#titanic submersible

[toaarcan]

I’m finding it really hard to view the Titanic submersible nonsense with appropriate gravity because goddamn this was the most avoidably stupid way to die we’ve seen in a while.

Oh it's an untethered, van-sized tube, steered by an off-brand PS3 controller, that navigates via text messages from the mothership, the texts are transmitted by Musky’s satellites, and it has no hatch, instead being bolted together around the occupants from the outside. The CEO of the company considers “safety” an obstacle, and the vehicle is unregulated and unapproved, so you have to sign a waiver that mentions death three times in the first page to board it. Every single one of those points is a reason to not board the thing.

And to top it off, these dipshits decide to name their ACME-ass submersible the Titan, and take it to the most legendary monument to Man’s Hubris on the planet, 3.7 kilometres into the abyss. Like there’s tempting fate, and then there’s this horseshit.

These MFs paid $250000 for a Darwin Award and a starring role in “Worst ways to die” Youtube videos for decades to come.

Don’t weep for the stupid, you’ll be crying all day.

#Titanic #Titanic Submersible #Titanic Submarine #OceanGate

[secretmellowblog]

On the subject of the Titanic ‘submersible’ that was lost in the deep with all its wealthy tourists— it’s so insane/eerie in hindsight to read this article from the Smithsonian that interviews the CEO Stockton Rush long before the disaster.

Despite the Smithsonian supposedly being an organization that cares about science and truth, and the fact that there were SO MANY obvious red flags from the beginning and so many people criticizing the company…..the article is a puff piece uncritically glorifying the CEO’s obviously terrible submersible project. It compares him in glowing terms to Elon Musk. It is an article about how private ventures like those of Stockton Rush and Elon Musk can and should be the future of the world.

We’ve obviously learned now that there were whistleblowers at the company who were warning for a long time that Stockton Rush’s submersible was unsafe— only to be fired and then sued. It makes sense the submersible was so unsafe, because the CEO in this interview is open about how he has no background in underwater engineering and is annoyed by quote “regulations that needlessly prioritize passenger safety.”

Soon after, the private [submersible] market died too, Rush found, for two reasons that were “understandable but illogical.” First, subs gained a reputation for danger. Working on offshore rigs in harsh locations like the North Sea, saturation divers, who breathe gas mixtures to avoid diving sicknesses, would be taken in subs to work at great depths. It was the world’s most perilous job, with frequent fatalities. (“It wasn’t the sub’s fault,” says Rush.) To save lives, the industries moved toward using underwater robots to perform the same work.

Second, tourist subs, which could once be skippered by anyone with a U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license, were regulated by the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, which imposed rigorous new manufacturing and inspection requirements and prohibited dives below 150 feet. The law was well-meaning, Rush says, but he believes it needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation (a position a less adventurous submariner might find open to debate). “There hasn’t been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years. It’s obscenely safe, because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn’t innovated or grown—because they have all these regulations.”

The fact that Stockton Rush (who was piloting the submarine when the disaster happened) is on record complaining about the evils of regulations that prioritize people’s safety, and the Smithsonian uncritically regurgitated that rhetoric in their glowing puff piece about how rich tycoons like Elon Musk and Stockton Rush are going to save the world is just…..in hindsight of how everything ended it’s just so much horrible black comedy? It’s like a satire about the dangers of uncritically worshipping the rich.

It is mentioned in the article that Rush chose to make his submersible in a different shape, and with a different (cheaper) material than is usually used for submersibles. The article frames this as a result of daring innovation, and not of negligence/ignorance. This passage in particular, which in context is supposed to portray Rush’s critics as joyless naysayers who were proven wrong by the noble tycoon, is pretty foreboding in hindsight:

Rush planned to pilot the sub himself, which critics said was an unnecessary risk: Under pressure, the experimental carbon fiber hull might, in the jargon of the sub world, “collapse catastrophically.”

And then!!

The exact problem that happened to Titan this weekend, happened on Titan’s very first test voyage to the Titanic! The experimental carbon fiber hull had an issue and it caused communications to break down!

