How remotely operated vehicles might help find the Titan

A remote marine rescue is challenging in the best conditions, let alone at the depths OceanGate's Titan submersible was travelling, with five people on board, to view the wreck of the Titanic. 

During its dive under the North Atlantic Ocean on Sunday morning, the 6.7 metre-long submersible lost contact with the Polar Prince, the research vessel that ferried the Titan some 640 kilometres from St. John's to the approximate location above the wreck site.

The remains of the Titanic rest on the ocean floor some 3,800 metres down. If the Titan plunged that low, it's far too deep for most underwater vehicles — manned or unmanned — to travel. 

"Only a tiny percentage of the world's submarines operate that deeply," David Marquet, a former U.S. navy submarine commander, told CBC News, noting that even the U.S. military doesn't operate manned submarines that deep.

Locating the Titan will require remotely controlled vehicles (ROVs) that give crews on the surface a view of the depths and which can attach cables to lift the vessel to the surface — if it can be found. 

WATCH | Titan's oxygen running out:

Time running out for submersible crew

2 years ago

Duration 1:27

The U.S. coast guard estimates the crew aboard the Titan has about 40 hours of oxygen left, as of 2:30 p.m. NT.

But the clock is ticking. The vessel's estimated 96-hour supply of oxygen is likely more than halfway depleted already, according to the U.S. coast guard, assuming it's still intact and its passengers are still alive. 

More than 48 hours into the ordeal, deep-water equipment — like ROVs — is only now arriving at the remote and vast search area.  

Going deep

During a news briefing in Boston, U.S. coast guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said a nearby commercial pipe-laying vessel with ROV capability, the Deep Energy, arrived on Tuesday to support the search.  

The ROVs are controlled from the surface via a cable. 

But a vessel would need five or six kilometres of cable for an ROV to reach the Titanic or to search for the Titan, says Simon Boxall, an oceanographer and associate professor at the University of South Hampton, in the United Kingdom. 

Deep Energy's ROVs can only reach 3,000 metres, according to a news release. 

There are "only a handful" of ROVs in the world that can go deep enough, Boxall said. 

WATCH | Journalist recounts deep dive aboard Titan:

Journalist who went on Titanic expedition describes how crew could have survived

2 years ago

Duration 9:21

CBS News correspondent David Pogue participated in a Titanic expedition in 2022. He says mechanical issues with the Titan submersible are common, but that it has multiple redundant systems for returning to the surface.

And, even if they find it, rescuers must "work out a way to actually attach a cable to then bring it back to the surface," he said. 

OceanGate adviser David Concannon has suggested the company is working to secure equipment that could reach up to 6,000 metres.

The U.S. navy has an ROV, known as the CURV-21 (Cable-controlled Undersea Recovery Vehicle), which can operate down to 6,000 metres. 

The 2,900-kilogram vessel has been used in other deep-water search and recovery operations, but it's unclear if it will help search for the Titan. 

The U.S. navy told CBC News it is sending a ship lifter — the Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System (FADOSS) — to aid efforts, but didn't say if it's also sending the CURV-21, though it has been used in tandem with the FADOSS in the past.

The FADOSS is built for "the recovery of large, bulky, and heavy sunken objects," according to the navy's website, and can lift about 27,200 kilograms. The Titan weighs about 10,000 kilograms. 

A U.S. navy spokesperson told CBC News the FADOSS, along with other U.S. navy equipment and personnel, is expected to arrive in St. John's Tuesday evening. 

Three C-17 aircraft belonging to the U.S. air force landed there around 7:30 p.m. NT.

WATCH | The difficult search for the Titan submersible: 

Why it's so hard to find the missing Titanic submersible | About That

2 years ago

Duration 8:21

A submersible taking tourists to the wreck of the Titanic has disappeared. Andrew Chang breaks down what we know about the vessel, who's on board and what it’ll take to find it.

The CURV-21 was deployed in early 2022 to salvage a U.S. F-35 fighter jet from the floor of the South China Sea. It rigged cables to the jet so it could be hoisted aboard a commercial salvage vessel 3,780 metres above. 

The CURV-III, the CURV-21's direct predecessor, was involved in a successful deep-water rescue of a Canadian commercial submersible that sank off the coast of Ireland in August 1973.

The Pisces III, with two British crew members on board, was laying a transatlantic telephone cable when an accident on the surface caused it to sink to 480 metres.

The BBC reported the two men had an estimated 12 minutes of oxygen left when they were rescued after 76 hours inside the submersible.

WATCH | What the crew is likely facing: 

Missing Titan submersible: 'They can’t get out from the inside'

2 years ago

Duration 1:19

Rescue crews are racing against the clock to find Titan, a missing submersible in the North Atlantic Ocean. Retired former U.S. navy submarine commander captain David Marquet explains what the crew is likely facing and different rescue scenarios.