OceanGate: the final report

real_aurgathor

The final report is now out, and it has some answers for most everything.

Titan submersible disaster that killed 5 people was ‘preventable,’ according to Coast Guard report

Stuff we sort of knew and/or suspected:

Multiple contributing factors — including OceanGate’s toxic workplace environment and profit-over-safety ethos — led to the entirely “preventable” implosion of a submersible that killed five people off the coast of Newfoundland two years ago, Coast Guard investigators said Tuesday.

In summary, OceanGate repeatedly prioritized operational goals and financial considerations over safety, ignoring warnings from both industry experts and internal staff," the Coast Guard said.

“OceanGate’s consistent pattern of neglect — evident in its disregard for proper storage, operational shortcuts, and failure to conduct rigorous safety assessments — underscores their troubling prioritization of cost and time-saving measures over safety.”

Stuff I didn’t hear before:

By 2023, “OceanGate resorted to asking employees to temporarily forgo their salaries in exchange for future repayment,” the report said.

News: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/loss-five-lives-was-preventable-according-report-titan-submersible-rcna223096

Report: https://media.defense.gov/2025/Aug/05/2003773004/-1/-1/0/SUBMERSIBLE%20TITAN%20MBI%20REPORT%20(04AUG2025).PDF

Somewhat-Reticent

real_aurgathor in exchange for

vaporous promises?

real_aurgathor

Somewhat-Reticent

Somewhat-Reticent vaporous promises?

Imploded/blown-up promises, to be exact.

In any case, I read the whole 330+ pages – it is scarier than a horror novel. 😲

I had some formal education in workplace safety, and some of the things that were documented in the report are simply mind blowing, and I’m pretty sure many of it will be in books/papers about safety in a few years.

They’ve had a delamination event while resurfacing from dive 80, and the integrity of the hull was further compromised by improper storage (temperature cycling) and by rough handling (when towing it behind the mothership on rough water) next year.

From late 2022 on, the company was kept afloat by personal loans from the CEO to the tune of $1.85 million – and that should at least partly explain their “cost saving” steps during that time frame.

While carbon fiber can be and will be used for shallow dive (i.e. narco sub) vessels. it is clearly not an appropriate material for deep dive subs

AMDUSER

real_aurgathor While carbon fiber can be and will be used for shallow dive (i.e. narco sub) vessels. it is clearly not an appropriate material for deep dive subs

They should have used titanium possibly even non open-hearth steel*. Either of which is substantially stronger than the carbon fiber.

For anyone wondering, open hearth steel is substantially weaker in cold water, making it more brittle. More information here.

real_aurgathor

AMDUSER

The strength of carbon fiber highly dependent on the direction of force. Carbon fiber’s tensile strength can be up to 10 times more than steel’s, but its shear and compressive strengths are very poor since they are partly or mostly provided by the resin.

The obvious materials would’ve been aluminium, steel or titanium — they did use titanium end caps, but they went with carbon fiber for the hull because of the significant weight and cost savings. Boeing did some analysis for them and they recommended 7″ for thickness and a bunch of steps to ensure structural integrity. OcenGate used only 5″ and essentially ignored most of Boeing’s recommendations.

JanJ

I saw the show about the folks that left the company, and why, and played the sounds they recorded - it made while submerged, before the fatal trip!
The sounds alone was enough to never walk near it. Let alone go into it at any depth!

real_aurgathor

JanJ

That was noted in the report, but the customers weren’t aware of those sounds until they were underwater.

P316:

A critical failure in OceanGate’s safety culture was its disregard for acoustic events and the lack of appropriate troubleshooting after significant events were recorded. Throughout the TITANIC Survey Expedition 2022 season, significant acoustic events occurred, which should have been flagged as early warning signs of potential damage to the submersible’s hull. These acoustic events were indicative of stresses on the vessel, potentially caused by issues like cyclic fatigue or structural degradation, yet OceanGate failed to conduct the necessary follow up inspections, analysis, and safety checks to assess the extent of the damage.

JanJ

The show pointed out that the lift points were designed for version 1 of unit, were not modified for version 2 unit, and therefore put stress on certain areas, on the failed version 2 unit. And that version 2 was hung up for considerable time.

Heat84

Why were they trying to re-invent the wheel? Proper design specs for deep sea submersibles that can go to the deepest depths of the ocean have long been established. Since 90 years ago I think.

Heat84

JanJ I saw the show about the folks that left the company, and why, and played the sounds they recorded - it made while submerged, before the fatal trip!
The sounds alone was enough to never walk near it. Let alone go into it at any depth!

real_aurgathor That was noted in the report, but the customers weren’t aware of those sounds until they were underwater.