The dive was going according to plan until about 10,000 feet, when the descent unexpectedly halted, possibly, Rush says, because the density of the salt water added extra buoyancy to the carbon fiber hull. He now used thrusters to drive Titan deeper, which interfered with the communications system, and he lost contact with the support crew. He recalls the next hour in hallucinogenic terms. “It was like being on the Starship Enterprise,” he says. “There were these particles going by, like stars. Every so often a jellyfish would go whipping by. It was the childhood dream.”

Both Rush and the article writer treat this as a fun quirky story, instead of a serious safety failure and red flag with his experimental macgyvered regulation-flaunting submersible.

Other highlights from the article include:

Stockton rush saying that if 3/4 of the planet is water, why haven’t we monetized it?

Stockton saying we will “colonize the ocean long before we colonize space”

Lots of weird pro colonialism stuff in general??? This article loves colonialism and thinks it’s cool

Rush saying he plans for this to eventually help find more underwater resources for the US to exploit and profit from

Elon musk comparisons. The article writer does not mention that Elon Musk’s rockets explode and therefore it would be a bad idea to get in one of them, because that would imply it’s a bad idea to get into the submersible

Stockton rush seeing himself as Captain Kirk

The article writer comparing the tourists who plan to join Rush to Englishmen who went on colonialist journeys to Africa as if that’s like, a good thing. So much pro colonialism stuff in this article

So many sentences about Stockton Rush being handsome when he literally just looks like some guy

The article beginning with an editor’s note from years later disclaiming that the extraordinary submersible they’re advertising in this article is uh. It’s now uhhhh

But yeah it really does just bring home how so many organizations that supposedly care about scientific truth or journalistic integrity are willing to uncritically platform propaganda for wealthy CEOS. It’s frustrating how easily people fall for the fake myths that careless wealthy people invent for themselves, and even more frustrating that supposedly respectable institutions will platform irresponsible lies that end up getting people killed.

Rush is such an obvious and simple example of this, and his negligence is “only” killing five people including himself. But to me it feels like a cautionary tale to bear in mind when it comes to uncritical puff piece media coverage of similar “daring tycoon innovations” by people like Bezos or Musk.

#titanic #oceangate #titanic submersible #sorry this is just so fascinating to me #it’s like a parody or piece of satire #if it were in a novel it would feel like the symbolism was too obvious and on the nose

[eiraisnthere]

Unlocking a whole new form of claustrophobia by reading up on the lost titanic submersible

#titanic #oceangate #titanic submersible

[paddysnuffles]

Part of why I'm glad the sub never made it to the Titanic

One of the things that I feared about the Oceangate trip was that they’d break with tradition regarding the engine room.

You see, since the first expedition to the wreck, it has been considered absolutely taboo to go near it.

This is because the engineers volunteered to stay behind to keep the lights going as long as possible to make it more likely that help would arrive on time. As a way of showing respect for those men who knowingly chose to die to help others, their area of the ship is considered taboo for exploration.

And I sincerely doubt that the Oceangate dudebros would have cared about keeping up the tradition of respecting the sacrifice of those men.

#oceangate #titanic #i'm just saying #titanic submarine #titanic submersible #titanic wreck #titanic disaster

[jiabeewrites]

so this is what i've gathered from the memes and tumblr posts:

(please do not take this as 100% accurate. it's probably only like 78% accurate)

TITANIC II:

a few billionaires + a 19 year old + one other person(?) went into a "submarine" that wasn't actually a submarine

it was controlled by a VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER

and they were supposed to explore the titanic

and the submarine thingie didn't actually work and they KNEW THAT before getting on

and it imploded

and they all died

the only person anyone has sympathy for is the 19 year old bc he didn't wanna go on but wanted to make his dad happy

also celine dion is trending lmao

and fanfic is being written for the submarine (im slightly concerned)

oh and the company who made the submarine is called oceangate

this link. that's it, that's the addition.

oh yeah and @hkayakh said that a documentary is being made about this???

