MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Titan tragedy brings attention to an era of adventure, while raising questions about its safety and technology.
Launched in November of 1943, the USS Cobia, now an exhibit at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, was a workhorse with a full crew. It’s been credited with sinking more than a dozen Japanese ships during World War II.
At more than 300 feet long, it was designed to dive to only about 300 to 400 feet below surface.
According to Kevin Cullen, deputy director and chief curator at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, “It wasn’t intended to be as deep, under so much pressure as Titanic is and at that depth Titan was ultimately lost. Because really, these, it’s a steel hull, their design is really well fabricated it’s all welded, bolted. It’s tight as long as the hatches are closed.”
In comparison, OceanGate’s Titan was a mere 22feet long, made of titanium and carbon fiber.
While we don’t know exactly how deep Titan was, when it suffered what’s been called a catastrophic implosion, the pressure on the submersible at the depth of the Titanic would have been extreme.
“You’re taking a tremendous risk by going 12,500 feet with 6,000 psi, pounds per square inch around you. That’s the equivalent of a rhinoceros, every square inch sitting on top of you,” says Cullen.
Risk in the name of exploration or research isn’t new. And before this week’s tragedy, about 250 people had safely and successfully visited the Titanic site.
The loss of Titan however, might halt similar exploration, moving forward for the time being.
Kevin Cullen says, “It’s not an easy place to get to, but certainly now, going into the future we’ll have to just see how this effects other scientific expeditions that have submersibles that are doing deep research.”
Cullen understands the fascination and importance of this type of exploration. But he also knows there other effective and less risky ways, for now, to explore such depths as the Titan tragedy is studied.
He adds, “For me as an underwater archaeologist and my colleagues around the state and internationally we’re looking at this as a learning opportunity and hopefully the engineers and the tourist companies that are looking to use this technology will take pause and learn from it too.”
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