Oceangate warned of possible ‘catastrophic’ problems on Titanic mission

NEW YORK – Leaders in the submarine industry were very concerned about Oceangate’s so-called “experimental” approach. The craft has gone missing, They said they wrote a letter in 2018 warning of possible “catastrophic” problems with the development of the submarine and a planned mission to inspect the wreckage of the Titanic.

The letter, obtained by The New York Times, comes from the Board of Manned Underwater Vehicles of the Marine Technology Association, a 60-year-old trade group dedicated to promoting ocean technology and educating the public about ocean technology. It was sent to Stockton Rush, CEO of that.

More than 30 signatories, including oceanographers, diving company executives and deep-sea explorers, warned they had “unanimous concerns” about Oceangate’s development of Titan submersibles. The Titan submersible is the same five currently missing in the North Atlantic. people on board.

The chairman of the committee, Will Cornen, said in an interview on Tuesday that the letter stemmed from concerns about what would happen if the company failed to adhere to established standards.

“The submersible industry had great concerns about the strategy of building deep-sea exploration submersibles without following existing classification safety guidelines,” said Koenen.

The letter claimed that Titan’s marketing by Oceangate was “misleading” and that the ship met or exceeded the safety standards of a risk rating agency known as DNV, but the company said Titan said there were no plans to have it evaluated by a risk assessment agency. agency.

Industry leaders said Oceangate should test prototypes under the supervision of DNV or another accredited registrar.

“Although this may require additional time and money, our consensus view is that this third-party verification process is an important component of the safeguards that protect all submariner crews. is,” wrote the underwriters.

In an interview, Connen said Oceangate CEO Rush called after reading the letter and told him industry regulations were stifling innovation. A 2019 blog post, “Why Titan Isn’t Classified?” the company made a similar claim.

Oceangate said in a post that its Titan vessel is so innovative that it could take years to get certified by a major rating agency.

“Rapid innovation is an abomination to updating outside organizations on any innovation before it goes into real-world testing,” the company writes.

A spokeswoman for Oceangate declined to comment on the 2018 letter.

Bart Kemper, another signatory to the industry group’s 2018 letter, said in an interview that he and others are concerned that Titan is not following standard certification procedures.

Kemper, a forensic engineer involved in submarine design, cites the Canadian company Atlantis Submarines, which operates underwater tours, as an example. It was a request of . .