The thought of laying eyes on the wreck of Titanic has tantalised the world since the ship’s rediscovery in 1985. Now the five people aboard the submersible Titan, currently lost in the Atlantic, will almost undoubtedly end up paying the ultimate price for their desire to see the sunken liner on the ocean floor.
Superpowers spend billions, largely in vain, to track each others’ nuclear deterrent submarines through far shallower waters
Having joined nuclear submarines at sea myself, I feel physically sick thinking about what is probably playing out aboard OceanGate Expeditions’ stricken vehicle. Realistically there is the slenderest of chances that the five people onboard will be rescued before their oxygen runs out.
Late last night there was a glimmer of hope when an underwater banging sound was picked up by a Canadian P8 aircraft flying over the area. Trapped seafarers know to bang on the hull with a metal object at the top and the bottom of each hour, while rescuers cease their engines to keenly listen for any sound. The sonobuoys the P8 dropped into the sea are designed to find submarines operating in relatively shallow waters, not a tiny submersible stranded far below at 3,800 metres, so it is remarkable if they have managed to find Titan.
But while this is a genuine breakthrough, it still leaves rescuers with a formidable, near impossible task ahead of them.
It’s most likely that Titan is currently sitting on the ocean floor near the wreck of the famous liner. If this is the case, the biggest issues which now hamper the rescue mission are the depth of water and surrounding seascape.
Deep water currents may have carried Titan some way before it came to rest or it could be lying amidst all the debris from Titanic as she sank, making a 6.7 metre-long pod harder to pick out.
The submersible would require a specialist sonar to pinpoint her location, such as the one that rediscovered Titanic in the first place. But nearly all underwater rescue equipment is for the military and so is designed to retrieve sailors from nuclear and diesel submarines operating in far shallower waters. It has been suggested that Nato’s Submarine Rescue System – currently sitting on the Clyde – could be mobilised. But searchers know there’s no point: its mothership is only cleared to operate to 610m depth and its remotely operated vehicle to 1,000m.
There are a tiny cluster of submersibles worldwide which can dive as deep as Titan but it is probably not realistically possible to get one of them to a remote part of the Atlantic, hundreds of miles off Cape Cod, in time. Even if this is achievable, unlike military submarines, Titan has no large escape hatch which a rescuing vehicle might be able to latch onto.
Regretfully here, again, is another harsh, damning twist. Most submersibles are manufactured in pairs, so that one can rescue the other in an emergency. Titan, meanwhile, is a bespoke one of a kind.
Still, there remains the merest crumb of hope.
The P8’s passive sonobuoys may not just pick up the banging, but find a good line of bearing. Perhaps another submersible capable of operating at that depth could be brought there, find Titan, then somehow manage to attach floatation bags to it and inflate them in time. But a senior naval source likened this to a miracle, pointing out that superpowers spend billions, largely in vain, to track each others’ nuclear deterrent submarines through far shallower waters.
There is another possibility. The submersible may have been able to surface and it is possible the banging came from there. Titan is fitted with a mechanism which, if jettisoned, allows the vehicle to rise from the depths of the ocean. But even if this has been successfully deployed, those inside are still in danger as they were bolted into the submersible from the outside and have no means of opening the vehicle. Crucially, Titan is not thought to be equipped with an emergency sonar transponder or beacon, to blast out a signal alerting rescue teams to its location.
Bobbing in the swell, those on board would probably by now be wracked by seasickness, in addition to starting to experience the effects of dwindling oxygen levels.
Even if Titan is on the surface, patrolling Navy aircraft – while adept at seeking out Russian submarines with the help of a frigate and Nato submarine – would struggle to pinpoint a small target amid oceanic waves and swell. And if she is floating on the waves it means Titan will drift, making tracking by maritime patrol aircraft almost impossible.
The Royal Navy hasn’t lost a submarine since HMS Affray in 1951 because of relentless, unyielding oversight and an obsession with safety which would make most civilian’s eyes water. There’s a backup for the backup, and a backup for that too. Fledgling submariners cannot even sit down in their mess until they’ve earnt their dolphins’ badge by passing a chunky engineering and safety course.
The Royal Navy always retains a respectful regard for the ocean. The first time I joined a destroyer in the South Atlantic over 20 years ago, we were lashed by 40ft waves, which crashed over the bridge and twisted metal ladders on deck. Such was the fierceness of the winter storm that the young sailors onboard fearfully looked to their captain to see his reaction. They had already realised that the sea is a cruel and unforgiving mistress. For those unused to life at sea, being trapped in a cramped submersible, desperately waiting for help to arrive must be a harrowing, soul-shredding experience.
While it’s been reported that Titan’s passengers set out with 96 hours of air supply, the vehicle’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide is unknown. Condensation may be an issue, as well as severe cold if there has been a power failure.
Sitting crippled in the darkness, slowly succumbing to the effects of a depleting oxygen supply was the fate of those in Russian Oscar II class submarine Kursk, after she sank in the summer of 2000.
The sailors’ lives slowly ebbed away until hypothermia probably sent them to sleep. This, heartbreakingly, is the probable ending of this, the grimmest of accidents.
The Link LonkJune 21, 2023 at 06:16PM
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiWmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNwZWN0YXRvci5jby51ay9hcnRpY2xlL3RoZXJlcy1zdGlsbC1saXR0bGUtaG9wZS10aGF0LXRoZS10aXRhbi13aWxsLWJlLWZvdW5kL9IBAA?oc=5
There's still little hope that the Titan will be found - The Spectator
https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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