Titan Sub Disaster Report
OceanGate Submersible Titan
Bottom Line Up Front:
Completely avoidable and caused by numerous factors, most of which were self-inflicted.
Explosive new report blames OceanGate and its CEO for ‘preventable’ Titan sub disaster
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush ignored safety warnings and overruled engineers about Titan’s flawed carbon fiber design
By Michael Dorgan
A damning new report on the Titan submersible disaster that killed five people has revealed that the tragedy was preventable, and the result of a flawed experimental design and ignored safety warnings — with particular culpability placed on OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
The 335-page report by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is the first full government post-mortem on the tragedy to date and the first official document to clearly assign blame to OceanGate, the now-defunct operators of the ill-fated vessel, and Rush.
The report paints Rush as the architect of the submersible’s failure who overruled engineers’ warnings about the vessel’s flawed design, which ultimately led to the vessel imploding near the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic Ocean in 2023, resulting in the instantaneous death of all five occupants.
The report does not actually assign blame but states:
“Mr. Rush exerted full control over every facet of the company’s operations and engineering decisions… His refusal to prioritize safety and his dominant leadership style created an environment where the Titan’s eventual implosion became almost a certainty,” the report found.
Engineering principles exist for a reason; the sea is unforgiving.
Category: Caveat Emptor
Insufficient understanding of effective crush depth.
Squish.
They understood it briefly before they forgot everything completely.
Literally they couldn’t have. It takes too long to register pain
Insufficient understanding of material science.
Do the survivors of the passengers who died have any chance of monetary recompense?
Every asset Stockton Rush possessed should be given over to them.
Oversized egos can be fatal.
A Couple of them have sued. Most of the people that died were quite wealthy and the lawsuit would be meaningless.
Whether the family of the dead passengers can recover is a function of whether this enterprise had liability insurance. If so, that carrier will want to settle given this report.
I was thinking of a more sniper-like lawfare attack on Stockton Rush personally in the form of his estate.
In part to send a message to other CEOs and oversized egos – you kill with your stupidity, your family suffers poverty.
Problem is that by getting a bunch from the estate you punish his family, not him. Liability insurance, maybe, but ultimately no matter who you sue, you aren’t really doing anything to the guilty party.
Even if they had liability insurance I am sure there would be an exclusion for negligence. This report would be all the insurer needed to make that claim.
But was it negligence or gross negligence? The second one isn’t waiverable. Proving it would be tough though as the owner died, most sober people aren’t grossly negligent with their own lives unless they are suicidal but not always.
Submitting a false document to the USCG to operate a submersible, firing safety personnel who challenged you and other stuff likely would fall under gross negligence. It would be up to a court to sort it.
And he didn’t want any old experienced knowledgeable whites dudes working on it.
DEI kills.
Never trust the patriarchy. //S//
Oh…the IRONY; this CEO didn’t trust the science.
Was he wearing a Covid mask at the time of the implosion. Inquiring minds want to know.
And, in this case, the science was settled.
Settled all the way to the bottom of the Atlantic.
At least the owner went down with the ship. He got to experience the results of his own stupidity.
I think the last thing that went through his mind was his asshole.
🤣🤣
Is that anatomically possible? I m w to k.
So Rush wasn’t in a rush to rush any repairs and not in a rush now to settle any claims and didn’t rush to much to report to Davey Jones locker. Well, at least I didn’t rush thriugh my comment but got some rush typing it.
He should have taken two rolls of duct tape with him instead of just the one.
Karma
Shouldn’t that headline say “Implosive new report…”?
I smiled at the wording too. Make of that what you will.
*grin*
Crushed it with this comment!
You’re blowing things out of proportion. Just hoping that the company can salvage their reputation.
Sure. Booking now for the next voyage under the sea!
Voyage to the bottom of the sea.
Just the bottom.
Jeez that’s a lot of pressure to be under.
Time to deep-six these comments.
Clusterfuckery at the highest order!
The unredacted document that Hack was able to read assign blame on using too much vinegar and not enough baking soda.
How long until some starts a submarine tour company to explore the wreckage of the submarine that imploded while exploring the wreckage of the Titanic?
Two places I don’t ever wanna go…underwater and outer space.
The story I saw on it was all about how more regulation and “oversight” are required.
It is not the government’s job to protect everyone from their own stupidity or hubris.
Every person on that contraption was there voluntarily. The paid guests all signed waivers that stated specifically that the vessel was experimental, was not approved by any regulating authority and they could die as a result of the voyage.
Yes, it’s possible that the CEO convinced them that signing was just a formality and that there was no real danger, but if you’d willingly sign a document like that but still believe that its safe, you’re stupid.
Oh…I know the argument: We spent untold piles of money and so many people went into harm’s way and worked long hours and really, really inconvenienced themselves looking for them. So to prevent that from happening again, we have to regulate everyone to the point you have to get permission to blow your nose.
Um…no. It is not “society’s” responsibility to try to save people who put themselves in dangerous situations out of their own stupidity.
If you refuse to evacuate during a natural disaster, you’re on your own. If you choose to climb a mountain, fall and get hurt, That was your choice, we have no obligation to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to save your dumb ass just because you didn’t think a bad thing would every actually happen to you and now that it has, are crying for someone to come save you.
If you build a poorly engineered pressure vessel, take it down to implosion depth and it goes “pop”: In the immortal words of Jeremy Clarkson: “Oh no…anyway…”
If you read the popular press, you’ll see people claiming certain materials are as strong as steel (carbon fiber being one). They are not. The strength of steel is expressed in several ways. One of the more important is its ductility. Carbon fiber is not ductile and is a brittle material, making it weaker than steel. Mating a carbon fiber body to a steel endcap is a mistake that even a 3rd year engineering student would not make. Once the carbon fiber lost the strain battle with the steel, its doom was written in stone. At that point, the brittle nature of the carbon caused the catastrophic failure of the hull.