As details of OceanGate's ill-fated Titan submersible expedition emerge at a U.S. Coast Guard hearing this week, experts told Fox News Digital that the incident could lead to stricter regulation of companies that offer private undersea exploration services in the future.
“The NTSB may need to look into the entire Millionaire Thrill Ride certification issue,” former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Alan Diehl told Fox News Digital.
Last June, British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, father and son Shahzada Daoud and Suleiman Daoud, and French sailor Paul-Henri Narjolet died when the OceanGate Titan imploded on June 18, 2023, while on a trip to view the Titanic.
The final communication with the support ship Polar Prince was the message “We're OK.”
Titan submersible crew say 'We're OK' in final message before vessel explodes: U.S. Coast Guard
This image shows Titan's tail cone as it sits at the bottom of the ocean in June 2023. (U.S. Coast Guard/Peer Survey Service)
Tony Nissen, Ocean Gate's former chief engineer, said in testimony Monday that he felt pressured to get the ship ready to dive and refused to pilot it on its first voyage.
“I'm not participating,” Nissen told Rush, according to testimony.
Asked if there was pressure to keep the submersible in the water, Nissen said “100 percent.” He said he stopped the submersible from heading to the Titanic in 2019, told Rush it “wasn't working the way we wanted it to,” and was fired later that year.
Ocean Gate CEO sank submersible in 2016, threw controls at crew, former employee says
This file image provided by OceanGate shows the Titan submersible descending into the ocean. (Ocean Gate Expeditions)
Robert A. Sanders, a former Navy Judge Advocate General Captain and now a professor at the University of New Haven, told Fox News Digital that the Titan tragedy highlights the dangers of combining experimental technology with private enterprise.
“This is designed to be an experiment. They're testing new boundaries to do new things, but at the same time they're using it as a commercial money-making enterprise that's putting the public at risk,” Sanders said. “The public won't necessarily know the difference.”
David Lockridge, Ocean Gate's former general manager, testified Tuesday that safety took a back seat to the company's financial concerns, saying “the company's only underlying concern was to make money” and that “there was very little scientific consideration.”
“Any good safety-first crew would be able to say, 'We're not going to take these extra steps because we don't have all the safety precautions in place right now,'” Sanders said.
Coast Guard members of the Titan Marine Commission's Investigative Committee Formal Hearing were sworn in, Monday, September 16, 2024, in the Charleston County Council Chambers in North Charleston, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Mick Smith)
“As I understand it from the facts that have emerged, the company was in serious financial difficulty and needed to hold a successful event to gain further financial footing,” Sanders said. “Perhaps the best assessment was to cancel the event. [the project]”
Sanders said that based on testimony and information released so far, the vessel was novel in several ways: Not only was it the first privately owned submersible intended for commercial voyages, but it was made from titanium and carbon fiber materials and wasn't the standard spherical shape for vessels intended to reach that level of depth.
“If you think about submarine design, they're typically double-hulled and made of steel, bonded together with special welds to withstand the pressure,” Sanders said.
“This soda-can-shaped object was covered in reinforced fabric, which worked well at certain depths where pressure could be maintained and sustained, but the shape of the material was not sustainable where they were aiming – at the bottom of the trench where the Titanic lies,” he said.
Coast Guard releases tragic final message received from Titan submersible before fatal explosion
This undated image provided by Ocean Gate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company's Titan submersible. (Ocean Gate Expeditions via The Associated Press)
At Tuesday's hearing, Lockridge said Titan's hull resembles “porous paper” and said he was surprised by the decision to reuse parts such as the hull dome, acrylic components and interior.
He said the sub's viewing windows and domed roof deviated from standard designs and he was “appalled” by the O-ring seals, calling it a “horrible submarine.”
According to testimony, the Titan submarine had never been independently inspected, despite having made several dives.
Mr Sanders said the Titan tragedy highlighted the need for regulation of submersibles if more private undersea business was to take place.
“The Coast Guard may decide to hold additional hearings on changes to the Code of Federal Regulations that govern the commercial use of submersibles,” he said, “and then they would begin to regulate the industry with an eye toward passenger safety in the same way they regulate aviation and commercial marine.”
Click here to get the FOX News app
“As we move into these new areas, we may need new regulations to make sure people aren't doing things that are inherently dangerous and outside of the scope of currently known science,” he said. “As we learn more, we may be able to loosen those regulations.”
