Tag Archives: Titan submersible hearing

Coast Guard Hearing Wraps Up (30 Sep 2024)

September 30, 2024 Mark Taylor

Titan (submersible)
Becky Kagan Schott, OceanGate

The Coast Guard hearing into the Titan submersible catastrophe has concluded. The hearing revealed interesting details about the company, Rush Stockton and the submersible. Testimony indicates that Rush downplayed warnings about Titan’s reliability and safety. He was confident that it was safe. However, some testimony indicated there were problems with the craft that came up when it was diving. There was refutation that the company was focused solely on tourism and Titanic and that it was focused on making the ocean accessible to everyone. We also learned that there was no formal inspection done of the craft done by the Coast Guard.

That issue concerned one former employee, Matthew McCoy, who was a Coast Guard veteran and worked as an operations technician for about six months. He was concerned that classifying people as mission specialists rather than passengers would violate Coast Guard regulations. And also, that the Coast Guard had not cleared the submersible. He would learn after he left the company, which he thought was well run, had severed ties with both Boeing and the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory. He left the company over Stockton’s dismissal of Coast Guard investigating him and his comment he would buy off a congressman to make it go away.

Another issue the hearing looked into was the response to the emergency itself. Questions have been raised as to how slow it seemed to be to get all the necessary equipment to find Titan. Capt. Jamie Frederick, who helped lead the rescue effort, testified the biggest problem was getting the ROVs capable of diving down to Titanic. And also all the support equipment needed for it. They were able to get it together as quickly as they could but it took a “logistical tour de force.” The banging noises issue came up as well. Sounds were detected at regular intervals that some thought might be someone banging inside the submersible. However the data they studied indicates that was not the case and has been classified as an acoustic anomaly. Information about it was not revealed at the time as it was classified.

“It wasn’t for us to share with the family or with the public. It was one piece of data. It wasn’t definitive.” (Captain Jamie Frederick, U.S. Coast Guard)

One of the complications Frederick noted was conflicting information. At the time, they did not know about the slight shudder that the mast of the Polar Prince had detected just before losing contact with Titan. If they had known about that at the time, it would have changed the equation but could not answer how that would have changed the operation. Jason Neubauer, who chaired the investigation, noted that the Coast Guard is now changing how it handles whistleblower information. David Lochridge, an OceanGate employee who was fired after he raised concerns, submitted information to the Coast Guard that was not widely distributed but will be in the future.

Neubauer stated more investigative work needs to be done and more hearings may occur if warranted. He could not provide a timeline when it will wrap up its investigation and issue a report. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will issue a separate report on the implosion. If the reports indicate criminal charges be filed, then it will be turned over to the Justice Department for review and prosecution.

“Titan Hearing Reveals Malfunction Days Before Doomed Descent.” Video. NBC News, September 30, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/key-revelations-emerge-coast-guards-titan-submersible-hearing-rcna172274.

Boyle, Alan. “Eyebrow-raising Revelations Come to Light as Hearings Into Titan Sub’s Loss Wrap Up.” GeekWire, September 27, 2024. https://www.geekwire.com/2024/eyebrow-raising-revelations-come-to-light-as-hearings-into-titan-subs-loss-wrap-up/.

Liddell, James. “Titan Sub Hearings Live: Testimony Concludes as Coast Guard Hears About Build up to OceanGate Disaster.” The Independent, September 27, 2024. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/titan-oceangate-submersible-implosion-disaster-hearing-latest-b2619941.html.

Deliso, Meredith. “Submersible Expert Who Went on Early Titan Dive: ‘OceanGate Came Very, Very Close to Killing Me.’” ABC News. Last modified September 27, 2024. https://abcnews.go.com/US/oceangate-titan-coast-guard-hearing-tuesday/story?id=113961904.

Whittle, Patrick, and David Sharp. “NTSB Engineer Says Carbon Fiber Hull From Titan Submersible Showed Signs of Flaws | AP News.” AP News. Last modified September 26, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/titan-titanic-oceangate-coast-guard-hearing-implosion-f1ee1b9d4e48bf782af328590c417f03.

Morelle, Rebecca. “How Did Titan Hull Come Apart? Safety Experts Weigh In.” Last modified September 25, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g09gv4zg7o.

“Passenger on a Previous Titan Sub Dive Says His Mission Was Aborted Due to Apparent Malfunction.” Reviewonline.Com, September 20, 2024. https://www.reviewonline.com/uncategorized/2024/09/passenger-on-a-previous-titan-sub-dive-says-his-mission-was-aborted-due-to-apparent-malfunction/.

