Titan sub hearing live: First video of OceanGate submersible wreckage after implosion revealed

Footage of the Titan submersible wreckage that provided ‘conclusive evidence of the catastrophic loss’ of all five passengers on board was released by the Coast Guard on Tuesday

Newly-released footage of Titan sub wreckage surfaces

A fourth OceanGate witness testified at the US Coast Guard’s hearing into the disastrous deep-sea voyage to the wreck of the Titanic that saw the “catastrophic implosion” of the Titan submersible, killing all five passengers on board.

David Lochridge, former director of marine operations for OceanGate – the US submersible company that operated the expedition – testified about the so-called “red flags” surrounding the exploration on Tuesday. The witness stated that he had “no confidence whatsoever” with the Titan’s construction.

Lochridge claimed “all the standardized rules and regulations” were bypassed as the company scrambled to “push” the launch for profit-making purposes, he told the Coast Guard’s Titan Marine Board of Investigations panel.

“It was inevitable something was going to happen. It was just a [question of] when,” he added.

Lochridge is one of 10 former employees of OceanGate among the 24 witnesses giving testimony at the two-week long hearing, which will return on Thursday.

The Coast Guard also released footage of the Titan sub wreckage, showing its mangled tail cone lying on the ocean floor.

The video taken on June 22, 2023, was “conclusive evidence of the catastrophic loss” onboard the vessel, it said.

Key points

• Newly-released footage of Titan sub wreckage surfaces
• Senior OceanGate employee had ‘no confidence’ in Titan sub construction
• OceanGate took ‘safety shortcuts,’ witness testifies
• Titan crew's final three-word text revealed

[17 September 2024 15:29 · Kelly Rissman]

‘A lot of steps along the way were missed’ in the building of Titan

“I had no confidence whatsoever” with how the Titan was being built, he said.

“There was a big push to get this done and a lot of steps along the way were missed,” including safety concerns, Lochridge said.

“Stockton had no experience building submersibles. No one did,” he said.

Speaking about OceanGate’s social media that boasted photos of its previous missions, Lochridge said: “It was all smoke and mirrors.”

He reiterated that no one should be launching a submersible without proper safety precautions — or with “faulty, deficient equipment.”

Lochridge also revealed his note attached to his January 2018 inspection report to the directors. He wrote: “It is my opinion that until suitable corrective actions are in place and closed out, Cyclops 2 (Titan) should not be manned during any of the upcoming trials.”

[17 September 2024 15:07 · Kelly Rissman]

Lochridge forced to sign new contract after ‘embarrassing’ Rush in front of client, he testifies

He said he Stockton Rush “pretty much stopped talking to me rationally” after the Andrea Doria incident.

At the end of the summer 2016, Rush and others told him OceanGate was “no longer willing to pay” for his wife and daughter’s permanent residence. Lochridge believed it was because he “embarrassed him in front of clients,” referring to the Andrea Doria crash, which was a “turning point” in his and Rush’s relationship.

The following day, Rush presented him with a new contract that he sign a new contract that stipulated he would have to reimburse the company if he left within the next 12 months. Rush instructed him not to tell his immigration attorney about the new arrangement.

[17 September 2024 14:43 · Kelly Rissman]

Lochridge says Rush threw a controller at his head

David Lochridge said he was hired by OceanGate in 2015 as a contractor. He later became the director of marine operations.

“They were selling me as part of this project,” he said, adding that he was “responsible” for the training.

“They wanted to be able to qualify a pilot in a day,” Lochridge said of OceanGate. “It was a huge red flag,” since it is usually a “long process.”

“I don’t like being bullied into anything. I don’t tolerate liars. If I see something that’s a risk, I will put my hand up,” he said.

Lochridge also mentioned a dive on the Cyclops I to the Andrea Doria wreckage site that went awry. The test submersible “smashed” into the wreck, but Rush refused to hand over the “Playstation controller” to Lochridge. A “paying client” insisted he hand over control.

That’s when Rush threw the controller at Lochridge’s head, he said.

[17 September 2024 13:13 · Kelly Rissman]

David Lochridge, a highly anticipated witness, will testify today

OceanGate’s former operations director David Lochridge is set to take the stand before the Coast Guard panel on Tuesday.

In his 2018 inspection report, Lochridge detailed his concerns with the Titan. Not long after he wrote the report, he was fired.

Lochridge was mentioned repeatedly on Monday, during the first hearing, and appeared to be considered a trusted expert.

After Lochridge parted ways with the company, Bonnie Carl, the finance director and head of HR, said she started looking for another job. “If that was their attitude toward safety,” she didn’t want to work there, she said.

[17 September 2024 01:00 · Kelly Rissman]

The hearings will continue tomorrow

The hearings are expected to span two weeks.

They will continue tomorrow starting at 8.30am ET.

We are pausing our blog until then...

[17 September 2024 00:30 · Kelly Rissman]

Who died in the implosion?

All five members of the doomed submersible lost their lives after the vessel launched on June 18, 2023: founder Stockton Rush, 61, French explorer Paul Henri Nargeolet, 77, British explorer Hamish Harding, 58, UK-based Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman.

[17 September 2024 00:00 · Kelly Rissman]

MBI created an animated model of the Titan’s doomed voyage

[16 September 2024 23:30 · Kelly Rissman]

ICYMI: Titan crew's final three-word text revealed in haunting animation of submersible's journey

[16 September 2024 23:00 · Kelly Rissman]

What to expect at tomorrow’s hearing

8:30 a.m. – Daily Opening

8:45 a.m. – 10 Minute Recess

9:00 a.m. – Mr. David Lochridge

10:30 a.m. – 10 Minute Recess

10:45 a.m. Mr. David Lochridge

12:30 p.m. – Lunch

1:30 p.m. – Mr. David Lochridge

2:45 p.m. – 10 Minute Recess

[16 September 2024 22:30 · Kelly Rissman]

Final communications between the Titan crew and its support vessel, revealed

“All good here” were some of the final words that the doomed Titan submersible crew communicated before the submersible imploded on its mission to the Titanic wreckage site in June 2023.

The message, revealed as part of the Coast Guard’s Monday hearing into the circumstances of the failed mission, was sent to support vessel Polar Prince on June 18, 2023, shortly before the submersible imploded, killing all five of its crew members. It was an incident that captivated both sides of the Atlantic as crews made a mad dash to save the crew after the sub lost contact with the surface - with the world unaware that the lives had been lost.

The Coast Guard played an animated re-enactment of the Titan’s voyage that captured the submersible’s final, spotty exchange with the Polar Prince, during the Monday hearing that shed new light on the sub’s final mission.

Around 10am on June 18, Polar Prince asked the Titan crew whether they were able to see the support vessel on the submersible’s display. The support vessel asked the crew the same question seven times over the course of seven minutes. The Titan crew then sent “k,” meaning it was asking for a communications check.

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