Titan submersible Coast Guard hearings begin this week

The Coast Guard’s investigative hearing into the loss of the Titan submersible last summer began Monday, with a visual re-creation of the sub’s journey and testimony from a former OceanGate employee. 

The hearings, which are expected to last two weeks, are being held to learn more about why the submersible imploded in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, killing all five people aboard. 

The public hearings will "examine all aspects of the loss of the Titan, including pre-accident historical events, regulatory compliance, crewmember duties and qualifications, mechanical and structural systems, emergency response and the submersible industry," the Coast Guard has said. 

Here is what to know about the hearings and what happened on the first day: 

Why is the Coast Guard holding the hearing?

Simply put, the Coast Guard’s investigatory board is holding the hearing to find out what happened in order to make safety recommendations so it doesn’t happen again. 

If the board detects criminal activity, they would also make a recommendation of charges to the Department of Justice, Jason Neubauer, Marine Board of Investigation chair, U.S. Coast Guard, said Sunday. 

The Coast Guard was one of the agencies that responded to the search for the submersible when contact had been lost. 

RELATED: Titan latest: Coast Guard says 'presumed human remains' found in wreckage

Titan submersible hearing livestream

Day One

The Coast Guard is making a livestream available. The proceedings are set to begin at 8:30 a.m. each day Sept. 16-27, barring weekends.

The livestream is audio only, and can be found on the Coast Guard’s YouTube page. 

Testimony on Day 1

Former OceanGate engineering director

The hearing’s first witness, OceanGate’s former engineering director, Tony Nissen, testified Monday that he felt rushed to start operations during his time with the company. When asked if there was pressure to get the Titan into the water, he responded "100%."

Nissen also noted that the Titan was struck by lightning during a test mission in 2018, and that might have compromised its hull. He said he was fired in 2019, the same year he wouldn't let the submersible go to the Titanic. He said he also told Rush the Titan was "not working like we thought it would."

The former engineering director said the submersible later went through other tests and adjustments before its subsequent dives to the Titanic. However, he said he didn't trust the operations staff and testified that when Stockton asked him to pilot the submersible, he replied: "I’m not getting in it."

Rush could be difficult to work for and was often very concerned with costs and project schedules, among other issues, Nissen testified. He said Rush would fight for what he wanted, which often changed day to day. He added that he tried to keep his clashes with Rush behind closed doors so that others in the company wouldn’t be aware.

"Most people would eventually just back down to Stockton," he said.

"All good here" text message

To begin the hearing, the Coast Guard presented an animated visual re-creation of the journey of the Titan before it imploded. Only audio was made available of the stream, so the visual was not seen in the Coast Guard’s YouTube livestream. 

But The Associated Press reported the presentation said crew aboard the Titan were communicating via text messages with staff aboard the support ship Polar Prince.

The crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the submersible's depth and weight as it descended. The Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display. One of Titan’s final responses, which became spotty as it descended, was "all good here."

The Coast Guard said in their initial remarks that the submersible was left exposed to the elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023.

Upcoming witnesses

Witnesses scheduled to appear include Guillermo Sohnlein, who is a co-founder of OceanGate, as well as the company's operations director and scientific director, according to documents provided by the Coast Guard.

OceanGate's former director of administration, former finance director and other witnesses who worked for the company are also expected to testify. The witness list also includes numerous Coast Guard officials, scientists, government and industry officials and others.

Submarine implosion

The Titan submersible imploded in the North Atlantic in June 2023, killing all five people on board and setting off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration. 

The craft made its last dive on June 18, 2023, a Sunday morning, and lost contact with its support vessel about two hours later. When it was reported overdue that afternoon, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to the area, about 435 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.

On June 22, the Coast Guard announced that debris had been found near the Titanic on the ocean floor. Authorities have since recovered the submersible’s intact endcap, debris and presumed human remains from the site.

Titan submersible victims

Five people were killed in the implosion. 

The implosion killed the submersible's operator, Stockton Rush, who also co-founded OceanGate, the company that owned the submersible.

In addition to Rush, the implosion killed two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Harding and Nargeolet were members of The Explorers Club, a professional society dedicated to research, exploration and resource conservation.

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