titan Sub: OceanGate Whistleblower](https://vocm.com/2024/09/18/stockton-rush-jerry-rigged-repairs-to-sub-defects-oceangate-whistleblower/)** > > OceanGate's former operations director David Lochridge, who blew the whistle on safety concerns he had with op... ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/445 "2024-09-19T05:04:21Z")
\*jury-rigged ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/446 "2024-09-19T05:05:38Z")
Yes, that leapt out to me as well. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/447 "2024-09-19T05:48:20Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > jury-rigged They haven’t even started a trial yet. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/448 "2024-09-19T06:27:40Z")
I find it hard to accept that Rush was the only OceanGate employee who knew about the truck bed liner, or the cuts and delaminations in the hull. Besides of course, Lochridge. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/449 "2024-09-19T06:34:06Z")
Some video of the wreckage: > Scott Manley (not a sub expert but generally a smart and thoughtful guy) speculates that the failure started at the forward ring section where the carbon fiber meets the titanium. The two materials have a different modulus of compression–that is, one shrinks more under a given amount of pressure–and this mismatch initiated the failure. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/450 "2024-09-19T12:20:42Z")
Yeah, brutal. In a mere 20 milliseconds, the OceanGate Titan and all within it imploded under that tremendous pressure of 375-400 atmospheres (almost 3 tons per square inch) at the Titanic‘s depth on the floor. In the CNN article link below, Lochridge said on Tuesday that the tragedy could have been prevented if US safety authorities had investigated his complaints. The thing is, regulatory inspectors try to sniff out flaws and non-compliances. But IME, mostly as an engineer in medical devices but some years in regulatory and FDA inspections in RA/QA, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance — during audits and inspections the inspectors can be guided away from those flawed areas and encouraged to look at the areas that are solid. I’ve seen it in audits. IOW it’s the employees who frequently know where the flaws and non-compliances are in their products and processes. Like Lochridge and, I suspect, some others. > **[OceanGate’s former operations director says tragic deaths could have been...](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/09/17/us/titan-submersible-explosion-coast-guard-hearing-tuesday)** > > David Lochridge, a former director of marine operations for OceanGate who expressed safety concerns about the ill-fated Titan submersible, said Tuesday that the tragedy could have been prevented if US safety authorities had investigated his... ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/451 "2024-09-19T13:38:19Z")
Magiver and I [speculated](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/118) on just this point of failure in July of last year. My takeaway (to avoid the wall of text I posted at the time): “Rigidly joining unlike materials at a critical interface will bite you in the ass. Find another way if you can, test the shit out of it if you can’t, and expect it to fail anyway.” It is not at all shocking to me that they didn’t, and it did. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/452 "2024-09-19T14:13:33Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > \*jury-rigged Both are correct. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/453 "2024-09-19T17:49:11Z")
It does sound like a Trump-style complaint. I watched Manley’s analysis last night. I’m hoping, as he does, the simulation guys will redo their work assuming a forward ring failure instead of the mid-cylinder failure point they’d assumed was the weakest point. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/454 "2024-09-19T23:47:26Z")
A CNN story about the David Lochridge testimony was posted just a few posts up. If anyone should find it more convenient, here’s a short CBC video providing a cogent and concise analysis. Bottom line: haste, arrogance, cost-cutting, and flawed engineering made the disaster all but inevitable. The video is only 12 minutes long but is well worth watching for a quick summary of the whole story. Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush fired Lochridge after he started raising safety concerns. > **[Why the OceanGate whistleblower says the Titan implosion was inevitable |...](https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6514601)** > > The U.S. Coast Guard's public hearings into the Titan's implosion in 2023 heard damning testimony from former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge, including allegations that corners were cut to get the vessel diving as quickly as possible.... ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/455 "2024-09-20T00:09:52Z")
In a report I heard yesterday Lockridge said he went to the Coast Guard and OSHA but they told him they had too many investigations on their plate already to look into his information. After he was sued by Oceangate neither agency offered whistleblower protections so he went silent. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/456 "2024-09-20T10:36:13Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I’ve concluded Rush wasn’t just grossly incompetent. He was evil. I’d believe that if he wasn’t on board. Just grossly incompetent imho. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/457 "2024-09-20T10:42:30Z")
I agree. He’s guilty of incompetence and magical thinking. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/458 "2024-09-20T19:29:34Z")
Rush was really a “reality is what I say it is” type narcissist. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/459 "2024-09-20T20:43:53Z")
@Northern_Piper has it right—he was straight-up evil, as evidenced by the way he ran his business and harassed and threatened his employees. Do you think that just because he was also incompetent and stupid enough to set foot in his own sub, ensuring he got what he deserved, he was not actually evil? Believe the testimonies. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242/460 "2024-09-21T00:21:50Z")
A point I am very fond of making: evil doesn’t mean smart. IMHO, more often than not, it actually means so incredibly stupid that rational actors will make the paradoxical assumption that the evil dimwit must be some kind of secret genius because surely _no one_ could be _that_ stupid. But it turns out they can. And here we have exhibit 137,238. See also SBF. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titan-submersible-investigation-begins-28-june-2023/986242.md?page=24)