Engineering Matters
By Mitch Berg
The missing submersible that went into the depths of the North Atlantic, taking tourists down to view the titanic, apparently had a design shortcoming or two, according to at least one whistleblower lawsuit:
At the meeting Lochridge discovered why he had been denied access to the viewport information from the Engineering department—the viewport at the forward of the submersible was only built to a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate intended to take passengers down to depths of 4,000 meters. Lochridge learned that the viewport manufacturer would only certify to a depth of 1,300 meters due to experimental design of the viewport supplied by OceanGate, which was out of the Pressure Vessels for Human Occupancy (“PVHO”) standards. OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the required depth of 4,000 meters.
2700 meters short of the target depth?
Not exactly close enough for county work.
The US military learned the hard lessons about building submarines out of parts from the lowest bidder almost 60 years ago. its one of the very rare cases of government learning something before the private sector.
June 21st, 2023 at 6:16 am
More than one underwater recovery specialist, as well as two friends of mine that spent three years of their Navy service on submarines, have speculated that the sub experienced a catastrophic failure. My friends tell me that every submariner is taught to bang out SOS on the hull, in the event of systems failures or accidents, for as long as they are alive. Of course, most military submarines also have locator beacons, which this vehicle did not. Trying to be positive, but with no sounds being detected by sonar, it appears that we have a tragedy.
June 21st, 2023 at 6:22 am
UPDATE:
Apparently, a Canadian search plane that dropped sonobuoys in the area on Sunday, detected banging sounds at thirty minute intervals for an extended period. The search continues.
June 21st, 2023 at 6:40 am
If the viewport gave way at that depth it would have been fast, anyway. Vaporized in milliseconds.
June 21st, 2023 at 7:27 am
One of the things I’ve learned in my engineering career is that it’s not every engineer who is willing to stand up in a meeting and say “If you do that, be ready to get to know lawyers on a professional basis.”
June 21st, 2023 at 7:37 am
Now I am reading that they had no rescue plan if they lost comms with the submersible.
June 21st, 2023 at 7:53 am
My first comment is still in moderation purgatory, though only the almighty knows why. My second comment will make sense after it’s visible.
June 21st, 2023 at 8:27 am
Just one more example of the evils of unregulated capitalism. This is why we need more government bureaucrats to make sure everything is perfectly safe at all times, and an expert in charge of the organization.
I nominate Hunter.
June 21st, 2023 at 8:56 am
Apparently it was more than just the viewport. This sub was built with e-bay special parts, some of them used. Not that there is anything wrong with buying on e-bay, but for a sub that supposed to go to a depth of 4000m?
June 21st, 2023 at 8:58 am
The CEO of OceanGate, which is operating the missing Titanic tourist submarine, explains that the company didn’t want to hire any experienced “50 year old white guys” because they weren’t “inspirational.”
https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1671372796876984320
June 21st, 2023 at 9:19 am
“inspirational.”
The generation gap is real. Played charitable gambling bingo at an Italian restaurant in SE suburbs last night. Young lady seated by us works in Uptown. I told her we hadn’t been there in 40 years since we went to see Rocky Horror, and we were afraid to go there after dark nowadays.
She’d never heard of it. Not just the Uptown Theater experience – shouting lines, throwing rice, dancing The Time Warp in the aisle – she’d never heard of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at all. We could have been talking about dancing The Lindy at the sock hop, it was all ancient history to her.
So, too, the CEO of the tourist submarine doesn’t need any 1950’s short-sleeve white-shirt pocket-protector slide-rule types telling him about they sent a man to the moon, but instead needs someone ‘inspirational.’
Ouch.
June 21st, 2023 at 9:43 am
^ Sorry, I think the Lindy predates sock hops.
June 21st, 2023 at 9:58 am
If it turns out that a preventable design flaw is at the root of this mini-disaster, then the story has come full circle — Titanic and Titan both suffering the consequences of human hubris.
June 21st, 2023 at 10:25 am
So you get catastrophic failure of the portal. Water rushes in, but the “rushes” isn’t the right word. It explodes inward, filling the compartment in a few milliseconds.
And what happens to a gas when you compress it? It heats up, in this case, a lot.
An interesting problem to model.
June 21st, 2023 at 10:37 am
⬆️ Well, now wealthy people can visit two shipwrecks instead of just one.
June 21st, 2023 at 11:45 am
This is a subject I have a bit of experience with, having served on a US Navy sub rescue and salvage ship that was equipped with a diving bell that although it never did while I was aboard, was capable of reaching Titanic depths (>13,000 ft).
