Titan Sub's Carbon Fiber Hull Showed Flaws Before Implosion, Engineer Testifies

The carbon fiber hull of the experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreckage of the Titanic had imperfections dating to the manufacturing process and behaved differently after a loud bang was heard on one of the dives the year before the tragedy, an engineer with the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.

Engineer Don Kramer told a Coast Guard panel there were wrinkles, porosity and voids in the carbon fiber used for the pressure hull of OceanGate’s Titan submersible. Two different types of sensors on Titan recorded the “loud acoustic event” that earlier witnesses testified about hearing on a dive on July 15, 2022, he said.

Hull pieces recovered after the tragedy showed substantial delamination of the layers of carbon fiber, which were bonded to create the hull of the experimental submersible, he said.

OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush was among the five people who died when the Titan submersible imploded in June 2023.

Kramer’s statements were followed by testimony from William Kohnen, a longtime submersibles expert and key members of the Marine Technology Society. Kohnen emerged as a critic of OceanGate in the aftermath of the implosion and has described the disaster as preventable.

On Wednesday, Kohnen pushed back at the idea the Titan could not have been thoroughly tested before use because of its experimental nature. He also said OceanGate’s operations raised concerns among many people in the industry.

Kohnen said “I don’t think many people ever told Stockton no.” He described Rush as not receptive to outside scrutiny.

“This is not something where we don’t want you to do it. We want you to do it right,” Kohnen said.

The Coast Guard opened a public hearing earlier this month that is part