OceanGate’s long history of security failures revealed at hearing into Titan submarine disaster

The U.S. Coast Guard will hold a long-awaited hearing on Monday into the deadly Titanic submersible disaster as it continues its investigation into the ship’s implosion.

The experimental submersible Tiran imploded while en route to the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board in June 2023.

Ten former OceanGate employees will testify at the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina.

The court will investigate whether any criminal activity led to the tragedy.

Heartbreaking final exchange with the Titan

• An animation of the Titan’s final dive was shown to the hearing, including text exchanges between the submersible and its support ship, the Polar Prince.
• The Ice Prince repeatedly sent the same message to the Titan, without receiving a response.

Who died in the Titan tragedy?

• On Monday, the audience held a moment of silence in memory of those who died in the implosion of the experimental submersible, including OceanGate founder Stockton Rush and customers Shahzada and Suleman Dawood.

History of problems with the Titan

• The Titan had a documented history of problems since 2017
• It was tested at 1.09 times the operating pressure, but the industry standard is 1.25 times.
• On the 2021 expedition, there were 70 equipment issues that required correction.
• On the 2022 expedition, there were 48 issues, including batteries that died, the platform was damaged during recovery and drop weights malfunctioned.

South Carolina hearing begins

• The Coast Guard has begun a public hearing on the deadly Titanic submersible disaster in June 2023
• Coast Guard officials said in a statement that the purpose of the hearing will be to “consider evidence related to the loss of the Titan submersible.”