Boeing has denied OceanGate’s claims that it worked with the company to design the Titan submersible, which recently sank on a voyage to the shipwreck of the Titanic.
OceanGate is based in Everett, Washington, the United States (US), where some Boeing facilities, including the 737 assembly line, are also located. The submersibles company boasted that its Titan submersible was designed and engineered together with several companies, including the plane maker.
“[…] OceanGate Inc. in collaboration experts from NASA, Boeing, and the University of Washington, made its subsea debut in 2018,” read a product page for the Titan submersible. The company’s website has since gone down.
“Through the innovative use of modern materials, Titan is lighter, more spacious, and more comfortable than any other deep-diving submersible exploring the ocean today”.
However, in a statement to The Herald, Boeing has denied that the company was involved with the design of the Titan, clarifying that it had in fact helped OceanGate to build an “initial design analysis of the 7-inch-thick pressure vessel”. The aerospace manufacturer is referring to a design which OceanGate announced in 2013. At that time the company, together with Boeing and the University of Washington (UW), built the Cyclops 1, predecessor to the Titan.
Following several days spent looking for OceanGate’s sunken submersible ship Titan, the US Coast Guard (USGC) released a statement on June 22, 2023, saying that the search effort had found a “tail section of the 21-foot submersible”. The tail was found around 1,600 feet (487.6 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, the wreck of which the five people onboard had dived to see.
“Experts from within the unified command are evaluating the imagery and debris while continuing ROV’s [Remotely operated vehicle – ed. note] search efforts near the Titanic to locate additional portions of the Titan,” the USGC’s statement added.
Five people were onboard the Titan, including OceanGate’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder Stockton Rush. All are now missing, presumed dead.
The vessel lost contact with its mother ship on June 18, 2023.