RUSSIA:

there's a coup

and there's basically a civil war

and the person in charge of the coup said that he's trying to topple russia's military leaders

and ukraine just took back some of their land

also the troops stopped for coffee before fighting

important addition by @chimp-prolly-not-typing-hamlet: the rogue battalion that rebelled against Putin is a private paramilitary organization called Wagner’s Group which has been linked to far-right extremism and neo-nazism

GREECE:

the greek coast guard capsized a boat full of hundreds of migrants, killing 80 with over 500 people still counted as missing, and the eu won't even investigate (according to @socialist-microwave-laser, please go check this post for more info)

so yeah fuck capitalism actually

THE STOCK MARKET???:

logitech is NOT suing oceangate, that was a fake post

EXTRA SHIT:

andrew tate is being charged for rape and human trafficking

and apparently elon musk challenged mark zuckerberg to a jiu jitsu cage fight

and andrew tate offered to coach elon musk

the season finale of helluva boss came out!!! (s1e8)

the season finale of helluva boss is coming out only right now because of some legal issues that vivsiepop + spindlehorse had. i think it had something to do with working with kesha and her label

FNAF TRAILER JUST DROPPED

yeah the world just decided to speedrun history today

(pls tell me if there's anything to add to this in the replies!!!)

#russia #titantic #russian coup #wagner group #ukraine #oceangate #titanic submersible #russian civil war #stock market #logitech #andrew tate #speedrunning history whoooooooo #greece #helluva boss #kesha #helluva boss queen bee #helluva boss episode 8 #fnaf #fnaf movie #fnaf trailer

[bethanythebogwitch]

Between musk losing tons of money and his reputation, the submersible, the strikes, and now Burning Man, 2023 really is turning into the year of stupid rich people fucking around and finding out

#fuck elon musk #stupid rich people #titanic submersible #burning man #wga strike #sag aftra strike

[techmomma]

look. they're dead if they're not on the surface. if they're not, they and everyone else will wish they were. an implosion is the kindest death they could have down there.

here are some things to keep in mind:

the deepest operational depths, meaning the safest depth that a manned crew could, potentially, rescue a submersible, is 300 meters. 980 feet. just under a 1000 feet. classified subs may be able to go deeper but that limit is like maybe 100 feet more. submarines cannot go trawling around sea floors unless they're relatively close to the coast

the titanic is 2.4 miles deep. 3840 meters. 12,600 feet. 12 times the operational depth of even the best naval submarines.

this tourist submersible's greatest operating depth? 13,000 feet. they're already at 96% of their operating depth. there's about a 4% margin before shit goes sideways, in normal circumstances

96 hours of oxygen is what OceanGate has told everyone this submersible has. this unregulated, untested sub. that they made. 96 hours of oxygen is probably being very, very generous.

there's only like a handful of submersibles, in the entire world, that can reach those depths. there's more ROVs that can reach deeper, but what percentage could help pull an entire submersible that can fit five people? their best bet is going to be getting some kind of remotely-operated flotation device attached to the submersible.

descending and ascending in a submersible is an incredibly delicate process that takes careful monitoring and delicate instruments. if they attach the flotation device then they're going to need something to monitor the internal and external pressure of the submersible. expanding gas could create a leak, which would instantly implode the submersible on the way up. not to mention gases and ballast must be monitored to prevent the occupants from getting the Bends, which can be fatal of itself.

all of this going to be made infinitely harder if the submersible is, as some suspect, tangled in the wreckage itself, which presents a hundred more problems such as zero visibility, structural collapse of several thousand tonnes of rusting iron and steel, punctures, etc..

all of this is assuming they are still conscious inside, and even have power. no power? even more difficult.

none of this is including the numerous defects the submersible is suspected of having, such as a CO2 filter. this is all assuming this submersible had zero defects--unlikely, considering their own words on why they didn't wait for inspection.

There is a goddamn reason they send ROVs down to the Titanic. There is a reason it should only be done by non-profit groups. There is a reason there should be oversight from the Navy and Coastguard. There is a reason that any human visitation is a carefully coordinated and monitored effort, where the majority are trained technicians inside the submersible and out. There is a reason that submarine crew and research crews also go through psychological evaluations, go through training to understand what to do in life-threatening situations. All of them, not just one dude at the controls.

