Titan tragedy offers lessons for proposed Indian submersible dive

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Msc

Concept :

The Titan, which has previously ferried tourists to view the wreck of the Titanic buried 3,800 metres in the North Atlantic, lost contact with its mothership, Polar Prince, on June 17.

Submersible and Submarines

Unlike submarines that can stay underwater for months and independently travel between ports, submersibles are relatively low-powered and must be ferried to a specific point in the sea by the mothership from where they are lowered into the sea with the crew bolted inside.
After the dive, the submersible resurfaces and the crew is brought back to the ship.

Safety measures taken in Matysa 6000

The Titan consists of a carbon fibre sphere with a titanium casing on the front and back.
“When we were in the planning stage, there was a proposal to use carbon fibre but we firmly ruled it out and insisted on a titanium enclosure,” said G. Ramadass, Director, National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT).
Titanium is stronger than steel but many times lighter — a key criterion that helps the submersible resurface with relative ease from the depths of the open ocean.
While the choice of the material is made depending upon the depth and the cost involved, it is crucial that the submersibe hull is perfectly spherical, so that the extreme pressure at the ocean depth is evenly balanced.