In Other News

Tylor Brummett, News Channel 3. “Titanic: The Exhibition in Chicago Showcases the Ship’s History.” WWMT. Last modified September 29, 2024. https://wwmt.com/news/local/titanic-the-exhibition-in-chicago-showcases-the-ships-history-maiden-voyage-hms-explorer.

Campbell, John. “Harland and Wolff: Titanic Shipbuilder Enters Administration.” Last modified September 27, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxgn1n08k7o.

‘TITANIC: The Artifact Exhibition’ Heads to Boston Next Month | EDGE United States.” EDGE Media Network. https://www.edgemedianetwork.com/story/335553.

Titanic Shipbuilder Insolvent; Put into Administration

September 17, 2024 Mark Taylor

Harland & Wolff David and Goliath crane in Belfast, 2006
Plastic Jesus (Dave) via Wikimedia Commons

The 163-year-old shipbuilder known for building Titanic has declared itself insolvent and put into administration. This is the second time in two years it has done this. The company’s board of directors said in a statement that there is a credible path forward for the company. Teneo, which handles administration under such circumstances, will take over the day-to-day operations of the company during this period. All non-core operations were already in the process of being shut down and employees in those areas are expected to lose their jobs. One marine services business is being sold, so it’s employees may retain their jobs.

The shipyards will remain open during this time and contracts it has will continue to be fulfilled. Of concern is a UK Royal Navy contract. A government spokesman said the government was concerned but has been told no jobs at the shipyard or core operations are at stake. Navantia, the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder, has expressed interest. Navantia is a partner in the program to build the Royal Navy vessels in which Harland & Wolff is a subcontractor. The UK defense contractor Babcock International is also interested as well. Creditors will be the first to get any payments required under any contracts they have with the company. Shareholders in the publicly traded company (trading in the stock was stopped a while back) will lose their investment.

Sources:

Campbell, John. “Titanic Shipyard to Go Into Administration.” Last modified September 16, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkddrv7v2po.

Ziaddy, Hanna. “The 163-year-old Company That Built the Titanic Says It Is Insolvent.” CNN, September 16, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/16/business/harland-wolff-titanic-shipbuilder-insolvent/index.html.

In other Titanic News

Rissman, Kelly. “Titan Sub Hearing Live Updates: Former OceanGate Employee Admits He Had ‘No Confidence’ in Ship’s Design.” The Independent, September 17, 2024. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/titan-sub-submersible-last-message-bodies-implosion-hearing-b2614007.html.

David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations who worked at the company from 2015 to 2018, told the panel about the “red flags” he witnessed, including co-founder Stockton Rush’s desire to qualify a pilot in one day — typically a lengthy process. He also painted a picture of Rush’s personality. He walked through a harrowing incident when Rush’s bungled dive to the Andrea Doria wreckage site ended in Rush throwing a “PlayStation controller” at Lochridge’s head. Lochridge issued an inspection report in January 2018 detailing his laundry list of concerns with an early version of the Titan. He was fired not long after.

Rissman, Kelly. “Final Messages Revealed From the Titan Sub Before Tragic Implosion.” The Independent, September 17, 2024. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/titan-submersible-last-words-final-message-coast-guard-b2614008.html.

“All good here.” Those were some of the final words that the doomed Titan submersible crew communicated before the submersible imploded on its mission to the Titanic wreckage site in June 2023. The message, revealed as part of the Coast Guard’s Monday hearing into the circumstances of the failed mission, was sent to support vessel Polar Prince on June 18, 2023, shortly before the submersible imploded, killing all five of its crew members. It was an incident that captivated both sides of the Atlantic as crews made a mad dash to save the crew after the sub lost contact with the surface – with the world unaware that the lives had been lost.

Associated Press. “Titanic Troubles: Engineer Says He Felt Pressured to Get Submersible Ready.” Boston Herald, September 16, 2024. https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/09/16/titanic-troubles-engineer-says-he-felt-pressured-to-get-submersible-ready/.

The lead engineer for an experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreck of the Titanic testified Monday that he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years earlier. “‘I’m not getting in it,’” Tony Nissen said he told Stockton Rush, co-founder of the OceanGate company that owned the Titan submersible.

Titanic News Channel

Tag Archives: Titan submersible hearing

Coast Guard Hearing Wraps Up (30 Sep 2024)

Titanic Shipbuilder Insolvent; Put into Administration

Titanic, historic ship, and general history news.