12:25 PM ET, June 23, 2023
The head of the Submarines Group says he raised concerns about the OceanGate design and claims with the CEO
From CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia
From OceanGate/File
According to William Konen, president of the Marine Technology Society, the design of the Titan submarine “requires significant additional attention.” He had conversations with a group of underwater vehicles Late OceanGate CEO to express his concerns about the company’s approach to submarines.
Koenen, president of Hydrospace Group, said Oceangate has made requests to make its website more transparent to spell out that the Titan design is “experimental” and “uncertified.” They eventually changed it, he said.
Speaking to Anderson Cooper on “CNN This Morning,” Kohnen said the carbon fiber hull “demanded extra attention because it hadn’t been done before.” It’s an “extra effort and extra tests to pass through that certification process,” he said.
The small community of submersible experts had several conversations with the late OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, and they published a letter saying, “You’re really moving too fast here, and you’re ignoring some of the knowledge base that we know we need for these things.”
Rush’s response is that “current regulations stifle innovation, it’s too slow, and we have a better system,” Koenen said.
“Creating an alternative method of self-certification — it’s not forgivable,” Kohnen continued.
He called for full disclosure in the industry. “It’s not certified, it’s experimental, and then it’s left to people to make some decisions,” he added.
CNN’s Nick Anderson contributed to this post.
