New images released by the U.S. Coast Guard show the wreckage of the ill-fated sub resting just 1,600 feet from the Titanic’s bow.
The Titan lost contact with its support vessel, the Polar Prince, approximately two hours into its descent on June 18, 2023. The doomed vessel was carrying prominent figures, including British explorer Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, and French deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Their mission was to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, a symbol of humanity’s hubris—and, ironically, their journey suffered a fate eerily reminiscent of the historic ship’s ill-fated voyage.
According to reports, the U.S. Navy had detected the Titan’s implosion just hours after the vessel began its ill-fated journey. Utilizing a top-secret acoustic detection system, designed to identify enemy submarines, the Navy had strong evidence the Titan had imploded.
Yet, instead of immediately announcing this, authorities allowed a highly publicized search to continue for days.
As the Wall Street Journal reported, the Navy “began listening for the Titan almost as soon as the sub lost communications” and quickly “detected what it suspected was the sound of an implosion near the debris site discovered Thursday.”
“The U.S. Navy conducted an analysis of acoustic data and detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost,” a senior U.S. Navy official told the Wall Street Journal in a statement.
“While not definitive, this information was immediately shared with the Incident Commander to assist with the ongoing search and rescue mission.”
Ten days after the tragic incident, debris from the submersible that imploded was released to the public for the first time.
On Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard released the first images of the Titan’s wreckage, showing the sub’s severed tail cone hauntingly resting on the ocean floor. The photo was taken during the frantic search.
At the Coast Guard hearing on Monday, former OceanGate engineering director Tony Nissen revealed a litany of safety concerns that he claimed were routinely ignored by Stockton Rush, according to New York Post.
Investigators disclosed that the Titan had experienced significant technical issues in prior expeditions—70 equipment problems in 2021 alone and 48 in 2022.. Yet, these red flags were brushed aside in pursuit of profit and prestige.
Former finance director Bonnie Carl corroborated these claims, stating that safety protocols were routinely brushed aside, and that customers were treated as “wealthy tourists” rather than qualified specialists.
