- OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush conceded in 2021 that his submersible for the Titanic had flouted some rules.
- Rush deviated from conventional designs by utilizing carbon fiber and titanium in the construction of his now-collapsed sub.
- However, he justified breaking these rules as it allowed for innovation, aligning with his pioneering aspirations.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who tragically perished on the Titanic submersible that went missing on Sunday, acknowledged two years prior that the vessel’s design had violated certain rules.
However, Rush viewed this deviation as a deliberate choice for his experimental submersible, describing it as an innovative approach to deep-sea exploration.
Rush was one of the five individuals aboard the Titan, a submersible that catastrophically imploded in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, instantly claiming the lives of all passengers. The US Coast Guard confirmed on Thursday that it discovered debris consistent with the loss of the pressure chamber after an extensive search and rescue operation for the vessel.
Years before the tragedy, Rush expressed during a 2021 interview with Spanish YouTuber alanxelmundo his desire to be remembered as an innovator.
“I think it was General MacArthur who said: ‘You’re remembered for the rules you break,'” Rush remarked with a smile.
The CEO acknowledged that he had broken some rules in the manufacturing of the Titan; however, he had confidence in the soundness of his design.
“I believe I have broken them logically and with solid engineering behind me. Carbon fiber and titanium? There’s a rule against that,” he informed alanxelmundo. “Well, I went ahead and did it anyway.”
The Titan’s hull, engineered to withstand immense deep-sea pressure, was constructed using aerospace-grade carbon fiber developed in collaboration with NASA.
Typically, submersible hulls are made from solid metals like steel or titanium. Rush explained in a 2017 interview with CompositesWorld magazine that he opted for carbon fiber in the Titan, then known as Cyclops 2, to eliminate the need for expensive but durable syntactic foam often used in submersible construction.
In his interview with alanxelmundo in 2021, Rush emphasized that the material choice focused on pioneering ocean exploration.
“It’s about selecting the rules to break that will bring value to others and society,” Rush stated. “To me, that is true innovation.”
Rush expressed his enthusiasm for the potential that his submersible could unlock for humanity in the deep ocean.
“This is where we will discover peculiar new life forms, and the future of mankind lies underwater. It is not on Mars; we will not have a base on Mars or the moon,” he asserted, dismissing extraterrestrial bases as wasteful.
Instead, Rush believed humanity would establish bases on the ocean floor. “If we ruin this planet, the best lifeboat for humanity is underwater,” he conveyed to alanxelmundo.
Rush disregarded safety warnings and persisted
In 2018, the CEO received multiple safety concerns regarding the Titan, including from a former company executive who highlighted OceanGate’s inadequate systems for detecting hull weaknesses.
The executive cautioned that any implosion risk would only be discovered moments before disaster. Subsequently, he claimed to have been promptly terminated after raising these concerns in an official report.
During that same year, the Marine Technology Society, a prominent group of experts, sent Rush a letter expressing unanimous concern about the experimental approach of the Titan.
A consultant for OceanGate shared with Bloomberg in 2017 that he departed the company during its early stages due to Rush’s “full-speed-ahead, damn-the-torpedoes” mentality in an industry that necessitated meticulous precision.
It remains unclear if OceanGate addressed any of these concerns later; however, Rush has consistently expressed dissatisfaction with safety measures and regulations.
In 2021, OceanGate launched an annual expedition allowing customers to witness the Titanic wreckage, utilizing the Titan for dives up to 13,000 feet. Typically, each passenger is charged $250,000.
Rush himself was piloting the Titan during its final dive on Sunday, losing contact with the mother ship approximately one hour and 45 minutes into the journey.
The sub’s implosion resulted in the immediate death of all five occupants, including Rush, who likely remained unaware of any malfunction. Rush was 61 at the time of the incident.
OceanGate has not yet responded to a comment request outside of regular business hours.
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