P316:
A critical failure in OceanGate’s safety culture was its disregard for acoustic events and the lack of appropriate troubleshooting after significant events were recorded. Throughout the TITANIC Survey Expedition 2022 season, significant acoustic events occurred, which should have been flagged as early warning signs of potential damage to the submersible’s hull. These acoustic events were indicative of stresses on the vessel, potentially caused by issues like cyclic fatigue or structural degradation, yet OceanGate failed to conduct the necessary follow up inspections, analysis, and safety checks to assess the

real_aurgathor That was noted in the report, but the customers weren’t aware of those sounds until they were underwater.

P316:
A critical failure in OceanGate’s safety culture was its disregard for acoustic events and the lack of appropriate troubleshooting after significant events were recorded. Throughout the TITANIC Survey Expedition 2022 season, significant acoustic events occurred, which should have been flagged as early warning signs of potential damage to the submersible’s hull. These acoustic events were indicative of stresses on the vessel, potentially caused by issues like cyclic fatigue or structural degradation, yet OceanGate failed to conduct the necessary follow up inspections, analysis, and safety checks to assess the extent of the damage.

Why didn’t the creaking sounds scare the absolute living shit out of them? Didn’t they see The Abyss or other movies where a submersible or submarine made a creaking sound before it imploded?😳

real_aurgathor

Heat84

Heat84 Why didn’t the creaking sounds scare the absolute living shit out of them? Didn’t they see The Abyss or other movies where a submersible or submarine made a creaking sound before it imploded?😳

Read the report – that should explain it.

Heat84 Why were they trying to re-invent the wheel? Proper design specs for deep sea submersibles that can go to the deepest depths of the ocean have long been established. Since 90 years ago I think.

They were trying to make money and overall it was cheaper to go with a carbon fiber cylinder than a metal sphere.

At least until the whole thing imploded and shattered their hopes.

px_eliezer_

Heat84 Why didn’t the creaking sounds scare the absolute living shit out of them? Didn’t they see The Abyss or other movies where a submersible or submarine made a creaking sound before it imploded?

Or any submarine movie set in WW2.

MacLeech

Heat84 Why didn’t the creaking sounds scare the absolute living shit out of them?

Submarines normally creak due to changing pressures on their hull. They’re not silent.

Astyanax

px_eliezer_ Or any submarine movie set in WW2.

…where there’s always a handy valve to close to stop any leak.

Astyanax

Heat84 Why didn’t the creaking sounds scare the absolute living shit out of them? Didn’t they see The Abyss or other movies where a submersible or submarine made a creaking sound before it imploded?😳

I’m sure that was their final emotion as with most people that die in tragic accidents.

Thane_Bitter

Heat84 You know, “Better cheaper faster”, and won at all those metrics, it was, it was the cheapest, most badly made deep sea product to fail in an entirely predictable manner.

Titanium which is used nearly for every deep sea craft isn’t cheap, he felt that using composite carbon fiber would work, after all the same materials have been used in space, on planes, boats, and all sorts of other applications. And then he used parts not certified or tested for the depths, skipped on testing the craft for cumulative stress and strain expecting the carbon fibre to be some sort of magic material that doesn’t age, wear or stress out over time.

HELLFIRE

AMDUSER They should have used titanium possibly even non open-hearth steel*.

Heat84 Why were they trying to re-invent the wheel?

TL;DR : head of Oceangate thought he knew better than everyone else.

FWIW : https://www.veritasnewspaper.org/post/ocean-gate-the-engineering-failure-of-titan-submersible

… This choice was made originally to save weight and costs, as a titanium hull would have required a significantly more expensive [syntactic] foam to keep buoyant. …

Whether you want to call this “cutting edge” or “beta testing,” I leave to the reader.

Back in the DSLR days, I recall reading something to the effect of a “realtime monitoring” system for the hull… which to me basically reads as “Pray!” 🙄

Regards

GrumpyCanadian

real_aurgathor Boeing did some analysis for them

With their record lately, that doesn’t inspire much confidence, either. I would have been inclined to take their recommendations as a bare minimum. Mr. OceanGate, on the other hand, decided that he knew better, and did even less, listening to the concerns of no one, even as the warning signs started to mount. It’s truly sad for the families of those who paid a bundle each, for an unceremonious, but entirely predictable, death. If they had time to realise what was coming, at least the usual commentary is that it was instantaneous and painless.

HooRU

I HOPE it was painless.

real_aurgathor

GrumpyCanadian

GrumpyCanadian With their record lately, that doesn’t inspire much confidence, either

There is a big difference between engineering/R&D and production.

If you read the report, Boeing’s concerns, suggestions and remarks on the usage of carbon fiber were right on target.