Titan debris: Heavy-lifting US Navy salvage system not required for recovery

The US Navy has said it won’t be using a large piece of salvage equipment that it had deployed to the effort to retrieve the Titan submersible.

The Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System had the capability of lifting an intact Titan back to the surface. The US Coast Guard announced last week that debris from the submersible had been found roughly 488m from the Titanic in North Atlantic waters.

The Titan submersible imploded on its way to tour the Titanic wreckage, killing all five on board. Debris was located about 3810m underwater.

The Navy would only use the ocean salvage system if there were pieces large enough to require the use of the specialised equipment.

Components of a Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System, or FADOSS, rest on the deck of a vessel. Photo / US Navy Office of Information via AP

“Efforts are focused on helping map the debris field in preparation for recovery efforts and to support investigative actions. Efforts to mobilise equipment such as the Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System have been discontinued,” a Navy official said.

The Navy describes the Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System as a “portable, ship lift system designed to provide reliable deep-ocean lifting capacity of up to 27,000kg for the recovery of large, bulky, and heavy sunken objects such as aircraft or small vessels”.

Titan weighed 9071kg.

The Navy is continuing to support the US Coast Guard as operations continue.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said that it’s begun an investigation into the loss of the submersible and has been speaking with those who travelled on Titan’s mothership, the Polar Prince.

Authorities from the US and Canada began the process of probing the cause of the underwater implosion and are grappling with questions of who is responsible for determining how the tragedy unfolded.

Transportation Safety Board chair Kathy Fox and TSB investigator Cliff Harvey. Photo / Adrian Wyld, The Canadian Press via AP

“We are conducting a safety investigation in Canada given that this was a Canadian-flagged vessel that departed a Canadian port and was involved in this occurrence, albeit in international waters,” said Kathy Fox, chair of the transportation board. “Other agencies may choose to conduct investigations.”

The Polar Prince left Newfoundland on June 16, towing the ill-fated Titan. There were 41 people on board — 17 crew members and 24 others — including the five-man team.

Fox said the TSB will share information they collect with other agencies, like the US National Transportation Safety Board and the US Coast Guard, within the limits of Canadian law. Voice recordings and witness statements are protected under Canadian law, she said.

“We don’t want to duplicate efforts. We want to collaborate,” she said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also announced Saturday that they are studying the circumstances that led to the Titan deaths to decide whether a full investigation is warranted. That full probe will only take place if it appears criminal, federal, or provincial law may have been broken, officials said.

The Coast Guard led the initial search and rescue mission, a massive international effort that likely cost millions of dollars.

It was not entirely clear who would have the authority to lead what is sure to be a complex investigation involving several countries. OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owned and operated the Titan, is based in the US but the submersible was registered in the Bahamas. OceanGate is based in Everett, Washington, but closed when the Titan was found. Meanwhile, the Titan’s mother ship, the Polar Prince, was from Canada, and those killed were from England, Pakistan, France, and the US.

Crew members of the Polar Prince prepare to dock the ship as it arrives at the Coast Guard wharf in St John's, Newfoundland. Photo / Adrian Wyld, The Canadian Press via AP

The National Transportation Safety Board said that the US Coast Guard has declared the loss of the Titan submersible to be a “major marine casualty” and the Coast Guard will lead the investigation.

The Coast Guard has not confirmed that it will take the lead.

The deep-sea investigations promise to be long and painstaking. How the overall investigation will proceed is complicated by the fact that the world of deep-sea exploration is not well-regulated.

A key part of any investigation is likely to be Titan itself. Titan was not registered as a US vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety. And it wasn’t classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting Titan when it imploded, had complained that regulations can stifle progress.

One question that seems at least partially resolved is when the implosion likely happened. After Titan was reported missing, the Navy went back and analysed its acoustic data and found an “anomaly” that was consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the vessel was operating when communications were lost, said a senior US Navy official.

The Navy passed on the information to the Coast Guard, which continued its search because the data was not considered definitive, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive acoustic detection system.

The Titan launched at 8am on last Sunday and was reported overdue that afternoon about 700km south of St John’s, Newfoundland. Rescuers rushed ships, planes and, other equipment to the area.

Any sliver of hope that remained for finding the crew alive was wiped away on Thursday, when the Coast Guard announced that debris had been found near the Titanic.

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

Questions about the submersible’s safety were raised by both by a former company employee and former passengers.