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Titan submarine for Titanic tourism - Nightmare fuel

kuncol02

Banned
I still don't get what's the point of changing the materials in the first place?

The guy brags about breaking the rules and being innovative... But why? The point of this whole thing is to be tough enough to withstand pressure. The materials all other proper submersibles use up to this point work. So why change it? Is it cheaper? Did he think it's even stronger his way? He never explained this.

I also don't understand the design. I saw a few construction videos and pictures of a some submersibles and one thing they seem to share is a spherical main chamber (regardless how the outer shape looks). It's a sphere because this way pressure is applied evenly around it. They even try to make it as perfectly spherical as possible, according to the video i saw, for perfectly evenly applied pressure. But the Oceangate sub used a cone shaped main chamber? Dunno, maybe that's not an issue, i'm not an engineer expert, but if i was going to put myself into this situation, a sphere would make me feel better. It just feels right.
Lighter, stiffer, allow to change shape of hull (rest of submersibles in that class are spheres that barely fit two people). You simply cannot make sphere big enough to fit 4-5 people and with enough strength to not implode.
It have only two minuses. Extreme degradation with each pressure cycle and is much harder to check for internal damage.
 

nkarafo

Member
It have only two minuses. Extreme degradation with each pressure cycle and is much harder to check for internal damage.

So, not as safe then.

Basically compromising the safest possible design to fit more than 2 people inside, for what? So they can high five each other? Sure, the more the merrier but this is not an amusement park escape room session, it's a deep sea dive at 4.000 meters where everything around you tries to squish you like a bug.

I wonder how many successful missions have taken place with this kind of design where having more people per single dive is more important than their safety? Either way, i bet there's not going to be more after this.
 

HoodWinked

Member
Lead content designer at Blizzard weighs in:
HemvhfO.jpg
Figures this guy's profile picture is him making a heart gesture

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Nothing but performative bullshit.

Its like Ellen DeGeneres with all the dancing and good vibes then finding out she was a complete cunt to her staff.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I still don't get what's the point of changing the materials in the first place?

But the Oceangate sub clearly used a cylinder shaped main chamber? Dunno, maybe that's not an issue, i'm not an engineer expert, but if i was going to put myself into this situation, a sphere would make me feel better. It just feels right.
See, that's just the white patriarchy bias fucking with you. It's the fatal outcome of thinking that EVERYTHING is just subjectively biased towards a specific group that SURELY there are other, equally valid, options even in the hard sciences. Good luck building a bridge, a rocket, a sub, or anything that has to obey the laws of physics and the principles of engineering, no matter how much you think those things are just figments of the dominate groups imagination. They are not.

There is a difference between exploring and innovating in a new frontier (like the early days of parachuting, winggliding, airplanes, etc) and rejecting established orthodoxy in a mature field (like current deep sea submersibles).
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
See, that's just the white patriarchy bias fucking with you. It's the fatal outcome of thinking that EVERYTHING is just subjectively biased towards a specific group that SURELY there are other, equally valid, options even in the hard sciences. Good luck building a bridge, a rocket, a sub, or anything that has to obey the laws of physics and the principles of engineering, no matter how much you think those things are just figments of the dominate groups imagination. They are not.

There is a difference between exploring and innovating in a new frontier (like the early days of parachuting, winggliding, airplanes, etc) and rejecting established orthodoxy in a mature field (like current deep sea submersibles).
This. There was a huge article in the Atlantic around the time Donald Trump was elected. The main point was more or less this: everything is an opinion. There is no absolute truth. This was what made Donal Trump election possible. This is a result of ‘being understanding of other people views’.

So it’s not surprising to see the guy thought all the regulations are just too much, it’s some unknown force in the dead industry that is preventing him from being a brave explorer.

Then again there is an absolute truth, there is an objective truth, it’s not all a matter of opinion. 5 people are dead because of it.

