How the Titanic submersible’s unconventional design may have destined it for disaster
- The Titan featured an elongated chamber for crew and passengers, in a departure from the usual spherical cabins, which have no stress hotspots
- The deep-sea craft was also built out of a carbon composite, which can have limited life compared to an all-titanium construction
The deadly implosion of the Titan submersible raises questions about whether the vessel exploring the Titanic wreckage was destined for its own disaster because of its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to safety checks that are standard in the industry.
All five people aboard the Titan died when it was crushed near the world’s most famous shipwreck, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said Thursday, bringing an end to a massive multinational search that began on Sunday when the vessel first lost contact with its mother ship in the unforgiving North Atlantic.
The Titan, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, first began taking people to the Titanic in 2021. It was touted for a design that included a carbon fibre composite hull and an elongated chamber for crew and passengers – a departure from more traditional spherical cabin areas and all-titanium construction.
The cabin where people sit in most submersibles is spherical, said Chris Roman, a professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, who had not been on the Titan but has made several deep dives in Alvin, a submersible operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.
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Titanic tour sub suffered ‘catastrophic implosion’ with all 5 on board killed
The sphere is “the perfect shape,” because water pressure is exerted equally on all areas. “There’s no stress hotspots and there’s no obvious place where stress is higher than any other place,” he said.
