As they say, history tends to repeat itself. The submarine vessel Titan embarked on a tourist visit to the Titanic and ironically met a fate very similar to that of the ship.
Sadly, the United States Coast Guard has confirmed the discovery of remains belonging to the Titan. With this finding, the death of the five crew members on board has been officially confirmed. The cause of the tragedy appears to be the implosion of the vessel, primarily due to the high pressure it had to withstand at the bottom of the sea.
Despite the events, there are still many unanswered questions to be resolved. One of them is what could have caused the fateful implosion and how it occurred. On the other hand, the United States Coast Guard will continue to search for the remains of the Titan in order to finally uncover what may have happened.
What is an implosion?
All the causes of the Titan’s downfall point to an “implosion,” but what exactly is it?
By definition, an implosion represents the “action of collapsing inward.” This situation occurs when the external pressure is greater than the internal pressure. When this happens, the object or cavity eventually collapses because it is unable to withstand the external force to which it is being subjected.
How did the crew members die?
Although we still don’t know exactly what happened down there, there are already some theories explaining the events and how the five crew members of the Titan could have met their fate. Guillermo Söhnlein, co-founder of OceanGate (the company that manages deep-sea excursions to the Titanic), already stated to the BBC that he feared the submersible had “imploded.”
Unfortunately, his fears eventually came true. In his statements, Söhnlein explained that “when working at great depths, the pressure is very high. If a failure occurs, it would lead to an instant implosion.” As you can imagine, the consequences of such a failure leave little room for the crew members. The implosion of the vessel would have instantly killed its occupants.
The Titan, built by OceanGate Expeditions, is designed to dive up to 4,000 meters. It is constructed with carbon fiber and titanium (materials also used in aircraft, cars, and spacecraft) and is capable of withstanding high pressures.
However, a former employee of OceanGate, David Lochridge, had already raised concerns in 2018 about serious safety flaws in the submarine. Among his main concerns were the design of the viewport and the lack of hull testing for the Titan. OceanGate relied on an “acoustic monitoring system” that was supposed to detect any potential hull failures. However, this system would only provide a warning with milliseconds of advance notice. After his unfavorable report, Lochridge was dismissed from the company.
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