Debris found
Back hatch and another part of the sub have been found. Recovery mission now(guess it always was)
shareSo this confirms that the sub imploded?
I read up on two things that might explain what happened.
1.) The Titan was giving off sonar pings every 5 minutes to the boat up above to let them know they were alive, and their position. The last sonar ping was given off on Sunday, and indicated the Titan was hovering over the wreckage of the Titanic, meaning they had made it. There were no more sonar pings after that.
2.) There have been reports of sudden, violent, unpredictable ocean currents that can appear down there around the wreckage. I read on Quora that someone else had been in a submersible that got hit by a rogue water current, got pushed sideways, and snagged on a piece of wreckage (albeit on another deep-sea voyage to another shipwreck, but you get the picture) and a rescue operation had to be conducted. Part of the sub in that event was damaged and unable to get back up to the surface, so another had to be sent down to retrieve them.
Based on the info we're getting, I think I might know what happened, but we'll know more if they salvage the sub.
Hypothetical Scenario 1: The Titan sub reached Titanic, and after it gave off that last sonar ping, they either started exploring the wreck, or before even getting down there, a rogue underwater current hit them, they were pushed off-course, hit part of the Titanic's wreckage, there was a hull breach, and the sub imploded.
However, there has been talk that this sub has done multiple dives, and corners were cut on its construction. It's possible the Titan was able to survive the first few dives, despite all odds, but nobody did proper maintenance on the hull, causing it to weaken with each dive.
Hypothetical Scenario 2: The Titan sub reached Titanic, but soon after it gave off its last ping, the hull breached because it couldn't take the stress of the outside water anymore after repeated dives and poor maintenance, and the sub imploded right there.
My money's on #1, but again, we won't know until probably months later.
Yup. “Catastrophic implosion “. So it was probably instant death.
shareOkay, now that more information is coming in, it appears the sub did not technically reach Titanic, but it was directly above the shipwreck as it descended. Someone else on here said that it takes 2 hours to get down to Titanic, and the last sonar ping that the Titan gave off happened roughly 1 hour and 30-48 minutes after it started its descent, meaning it was still hundreds of feet up in the ocean and wouldn't have reached the shipwreck for another 20-30 minutes.
A French company helping with the search was using a remote vehicle and found pieces of debris from the Titan about 1600 feet way from the front of the Titanic's bow, indicating that the sub imploded, and the debris drifted a bit in the ocean currents and then settled to the bottom. The fact that the tail end is intact, but the rest of the sub is not, indicates that carbon fiber body on the hull couldn't handle the pressure.
There's news now coming out that the navy was listening in the moment the Titan didn't send back a sonar ping, and the navy's own sonar detected a sound that is consistent with an implosion. What I don't understand is why the navy said nothing and let people have false hope for 4 days while searching for the sub? They wanted proof?
God, talk about a quick death. It's like, the 5 guys are in the sub, heading down, and there's a loud noise, and suddenly they find themselves standing at the Pearly Gates, wondering what happened, and St. Peter has to tell them "Your submersible imploded, sorry. Welcome to the afterlife."
Interesting. Haven’t heard they made it to the Titanic. I heard they lost connect 1:30 minutes down which is an hour short of the bottom.
Either way, it’s a brutal way to go.
The implosion would be so quick they would not feel a millisecond of it. However, being crammed in a sitting position in a small, closed space, up against others, with no shower, a makeshift toilet, and air getting thinner and more contaminated by the minute…would be a nightmare.
shareAgreed. At least the didn’t suffer by the sounds of it
shareI would imagine that if they imploded there would be a few minutes where they were drowning in cold water unable to breathe; why do people assume that they died instantly?
shareAt that depth, the pressure squeezing that submersible would be monumental. It wouldn’t be a matter of leaks filling the vehicle with water as they slowly drowned. It would look more like an explosion. When it happened, it probably took less than a second for everything to be obliterated.
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