Global Courant
Numerous complications could hamper rescue efforts for the five people aboard the Titanic submersible, which did not return Sunday from a dive into the wreckage of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
In any search and rescue operation at sea, weather conditions, lack of light at night, sea state and water temperature can influence the possibility of finding and rescuing distressed seafarers.
In the case of a rescue under the waves, the factors involved in the success of the rescue are even more numerous and difficult.
Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, on the company’s Antipodes submersible, off Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2013. Photo.Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press
The first problem, and the most important, is to find the Titan.
Many underwater vehicles are equipped with an acoustic device, often called a pinger, which emits sounds that can be detected underwater by rescuers.
It is not clear if Titan has one.
The submersible apparently lost contact with its support ship an hour and 45 minutes into what is typically a two-and-a-half hour dive to the bottom, where the Titanic lies.
There could be a problem with the Titan’s communications equipment or with the ballast system that controls its descent and ascent by flooding the tanks with water to submerge and pumping water with air to return to the surface.
Another possible danger for the boat would be to be trapped in a wreck that would prevent it from returning to the surface.
British billionaire Hamish Harding, said to be among the passengers aboard the submarine that went missing en route to the Titanic wreck is seen in this handheld photo taken at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, United States July 2019. Courtesy by Jannicke Mikkelsen/via REUTERS
If the submersible is on the bottom, the extreme depths limit the possible means of rescue.
Human divers wearing specialized equipment and breathing helium-rich air mixtures can safely reach depths of only a few hundred meters below the surface before having to spend extensive time decompressing on the way back to the surface.
At a depth of a few hundred meters, sunlight can no longer penetrate the water and darkness reigns.
the deep
The Titanic lies some 4,200 meters deep in the North Atlantic, a depth humans can only reach inside specialized submersibles that keep their occupants warm, dry, and supplied with breathable air.
The only possible rescue would be an unmanned vehicle, basically an underwater drone.
The US Navy has an underwater rescue vehicle, although it can reportedly only reach depths of 2,000 feet.
To retrieve objects from the seafloor in deeper waters, the Navy relies on what it calls remote-controlled vehicles, like the one it used to rescue a crashed F-35 Joint Strike Fighter some 12,000 feet down in the South China Sea in early December. 2022.
That vehicle, called CURV-21, can reach depths of 6,000 meters.
Getting the right equipment, such as a remote vehicle like the CURV-21, to the scene takes time, starting with procuring a ship capable of transporting it to the scene.
The wreckage of the Titanic lies about 600 kilometers south of Newfoundland, and the type of vessels that can carry a vehicle like the Navy’s deepest-diving robot typically doesn’t move faster than 20 mph.
According to the OceanGate website, the Titan can keep all five of its occupants alive for approximately 96 hours.
In many submersibles, the air inside is recycled – carbon dioxide is removed and oxygen added – but in a long enough time, the boat will lose the ability to scrub enough carbon dioxide, and the air inside will no longer support life.
If the Titan’s batteries die and the heaters that keep the occupants warm in the icy depths stop working, the people inside can suffer hypothermia and the situation will become insurmountable.
If the submersible’s pressure hull were to fail, the end for those inside would be safe and swift.
c.2023 The New York Times Company