To make it simpler:
“Everybody’s gangsta till the guns come out”
“Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face” - Mike Tyson
“No plan survives contact with the enemy” - General von Moltke
 
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Mr1999

Member
So according to James Cameron they likely heard the sub coming apart and dumped their weights and as they were headed up this happened, unless I heard it wrong, so they probably knew what was going on before it imploded. I'm not an engineer but I work with engineers. I put parts on surface tables and program two CMM's with a software called PCDMIS. I also do their AS9102 First Articles, so I know how important it is when it comes to traceability that leads to accountability, everything is calibrated, temp controlled, etc.

This is different than your average aerospace part, but I imagine its probably more critical because of the constant exposure to the elements and what it does to a craft after time, adhesives have a shelf life, specs, and the plating if they used plating, was it still on the part by then? Any NDT that was performed? This guy would have hated inspectors.

It's the same with any machine, cars, CNC machines, CMM, etc. I used to work for a a business who would never pay for preventive maintenance, management would complain how it costs $1,000+ just for them to come and was not worth it, but not realizing that your machine was down for weeks not producing anything when it finally did happen, and it happened a lot. They would lose more money in the end not producing than paying to have someone come look at. You would think they would learn from their mistake but I bet it's still like that till this day over there. Keep rolling the dice and hoping nothing bad happens.

From an employment standpoint, you know you are in the wrong place when corners are being cut to save money, and in this case to make a lot of money. Same mentality, cutting corners and when problem comes that's when it's time to handle it, very reactive thinking, it's very similar to what James Cameron was saying. Unfortunately a lot of businesses run this way.
 
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jufonuk

not tag worthy

Warnings over the safety of OceanGate's Titan submersible were repeatedly dismissed by the CEO of the company, email exchanges with a leading deep sea exploration specialist show.
In messages seen by the BBC, Rob McCallum told OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush that he was potentially putting his clients at risk and urged him to stop using the sub until it had been classified by an independent body.
Mr Rush responded that he was "tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation".
 

Impotaku

Member
The sound of the banging every 30 mins was apparently whales trying to get in with a tin opener.

Hmm in fact oceangate could try and get some extra money up front before the lawsuits start coming.

Oceangate premium Pâté,
we take the finest ingredients to the sea floor and crush the flavour in to preserve freshness, for a rich tasting creamy Pâté try ocengate. It's a taste to die for.
(approx 5 servings in a can)
 
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Patrick S.

Banned
The sound of the banging every 30 mins was apparently whales trying to get in with a tin opener.

Hmm in fact oceangate could try and get some extra money up front before the lawsuits start coming.

Oceangate premium Pâté,
we take the finest ingredients to the sea floor and crush the flavour in to preserve freshness, for a rich tasting creamy Pâté try ocengate. It's a taste to die for.
(approx 5 servings in a can)
I don't think these jokes are funny.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
See, that's just the white patriarchy bias fucking with you. It's the fatal outcome of thinking that EVERYTHING is just subjectively biased towards a specific group that SURELY there are other, equally valid, options even in the hard sciences. Good luck building a bridge, a rocket, a sub, or anything that has to obey the laws of physics and the principles of engineering, no matter how much you think those things are just figments of the dominate groups imagination. They are not.

There is a difference between exploring and innovating in a new frontier (like the early days of parachuting, winggliding, airplanes, etc) and rejecting established orthodoxy in a mature field (like current deep sea submersibles).
Yup.

In life, some people like to be rebels thinking they are the chosen one to reinvent the wheel. And unless someone is Q from Star Trek, it's probably better to just live by proven physics and build something that holds up.

Even for trivial things like what colour and scent to make a product can go through costly research through surveys and market research companies. It sounds crazy, but a company selling bottles of floor cleaner can spend more time and money trying to best guess successful launch features more than a deep sea guy going underwater with lives at stake whose winging it on gut feeling.
 
Surprised I haven't seen it mentioned in here, and if all passengers were aboard when it imploded, RIP. Sincerely.

Having said that, an implosion which would make confirming the organic evidence difficult and scattering it across the ocean would be a very effective method of faking one's death. Get a few like-minded millionaire/billionaires looking for a way out. Add a young kid for deniability.

I like this version because people didn't die.
 
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AREYOUOKAY?

Member
This guy is getting fired, right?
It would be hypocritical not to after they fired that one guy for a yacht joke.