1st off the company, OceanGate, was sued in 2018 by their former engineering manager when he was fired after having made complaints over the safety of the vessel’s hull, and the slipshod testing. Red Flag? Oh yeah.
Second, why isn’t there a sonar pinger on that sub? Every airplane cockpit voice recorder has a “pinger”, which is activated when the recorder is immersed in water. It’s standard equipment for commercial submersibles, too.
It transmits an acoustical signal on 37.5 KHz that can be detected from depths down to 14,000 feet. They are not that expensive, and if that sub had one, it would be on deck right now.
3rd, there is a report from CBS done a couple years ago, and the reporter pointed out a bunch of shitty looking components on the craft. He said he was really nervous…he had good reason to be.
This looks like a skeezy outfit that was looking to cash in on low IQ, high income midwits, looking for a thrill.
June 21st, 2023 at 11:56 am
jdm, if they find the sub (not likely IMO), I wonder if that nitwit will be upset when a White, 50 yr old, former sub driver opens his hatch?
10/10 he’s got fucking pronouns on his social media profiles.
June 21st, 2023 at 12:04 pm
MMP, this tub is made of carbon fiber. I believe it is the first and only sub made to go to depths >5000 ft made of carbon fiber.
I wouldn’t get into any sub, but if I had to, it would be made of titanium or forget it.
June 21st, 2023 at 12:51 pm
Engineering and operating a submarine requires a pile of complex systems, all working together. This is not the only place they failed.
https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/06/01/complex-systems-wont-survive-the-competence-crisis/
Affirmative action, participation trophies, and importing low IQ foreigners are causing a societal competence crisis that will destroy modern American civilization (and which is viewed as a feature, not a bug, by the people doing it). We already can’t depend on clean water or reliable electricity. We’ll be lucky to retain flush toilets when everything else collapses.
June 21st, 2023 at 12:56 pm
^ Good suggestion, Big guy. Very appropriate.
June 21st, 2023 at 1:30 pm
Justice Alito should consider himself lucky that one of his billionaire benefactors didn’t offer him a free trip….
Most public institutions insist that their employees do not act in a way that gives, or may be perceived to give, rise to conflicts of interest. You could be fired for much less.
Not so in the most important court in the US. Billionaires can fund your luxury lifestyle, and you can just show the middle finger to the citizens because you have your job for life.
June 21st, 2023 at 1:36 pm
Did he use the “it’s not the depth of the sub but the motion of the ocean” defense?
June 21st, 2023 at 2:16 pm
How tacky to accept gifts from low-time friends.
It’s not like getting millions for speeches in Moscow or 10% for the big guy, or insider trading on pending bills.
June 21st, 2023 at 2:34 pm
Greg,
That’s different, because shut up.
June 21st, 2023 at 2:47 pm
Is the submarine case likely to come before Justice Alito on the Supreme Court? Is the billionaire friend somehow connected to the matter before the court?
Not seeing the connection between the subject of the column and the blather.
June 21st, 2023 at 5:36 pm
A person who always thinks the topic of conversation is whatever his bugaboo is has a form of dementia.
“Grandpa, can I borrow the truck?”
“The truck? My truck? So you can go see your friend whose dog always craps on my lawn? I know he does it late at night. I’ve stayed awake trying to catch him but he waits for me to fall asleep, maybe using a CB radio to watch my brain waves. No, I’m not going to let you my truck so your friend can bring his dog over here to shit on my lawn!”
June 21st, 2023 at 7:23 pm
These people who were on it are gone. There’s regulations written in blood, and it looks like there will be some more soon for commercial submersibles. 129 dead on THRESHER (SSN-593) started the long running SUBSAFE QA program. I was unsure about the workmanship of the hull, but I thought the men who repaired the hull valves in the crew meant the old boat was going to come up.
Will five dead on a poorly designed submersible cause a similar reaction?
June 22nd, 2023 at 6:07 am
Ha! STFU, Bot Boy! How many millionaire and billionaire DemoCommie benefactors have escaped consequences? How many took a free ride on Epstein’s Lolita Express? Go back down into your mommy’s basement and eat spiders.
June 22nd, 2023 at 8:22 am
Sub’s gone
*Snickers in 50yr old White guy dialect*
June 22nd, 2023 at 9:51 am
I hate to say, but passengers deserve a Darwin award – to shell out 250K per ticket on this racket shows that money does not buy smarts.
June 22nd, 2023 at 10:17 am
Yes — but think of the value added by watching each other die from oxygen deprivation.
June 22nd, 2023 at 2:05 pm
BBC is reporting a debris field has been found: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65991651
June 22nd, 2023 at 2:36 pm
⬆️ Which confirms your earlier comment regarding an implosion as a likely cause.