Loading ...To clear up some misperceptions I had about the Titan sub, this was not it’s first deep dive. Josh Gates, host of Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown” show, went out in the Titan during a shakedown cruise in 2021. He was evaluating the possibility of using it for a TV show. Being a shakedown cruise, they didn’t go very deep. They had some minor system issues, but nothing life threatening. Josh said he just didn’t feel comfortable committing to the new hull technology until it was well proven, and didn’t pursue using the vessel any farther.
The hull was a composite of Titanium and Carbon Fiber, and was stronger than steel. This was what allowed a larger vessel that would accommodate five people. Traditional deep sea vessels are solid steel, and none has ever failed. The Titan had been to these depths before without failure, so the initial design held up under pressure. The Titan was not on the bottom, but was only about halfway when it failed. My speculation, and others, is that it was a cycling failure of the pressure vessel. It weakens with multiple pressure and temperature cycles.
This happens with aircraft also. Here in Hawaii in 1988 an aging 737 ripped open in flight due to a fuselage failure when it rose to pressurization altitude.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243
The aircraft had 84,000 pressure cycles when it failed. So the maximum ratings on the aircraft were reduced to 45,000 cycles.
I doubt that anyone will continue with this type of composite hull design now.