What could have led to the ‘catastrophic implosion’ of the Titanic submersible?

The Titanic submersible, which went on an expedition to the infamous shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean, met a tragic end. The vessel called Titan vanished on Sunday and after days of frantic search operations, the United States Coast Guardi said that it suffered a “catastrophic implosion” killing all five people on board.

As the clock ticked, the hope of finding the pilot and the passengers alive diminished. Early Thursday, the submersible’s 96-hour supply of oxygen was expected to run out after the launch on Sunday. The Coast Guard announced that debris had been found roughly 1,600 feet (488 metres) from the Titanic in North Atlantic waters. “This was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” said Rear Adm John Mauger, of the First Coast Guard District.

What happened to the Titan?

The Titanic-bound vessel imploded sometime this week but it is not clear when or where.

“This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” Mauger told reporters.

After the watercraft was reported missing, the US Navy went back and analysed its acoustic data and found an anomaly that was “consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost,” a senior navy official told The Associated Press on Thursday.

A remote-operated vehicle found “five different major pieces of debris” from the Titan, according to Paul Hankins, the US Navy’s director of salvage operations and ocean engineering.

The tail cone, one end of the pressure hull, and other debris were found about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, deep in the North Atlantic and about 900 east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The discovered objects included “five different major pieces of debris” that identified the materials as consistent with the Titan, Hankin told the media.

Also read: Was the Titanic submersible safe for diving expeditions?

What could have caused the implosion?

On Sunday, the Titan set off from its mothership Polar Prince and dived towards the remains of the Titanic. About an hour and 45 minutes into the expedition, all communication with the vessel broke down.

At this time, the submersible was probably close to the bottom of its dive.

The Titanic wreck lies some 3,800 metres below the surface of the sea. The Titan can travel up to 4000 metres below the sea leave, OceanGate, the company that hosts expedition, said on its website.

At that depth, any object faces water pressure that is 300 times the atmospheric pressure on the Earth’s surface. The submersible was designed to survive this pressure with two strong titanium domes at either end of the hull linked by a five-inch-thick cylinder of carbon fibre, reports The Independent. The vessel underwent rigorous safety checks before the dive.

The Titan had a “real-time hull monitoring system” that was equipped to detect any cracks, deformation or other faults quickly, giving the crew enough time to attempt an emergency descent.

But at such depths in the ocean, there is very little room for error. If even one part of the hull fails and lets in water, the pressure would be so great, and the velocity of the incoming liquid so fast, that the sub and its occupants might be torn apart in mere milliseconds, monitoring system or not, The Independent report says.

Although the Titan’s composite hull was built to withstand intense deep-sea pressures, any defect in its shape or build could lead to an implosion. A disaster could occur if any part of the submersible’s carbon fibre and titanium hull has suffered a small crack or fault.

Stefan Williams, a professor of marine robotics at the University of Sydney, wrote in The Conversation in a blog post on Tuesday, a fault or failure in the hull of the Titan could have led to an implosion, as the vessel gave way to the high pressure of the deep sea.

Also read: ‘True Explorers’: The five men who died on the missing Titanic tourist submersible

Oceanographer Bob Ballard told ABC News that the implosion of a submersible delivers immense force. “I don’t think people can appreciate the amazing energy involved in the destructive process of an implosion. It just takes out and literally shreds everything, he said. “It’s extremely powerful.”

According to Dr David Gallo, a senior adviser with RMS Titanic Inc, something happened “mid-water”. On Wednesday, he said that an implosion was likely.

“The worst-case scenario is probably a collapse, a catastrophic implosion of the sub itself which would be horrific. There’s no coming back from that. I would have to say that has got to be the number one option here – which is unpleasant to think about. I don’t know how else you can disappear that quickly,” he told Sky News.

What happens next?

OceanGate issued a statement saying there were no survivors among the five men aboard the Titan, including the company’s founder and chief executive officer, Stockton Rush, who was piloting the Titan.

The four others were British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, 58; Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, both British citizens; and French oceanographer and renowned Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, who had visited the wreck dozens of times.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” the company said. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.”

The Coast Guard will continue searching near the Titanic for more clues about what happened to the Titan. Officials say there isn’t a timeframe for when they will call off the massive international search.

The investigation into what happened was already underway and would continue in the area around Titanic where debris from the submersible was found, said Mauger.

“I know there are also a lot of questions about how, why and when did this happen. Those are questions we will collect as much information as we can about now,” Mauger said, adding that it was a “complex case” that happened in a remote part of the ocean and involved people from several different countries.

With inputs from agencies

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