OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush College reportedly hired college interns from Washington State University to design the electrical systems for the ill-fated Titan submersible, according to a new report. The New Yorker revealed that Rush, who allegedly ignored safety warnings while charging wealthy tourists $250,000 for dives to the Titanic shipwreck, enlisted the students to work on critical systems.
According to a former intern quoted by the college paper in February 2018, “The whole electrical system—that was our design, we implemented it, and it works.” The intern added, “We are on the precipice of making history and all of our systems are going down to the Titanic. It is an awesome feeling!”
The report also highlighted OceanGate’s former director of marine operations and chief pilot, who stated that the Titan was unsafe for diving in 2018. The New Yorker shared that Mark Walsh, a former student and treasurer of WSU’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers club, volunteered to offer solutions when Tony Nissen, OceanGate’s director of engineering, discussed the company’s challenges. Walsh joined OceanGate full-time as the company’s electrical engineering lead.
The New Yorker also mentioned that OceanGate used interns from Everett Community College’s Ocean Research College Academy, but the institution discontinued offering internships with the company in 2019.
Regarding the involvement of other organizations, both Boeing and the University of Washington denied any association with OceanGate, despite Rush mentioning them in a viral interview with CBS News. In the interview, Rush demonstrated how the submersible was operated using a videogame controller.
Additionally, the report touched on David Lochridge, who was fired as OceanGate’s head of marine operations after expressing concerns about the company’s testing methods. Lochridge received an email from deep-sea exploration specialist Rob McCallum, who sought to understand the severity of the situation. Lochridge privately shared his opinion that the Titan was not safe to dive, expressing fear of retaliation from Rush due to his influence and wealth.
In a detailed report from 2018, Lochridge identified several critical aspects of the Titan as defective or unproven, including concerns about the carbon-fiber hull that experts now believe may have contributed to the implosion. Despite Lochridge’s warnings, OceanGate’s leadership dismissed the need for hull testing during a meeting called by Rush.
Tragically, on June 18, Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood, and Sulaiman Dawood lost their lives in the disaster.
{Matzav.com}
everything was copied for free from public academic papers. The gluing of titanium and composite, which is not easy, was correctly copied. Tbe cylinder was copied (the NYT obtained a document from a Greek university) except it was not meant to be repeatedly reused. It delaminated and sadly it must have made a lot of noise before failing. The document explains it is a “graceful failure” because it takes so long. Except this was reused ten times….. when twice would be already questionable and a reputable engineering group refused to even discuss specifics for 5x reusability.
This is the official narrative by the media but a far cry from the truth.