“Metal” fatigue would not affect the hull of the Titan submersible:
The Titan submersible, described as “experimental” by the company, was built from an unusual material for a deep sea vessel.
Its hull - surrounding the hollow part where passengers sit - was made from carbon fibre, with titanium end plates and a small window at one end.
“Typically, the part of deep-sea submersible housing the humans is a titanium sphere around 2m in diameter,” said Dr Nicolai Roterdam, lecturer in marine biology at the University of Portsmouth.
To withstand the immense pressures of the deep you need super-strong materials, to resist the weight of water above that’s pressing down on you.
Carbon fibre is cheaper than titanium or steel and is extremely strong, but it is largely untested for deep sea vessels like the Titan.
The shape of the Titan is also unusual.
The hull of a deep-diving sub is usually spherical, which means it receives an equal amount of pressure at every point, but Titan’s hull is cylindrical, so the pressure would not be equally distributed.
We all have a bit of adventure in our hearts. Mankind has always wanted to push the boundaries of what is possible. We wouldn’t be posting on this forum if that wasn’t so…
I’d differentiate between risks taken out of personal curiosity and a thirst for adventure and those taken for the benefit of mankind. What Rush had to say in an attempt to explain the benefit of adventure tourism for mankind seemed far-fetched and unconvincing.
Waivers may not shield OceanGate from lawsuits - legal experts
Liability waivers signed by the five men on board the Titan may not shield OceanGate from potential lawsuits by their families, US legal experts tell Reuters news agency.
“If there were aspects of the design or construction of this vessel that were kept from the passengers or it was knowingly operated despite information that it was not suitable for this dive, that would absolutely go against the validity of the waiver,” personal injury lawyer and maritime law expert Matthew Shaffer says.
Joseph Low, a personal injury lawyer from California, says: “There are so many different examples of what families might still have claims for despite the waivers, but until we know the cause we can’t determine whether the waivers apply.”
The degree of any potential negligence and how that might impact the applicability of the waivers will depend on the causes of the disaster, which are still under investigation.
Jeez!
The families have only just found out their kith and kin have died - can’t The Media and the “experts” have the Grace to give the families a few days to get to grips with the news before they start spouting off about whether the families may be able to sue somebody.
Talk about vultures!
There was probably no insurance cover for the hazardous “mission”. 4 of the crew were wealthy businessmen with families - given the complexity of any claim, their lawyers would want to get involved immediately.
It is unclear at this stage which agency will lead the investigation as there is no protocol for such incidents with a submersible.
Rear Adm Mauger said it was particularly complex because the incident had taken place in a remote part of the ocean, involving people of different nationalities.
But having had a leading role in the operation so far, the US Coast Guard is likely to play an important part.
On Friday, federal transportation agencies in Canada and the US said they would investigate the incident.
In the US, the probe will be led by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the US Coastguard, the NTSB said.
The Titan was launched from the Canadian-flagged Polar Prince. Canada has dispatched a team of investigators from the federal transportation agency to Newfoundland to conduct interviews and in a statement said it would coordinate with other agencies.
The US Coast Guard’s Rear Adm Mauger said on Thursday that governments of countries with connections to the incident (1) have been meeting to discuss what an investigation could look like.
As well as Canada and the US, these could include the countries of the “passengers” - the UK, France and Pakistan.
For days we waited with baited breath, hoping that those poor people would be found and somehow brought up safely . Yet now we hear a Royal Navy submarine detected a huge expolsion under the water on Sunday 2 hours after submerging . All the time our fears for them imagining them sitting freezing with hardly any oxygen waiting waiting . Yet some knew what had already happened .
An investigation into the causes of the Titan submersible disaster has been opened by the US Coast Guard.
Chief investigator Cpt Jason Neubauer said its priority is recovering debris from the sub, and precautions will be taken in case human remains are found. Speaking at a news conference, he also said the probe would be able to recommend civil or criminal charges. Cpt Neubauer told reporters in Boston on Sunday that the US Coast Guard had convened its highest level of investigation. He said it would would try to establish what caused the disaster, and make recommendations to prevent future tragedies. He added that it would be run jointly with Canadian, UK and French authorities.
The investigation is currently in its initial phase and efforts to recover the wreckage of the sub are ongoing. So far, five major pieces have been found at 3,800m (12,467ft), in a large debris field near the bow of the Titanic. Cpt Neubauer said investigators would be taking “all precautions” if they discover human remains during recovery operations. He confirmed the investigation could lead to tougher regulations and safety recommendations for submersibles, but could not confirm how long it would take to complete.
Who are they going to prosecute? He is no more.Although he had confidence in his own ideas and was always went down in it.It’s tragic they seemed to have been wrong though.
