A secret U.S. Navy system detected the possible implosion of the Titan on Sunday.
A secret U.S. Navy system that has underwater sensors deployed to search for enemy submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific detected an anomalous sound “consistent with an implosion or explosion” on Sunday, shortly after the Titan lost communication with the Polar Prince, the ship from which the OceanGate submersible and its five occupants began their dive to the wreck of the Titanic that day.
The Navy began searching for the Titan as soon as the submersible lost that communication, a military source told The Wall Street Journal, which gave the exclusive. Through an analysis of acoustic data it detected the anomaly.
Another source has explained to the newspaper that the Titan lost contact with the outside when it had descended about 2,700 meters on its way to the wreck, which since the tragedy one night in April 1912 lies at a depth of 3,800 meters on the bed of the North Atlantic. The implosion apparently occurred “shortly thereafter”.
Triangulating the area
Information from the secret system’s sensors was combined with data obtained through Navy P8 surveillance aircraft and sonar buoys that had been deployed to triangulate the approximate location of the Titan, another source has told ‘The New York Times’.
Then, and although the information was “not definitive,” it was shared with Rear Admiral John Mauger, the Coast Guard member who has been leading the operation in response to the Titan’s disappearance, “to assist with the search and rescue mission.”
“Following the mission.”
Since there was no other conclusive evidence, visual or otherwise, to confirm the catastrophe, military commanders decided “to continue the mission as a search and rescue mission and make every effort to save lives on board,” according to the statement provided by a military member to the ‘Journal,’ which at the Navy’s request has not made public the name of the secret submarine detection system for national security reasons.
In that five-day operation searching for the submersible and its five occupants have involved US and Canadian forces but also assets and personnel from France and the UK, as well as experts from civil society.
Research
The Navy normally does not publicly share information such as that linked to this case until the search for survivors is over, one of its commanders told The Washington Post. And it is considered “one of the data points” that are combined to make decisions.
The Navy is now expected to conduct an investigation to try to determine with certainty that the sound detected by its system came from the Titan, but it is unclear which government entity will lead that investigation or when it might be completed.