ON THE IMPLOSION OF TITAN SUBMERSIBLE

  Without a doubt, Titanic is one of the most famous ships of all time. After 63 years of the accident which made her sunk, her wreck was found in 1 September 1985, 370 nautical miles away from Newfoundland, Canada at a 3800m of ocean depth. Recently, in 18 June 2023, Titanic remind herself to world again with another tragic accident. In a submersible called Titan, five adventurers including the owner of vehicle made their final dive into North Atlantic to see Titanic’s wreck. Titan lost contact with the mothership 1:45 hours after the start of its final dive and millions of people around world held their breaths and watched the news about the submersible and five passengers. First news from US Navy was there were repeated signals caught which gave a hope that passengers were alive and a multinational rescue operation immediately started. Later, people started to count down the remaining oxygen of the submersible. Unfortunately, sad news followed that the wreck of Titan was found and the reason why she sunk was implosion of her pressure hull. Titan was not designed and manufactured within rules of a classification society. In this study, a technical review of Titan’s design is introduced including her a- pressure hull design, b- oxygen capacity, c- control system, d- rescue bouy, e- hatch, f- tank plan and g- navigation system. Her design’s deviations from DNV and TL Submersible Design Rules are listed and discussed. Finally, some conclusions derived from the lessons learned from this catastrophic accident.

  Designers and engineers engaged in the design and construction of submarines and submersibles are often deal with the rule books of classification societies. These rulebooks set out the minimum safety measures that submarines must meet. Many safety scenarios that can be activated in such a situation are tested during sea trials under the control of the ship’s classification society and ensured to be operational. However, Titan was not under the supervision of any classification society. In this case, the differences of Titan in comparison to the submersibles inspected by the classification society and the effects of these differences in terms of safety under the following main headings;

a- There is no information was found on internet about how and down to how which depth the submersible’s pressure hull (i.e. the pressure-resistant part in which people are placed) was tested,
b- The oxygen capacity of the vehicle is about 45% less than what is required in the rulebooks,
c- The fact that the control of the vehicle is done with a game console that does not have any certification,
d- The absence of a rescue buoy,
e- The submersible does not have an entrance and exit hatch,
f- Lack of main diving tanks in the vehicle and having a primitive disposable ballast
g- The absence of a navigation system on the vehicle itself

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