#titan implosion

Yes yes very sad indeed

Remains of the Titan sub have been found confirming instant implosion

for the blissfully uninitiated, the H.L. Hunley was—very, very technically—the first war submarine ever to sink an enemy vessel.

before immediately sinking itself. in about 25 feet of water.

this piece of shit was built by the Confederates during the American Civil War as part of an effort to break though the Union blockade of Southern ports. thing is, it was made of wood with a steel shell and powered by fucking peddles. which does admittedly make the fact that it managed to sink a Union vessel kind of impressive . . . if not for the fact that, again, said vessel was in 25 feet of water, so the Union sailors just climbed into the rigging and all survived. or the fact that the Hunley sank moments later, taking all its crew down with it to a watery grave where they would remain for a good 100 years.

this, by the way, took place after two previous failed launches, the first of which killed most of the crew and the second of which killed all on board, among them the guy who designed and funded the stupid thing, Mr. H.L. Hunley himself.

so, to recap: we have a submarine made of wood and metal, powered by foot pedals and hand cranks because electricity wasn't a thing yet, which was created by upper-class members of a society built on slave labor who already had a shaky grasp on the value of human life, and which, in the course of its "service," failed to kill anyone but its own crew on multiple occasions (plus its own inventor on one), and sank for the third and final time moments after sorta-kinda-but-not-really fulfilling its objective, killing all on board yet again. . . .

and yet in the two or three decades since the wreck was recovered, every few years some publication will run an article proclaiming "New Evidence Reveals How the Hunley REALLY Sank!"

(it was a wooden submarine designed in 1873 by a Confederate lawyer, and it ran on peddle power. straight into a war zone.)

(that's how.)

and I just. I feel like I'm staring down the barrel of a hundred years of the same shit but on a global scale. I get that a forensic investigation is necessary in this case. I do get that. but I keep seeing lines in these articles like, "Questions are now being raised about the structural integrity of the Titan . . ." as if "questions being raised about structural integrity" wasn't the whole reason its creator dodged every safety regulation on the books. the Titan sank because it was designed, built, and operated by a billionaire who had no regard for human life, to get money from other billionaires with no regard for human life—up to and including their own. or, in this case, their own kid's.

again, the formal investigation is important. all I ask is that we, as a society, not discuss the Titan implosion like it's some burning mystery.

(via Titan submersible: why was its implosion not announced sooner? | Titanic sub incident | The Guardian)

If the underwater implosion was heard on Sunday, why are we only learning about it now?

The information was handed to the US Coast Guard immediately, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Yet it was decided to continue the search and rescue operation to “make every effort to save the lives onboard”, the US navy said.

The key to the decision-making is probably in the details. First, the rescue operation: analysts could not be 100% sure that what they detected was Titan’s implosion. If there was a chance lives could be saved, it was important to try everything possible.