Warcraft goblins are supposed to be like that.
 
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AmuroChan

Member
I just meant that there needs to be some regulation if you want to prevent shit like this.

I think the problem is who has the jurisdiction to regulate this in international waters. Multiple parties wrote to OceanGate that what they were doing was too experimental and that they don't have the proper safety protocols in place.
 

darrylgorn

Member
I think the problem is who has the jurisdiction to regulate this in international waters. Multiple parties wrote to OceanGate that what they were doing was too experimental and that they don't have the proper safety protocols in place.

Well they should figure that shit out unless we want to risk this happening again.

Or, if we don't mind letting billionaires kill themselves, just leave it be.
 
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AmuroChan

Member
Well they should figure that shit out unless we want to risk this happening again.

Or, if we don't mind letting billionaires kill themselves, just leave it be.

Yea, that's not going to change anytime soon. Questionable activities have been occurring in international waters forever. The global agreement when it comes to international waters is that no one country should have jurisdiction. So essentially, it's the wild wild west once you get out there.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Yeah, I gather that's correct, but also that they could have scanned the carbon fibre in some way to check it's integrity after each dive, but that wasn't really what this operation was up for doing.

Cameron's take is that if hull is cracking and the alarm sounds it's already too late too do anything.
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
Cameron's take is that if hull is cracking and the alarm sounds it's already too late too do anything.
Yeah, I saw that too, I don't doubt that he's correct.

I was however led to believe that the carbon fibre could show signs of stress when scanned well in advance of something that might lead to a collapse or breach. It's a more detailed than x-ray process that looks for delamination (a word I learned this week) within the material which could then lead to a problem.

Either way, the design was definitely regarded as inappropriate for the depth they planned to go to, seemingly both in terms of material and shape. That seems in little doubt now.

I know we've all followed this story but the horror of it comes and goes for me when imagining what may have happened. Cameron said that he'd heard from the community that the sub was ascending after an alarm had sounded.

Presumably at some point it'll come out that the Ocean Gate team knew what was happening and or what had happened all along and that it was one of them who either directly or indirectly shared the news privately that Cameron spoke of.

I can't help but imagine the panic in that little space as the pilot turned things around and they headed for the surface. Communication was lost after an hour and 45 minutes, apparently, I can't stop thinking about how long was between the alarm sounding and the loss of communication. Hopefully it was nothing, but it sounds like they had time to drop their ballast knowing it was urgent that they had to get out of the deep water.
 

Days like these...

Have a Blessed Day
Surprised I haven't seen it mentioned in here, and if all passengers were aboard when it imploded, RIP. Sincerely.

Having said that, an implosion which would make confirming the organic evidence difficult and scattering it across the ocean would be a very effective method of faking one's death. Get a few like-minded millionaire/billionaires looking for a way out. Add a young kid for deniability.

I like this version because people didn't die.
I'm sure they're chilling with Elvis, Tupac and wacko jacko the Kiddy Diddler in some tropical paradise.
 
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Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
One thing that hasn't been flagged up or challenged that I think ought to be is that James Cameron says he has done 33 dives to the Titanic and has calculated that he has spent more time on the ship than the captain did 'back in the day.'

Given that Cameron definitely hasn't spent any time on the Titanic at all, not a single second, can he be trusted? Casual observers may have missed that the Titanic sank before James Cameron was born and that there's no way for a human to visit the ship and walk about on it without instantly dying.

If Cameron is prepared to lie about this, then what else could he be lying about?
 
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Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I went to a water park in Kansas City a few years ago. There was a water slide called the Verrückt and I made it about half way up the ride. I got a bad feeling inside and decided to go back down. Exactly a week later, a kid ended up being decapitated. There was a huge investigation and the ride was torn down. All the safety guidelines weren’t followed and the people who built it weren’t qualified. So yeah, if you get that feeling like the 19 year old did, don’t do it.
 

darrylgorn

Member
Yea, that's not going to change anytime soon. Questionable activities have been occurring in international waters forever. The global agreement when it comes to international waters is that no one country should have jurisdiction. So essentially, it's the wild wild west once you get out there.

Well let the rich die needlessly then.
 
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