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‘You’re remembered for the rules you break’: OceanGate CEO who was piloting the Titan admitted in 2021 that the sub’s construction had ‘broken some rules’ (fortune.com)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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“I’d like to be remembered as an innovator,” he said, speaking from the interior of one of OceanGate’s submersibles. “I think it was [famous American General Douglas] MacArthur that said, ‘You’re remembered for the rules you break.’”

“I have broken some rules to make this,” he conceded. “I think I’ve broken them with logic and good engineering behind me. The carbon fiber and titanium—there is a rule that you don’t do that. Well, I did.”

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Yikes. I appreciate that some people love to do extreme things, but this one just seems like a bad idea. You couldn't pay me to ever get into a sub like this.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Honestly, it's almost certainly possible to make a deep sea tour sub like this that's reasonably safe, if even more expensive (though given the only clientele for this kind of tourism is so incredibly rich I'm not sure this really matters). Consider that subs capable of operating at this depth have existed for a long time, for example, the Alvin , which was built in the 60s, can go to the wreck of the Titanic and even deeper, and yet still gets used today.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Wow apparently that Alvin was built by General Mills! (Electronic division.) Like the cereal company. Also it say:

In an emergency, if Alvin were stuck underwater with occupants inside, the outer body, or cladding, of the submersible could be released and discarded using controls inside the hull. The titanium sphere would then rise to the surface uncontrolled.

That's a good idea. I wonder if they just are not allowed to go on the alvin no matter how much they pay, and thats why they chose other option?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

I wasn't suggesting that they actually use that sub for their tour, the Alvin does have actual work it does (has made some pretty important contributions to science to my knowledge, for instance in visiting thermal vents) so I doubt they'd be allowed to just rent it out for sightseeing. Rather, I was more trying to point out using it as an example that building a reasonably safe and reliable sub for this kind of depth is not only possible, it has been for quite some time now. It reflects extremely poorly on the design and operators of the Titan that it could not.

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