More oddities spotted in the news

[Inquisitive Raven]

Looks likey got crumped. The phrase 'Reported Overdue' in association with 'Submarine' rarely has a positive outcome, but this story is proving to be a tale of Hubris and Nemisis to pleasure the Greek Gods.

A CEO who:
-Refused to hire experts
-Fired an engineer who complained about things not being tested - or a porthole only being certified to half the depth it needed
-Insisted a single wireless controller would be sufficient to control the sub.
-Insisted a completely unique carbon-fibre hull would be perfectly safe and didn't need to be inspected because they had a real time hull-crack monitoring system. (It likely gave a millisecond of warning)
-Didn't want voice comms because they didn't want to be bothered.
-Used a comm system so unreliable that everyone assumed it had just borked until the sub didn't come back up
-Didn't have a proper navigation system - they brought a guide who knew by sight where around Titanic they were
-Convinced paying passengers it was perfectly safe
-Charged them 250,000 dollars for a trip in a 5-man suicide booth.
-Ignored every warning from the industry afraid his death would be a Hindenburg moment for DSV's
-Took a safety and regulation last approach.
-Imploded along with the submarine.

These are people used to using money to make the problems of life vanish, insulated from the consequences of their actions by their wealth, and certain in their technological mastery.

Unfortunately, the laws of physics and engineering and 350 atmospheres of solid water do not give a shit about your personal fortune, or faith in your own technology.

The porthole was apparently certified to less than half the depth needed. Also, the hatch was supposed to be secured with 18 bolts, and only 17 were used. Oh, and last, but not least, apparently the ballast was not secured in a way that would release in the event of power loss.

It seems that standard practice with vessels that go that deep is to use ferromagnetic weights secured with electromagnets. If the power goes out, the ballast drops, and the vessel surfaces. This thing had rusty pipes tied to it. I'm not sure how they were supposed to be released in the event of an emergency, but they weren't dropping if the power was lost.