OceanGate’s Titan submarine, which tragically imploded during a 2023 dive to the Titanic’s wreckage, relied on a remarkably rudimentary navigation system involving a hand-typed Excel spreadsheet. Testimony from Antonella Wilby, a former OceanGate contractor, during a U.S. Coast Guard hearing, revealed the flaws in the Titan’s navigation process.
Wilby explained that the sub used a USBL acoustic positioning system, which typically feeds data such as velocity, depth, and position into mapping software for tracking. However, on the Titan, the data was first manually written into a notebook, then entered into an Excel spreadsheet before being loaded into mapping software. The process was slow and manual, with updates performed every five minutes while communicating with the sub via short text messages. Despite Wilby’s recommendation to use standard software for automation, OceanGate aimed to develop its own system but lacked time.
After expressing frustration and calling the navigation approach “idiotic,” Wilby was removed from the team. She testified about hearing a loud bang during the Titan’s ascent after Dive 80 in 2022, a noise attributed to pressure hull shifting. Similarly, OceanGate’s former scientific director, Steven Ross, described the sound as indicating slight damage to the sub.
Moreover, six days before the Titan’s fatal implosion, its co-founder, Stockton Rush, crashed the sub into a bulkhead while resurfacing, due to a ballast tank malfunction that inverted the sub. Though no injuries occurred, Ross was unsure if the vessel was inspected afterward, leaving concerns about safety and oversight.
