“All it takes is one thing to make the whole thing disappear,” engineer Bart Kemper told researchers
Petty Officer 2nd Class Kate Kilroy/U.S. Coast Guard via AP, Pool
Bart Kemper of Kemper Engineering testifies on September 25, 2024 during the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation hearing on the June 2023 loss of the Titan submarine
An engineer whose company was asked by the U.S. Coast Guard to provide additional expertise in the investigation into the deadly 2023 Titan submarine implosion testified this week that the “cause” of the disaster is currently unknown – but there are some plausible options.
Debris from the Titan was found near the wreckage of the Titanic in June 2023, four days after the submarine lost contact with the surface while en route to the famous shipwreck, officials said.
The five people on board all died.
Bart Kemper, of Kemper Engineering, was one of the witnesses at the ongoing Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation hearing into the Titan tragedy and the decisions of OceanGate, the company behind the submarine.
“The root cause for the implosion is unclear at this time,” Kemper told the panel on Wednesday, September 25, during a presentation of his company's summary of preliminary findings.
“There are several outright single-mode errors, meaning you only need one thing to make the whole thing work,” he said.
The submarine was deeply submerged when it lost contact, and was under extreme pressure, which experts say means any failure of structural integrity would have led to an immediate – fatal – implosion of the pressurized passenger compartment.
Related: Titanic Enthusiasts and deep-sea divers respond Titan Implosion revelations with alarm: 'Worse than I thought' (Exclusive)
HANDOUT/OceanGate Expeditions/AFP via Getty
The Titan
Kemper identified five possible causes that caused the implosion, all related to the composition of the submarine.
These include an “internally localized defect” due to “cumulative carbon fiber fracture”, a failure of the “composite hull due to manufacture” – also known as a manufacturing defect – or a failure due to exposure damage, failure of the adhesive ring holding the hull and ring of the submarine connected, or a defect in the acrylic window, which was the only way to see out from the inside.
Other witnesses have given their insights into what they think caused the submarine's deadly implosion.
In separate testimony at the hearing last week, Tym Caterson, a former OceanGate contractor, said he believes the failure “happened on the forward bond line at the ring,” which should have happened “extremely quickly.”
“That means the people in there had no idea this was going to happen. I just want to make sure you let the public know that no one in there is suffering,” said Caterson, who was present when the Titan began its last dive from the Polar Prince off the coast of Canada on June 18, 2023.
Don Kramer, a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) engineer, testified Wednesday that pieces from the submarine wreck showed separation “within the hull adhesive, primarily from the carbon fiber composite.”
Kemper said during his testimony that his company was asked in December 2017 by Wiliam Kohnen – whose company Hydrospace Group built the window that was on the Titan — to conduct a “pro bono analysis of a non-standard acrylic window for [another OceanGate sub] Cyclops II.”
About a month later, January 2018, Kemper's company provided a report to Ocean Gate that “results indicated a likely failure after multiple dives at full depth,” based on the design of that window.
“The results indicated that it was possible for the window to fail under cyclic failure,” read Kemper's presentation to the Coast Guard who heard about his company's 2018 report. “We did not have the master design to understand the mechanical response of the pressure boundary to analyze the dive profile. The intention was to spark a discussion to agree on a safer, more reliable solution.”
HANDOUT/US Coast Guard/Pelagic Research Services/AFP via Getty
Debris from Titan after its implosion
While questioning Kemper, the Coast Guard panel referred to an earlier loud banging noise associated with the Titan.
One of the panelists asked Kemper whether he would have allowed the submarine to continue diving if it experienced so much noise upon surfacing.
“No,” Kemper replied. “I would have done more investigative work and considered my options, what is available for testing and what is not available for testing.”
In testimony on Tuesday, September 24, Karl Stanley, a friend of OcenaGate co-founder and CEO Stockton Rush, who piloted the Titan during his last dive last year, he recalled hearing noises during a 2019 underwater dive he made with Rush and two others while in the Bahamas.
Related: How to use the Titan Fallen apart (and what was left) after a deadly implosion, according to new photos
“He told us to be prepared for noises,” Stanley said of Rush at the time. 'He had done that recently [a] solo dive on his own, and basically just said, “This is going to make noise” and “brace yourselves.” ”
Looking back, Stanley said there were many “red flags” during that dive, including the sound, which he believed was the carbon fiber hull snapping.
“We heard it so many times,” he told the researchers on the panel, noting that even though Rush had warned them, “the first few times [were unnerving].”
The panel also asked Kemper whether a human-carrying submarine — even an experimental one — should be designed if the system's life cycle is uncertain.
“It's just plain wrong,” Kemper replied. “When you look at any design, first set your requirements. If you don't make demands, how do you know you're good?”
He later added: “The only way that's acceptable as a concept is if it's something you can break [like a] toys. That's how toys are built. If they break, you'll only hurt feelings.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Kate Kilroy/U.S. Coast Guard via AP, Pool
Bart Kemper
“If you do something that is life safety, you can't get away from it,” Kemper said. “You don't get a second chance. You get to say 'oops' once.”
Near the end of his testimony, Kemper made some recommendations to the panel so that a future tragedy like the TitanThis could be prevented – which is expected to be a key part of the Coast Guard's work investigating the implosion.
Those suggestions include a requirement that an experimental vessel carry only two people – “an operator and an assistant, without passengers or cargo”; and to have a licensed professional engineer as part of the technical team.
The nearly two-week hearing by the Coast Guard Board of Inquiry – which concludes on Friday, September 27 – featured testimony from former OceanGate employees, experts and others about their experiences at the company and on the Titan's previous dives.
Related: Titan Sub malfunctions days before deadly implosion, sending passengers tumbling, ex-scientific chief testifies
In his final comments on Tuesday, Stanley, who also runs a diving expedition company, said: “OceanGate came very, very close to killing me and had a serious impact on my business and on an entire industry.”
Stanley also said he believed his late friend Rush wanted to leave a mark on history. “I think these wealthy individuals … threw money at him,” he said. “And he got painted into a corner… I think that's why he kept diving.”
According to an earlier statement obtained by PEOPLE, OceanGate, which has suspended all operations, said it has “fully cooperated with the Coast Guard and NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] investigations since they began.”
“OceanGate extends our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the tragic implosion of the disaster. Titanthe company's statement continued. “There are no words to ease the loss suffered by the families affected by this devastating incident, but we hope this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy.”
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