Because they understand that, like Mt. Everest, when things go wrong down there, it is so hazardous to even any would-be rescuers that you will be on your own, and you will, almost certainly, die. And they may not even be able to retrieve your body, because that too is life-threatening to rescuers. Frankly, emergencies at the top of Mt. Everest are less dangerous than emergencies at the bottom of the ocean.

The ocean is actively trying to kill you down there. It's safer to visit space right now than it is to visit the bottom of the ocean. People haven't gone down there just to get a looky-loo. People are sent down there because there's certain things that only human eyes and senses can do, when it comes to research.

The deep ocean is not a place for fucking rich tourists to live out their James Cameron fantasies of seeing the prow come out of the darkness like in the movie. Whether you believe it's a gravesite that shouldn't be disturbed at all or not, tourists should not be goddamn down there.

Money won't save you at 12,000 feet at the bottom of the sea, motherfuckers. A divine miracle won't save them. But a miracle of human ingenuity, if there's some merciful force out there, just might.

#titanic submersible

[snabeus]

#oceangate #titanic #titanic submersible #titan #supernatural

[sapphichyperopic]

steam reviewers continue to be the funniest people on earth

#soz for submarineposting but this is too funny #long post #oceangate #titanic submarine #titanic submersible #titanic #nora’s flop posts

[ineffable-monster-romancer]

All this arguing over whether or not we should feel pity for the poor billionaires at the bottom of the ocean when the literal Stepson of one of the passengers is A) Treating them like they're already dead, gone and looking over him as angels and B) Attending a Blink-182 concert.

#oceangate #titanic #titanic submersible #titanic submarine

[ivandra-winters]

I’ve seen a few posts concerning the missing submersible (to be clear, it’s definitely not a submarine) that was going to the wreck site of the Titanic talking about how we need to have more empathy for the people in the pod that are most likely dead. And while I want to be empathetic…I just can’t. Because there’s a huge difference between a group of people getting killed in an avoidable tragedy, and a group of people dying as a result of their own goddamn hubris. They had every sign that they would risk dying, every fucking thing about this whole experience pointed to them not coming back. Especially since a reporter did a similar trip last year where they not only scrubbed the mission because it started to go south only 37 feet down, but that same reporter also has said that during that same story, the submersible got lost for 5 hours and they still didn’t put a beacon on it afterwards. The only ones I feel just the slightest amount of sympathy for is the son of Shahzada Dawood, who his father brought on board with him. Because if they do end up dying, then that young man shouldn’t have been brought into this fucking death trap.

#titanic #oceangate #titanic submersible #missing submersible

[weoughtto]

Guys. With the breaking news of debris, it literally means sub imploded. They likely did not suffer, they didn't spend the last days sitting in the cold smelly dark pulling straws, devouring each other or suffocating on their CO2, they likely died instantly when communication was lost on day 1. The banging was determined by experts to be ocean noise/normal Titanic site sounds (OR sub debris hitting Titanic debris in tandem with current 😐) Anyway. It suuuuuper likely wasn't the long, drawn-out horror being depicted.

#titanic #oceangate #titanic submersible

[thats-a-real-mood]

We said Eat the rich

And the ocean said

Okay bet

#oceangate #the titanic #the titan #titanic #titanic submersible #this was completely preventable #but they said lets go gawk at and underwater mass grave #and the ocean took offense to that #ocean said why dont you join them then?

[ivywing]

If you pitched a movie to me where a group of billionaires all got together to go on a tourist trip to a mass grave where corporate greed doomed the thousands of innocents who died that day, only for their greed, refusal to comply to safety standards, hubris, and god complex to doom them to join the drowned dead, AND the company who made the thing was called OceanGate?

I would say it was too obvious

#titanic submersible #titanic

[burymeinblack2022]

Big week for the 'fuck around and find out' community...

#The play stupid games win stupid prizes community is set ablaze this week huh #Russia #Titanic #stock market #oceangate #The titanic #titanic sub #titanic submersible #The titan #Ukraine #wow anna said somehting #anna's shitposts #Like wow. WOW.

[petimetrek]

#titanic #titanic submarine #titanic submersible #oceangate #rich people