Boeing and the University of Washington have both denied being involved in developing the still-missing Titanic sub — despite the company’s CEO bragging about their help as proof it was “safe” and not “MacGyvered.”
OceanGate had repeatedly touted outside expertise in developing its Titan submersible — now feared to have run out of oxygen with its CEO among five onboard — in interviews and on its website.
A 2021 press release celebrating the Titan’s first successful 12,500-foot dive to the Titanic wreckage thanked Boeing as an “industry partner” giving “design and engineering support.”
However, Boeing told The Post early Thursday: “Boeing was not a partner on the Titan and did not design or build it.”
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — who was piloting the still-missing sub — had also namechecked Boeing as well as the University of Washington (UW) in a now-viral interview with CBS News in which he showed off how his deep-diving sub was run by a videogame controller.
Challenged over concerns it appeared to have “some elements of MacGyvery jerry-rigged-ness,” Rush confidently stated that there are only “certain things that you want to be buttoned down.”
“So the pressure vessel is not MacGyvered at all — that’s where we worked with Boeing and NASA and the University of Washington,” he said.
“Everything else can fail. Your thrusters can go, your lights can go — you’re still going to be safe,” he said at the time.
However, UW told The Post its Applied Physics Laboratory’s only work with OceanGate had nothing to do with the missing vessel.
The lab “was not involved in the design, engineering or testing of the TITAN submersible used in the RMS TITANIC expedition,” university spokesperson Victor Balta told the network late Wednesday.
While OceanGate used testing tanks at the UW School of Oceanography for nine tests between 2016 and 2022, it was on a contract basis without any assistance from university researchers.
“UW personnel did not provide any verification or validation of any OceanGate equipment as a result of those tests,” Balta added.
In fact, OceanGate’s CEO previously said he only used the lab at night, when other people were not around.
Tourist submersible exploring Titanic wreckage disappears in Atlantic Ocean
What we know
A submersible on a pricey tourist expedition to the Titanic shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean has vanished with likely only four days’ worth of oxygen. The US Coast Guard said the small submarine began its journey underwater with five passengers Sunday morning, and the Canadian research vessel that it was working with lost contact with the crew about an hour and 45 minutes into the dive.
It was later found that a top-secret team with the US Navy detected the implosion of the Titan submersible on Sunday, but did not stop search efforts due because the evidence was “not definitive” and a decision was made to “make every effort to save the lives on board.”
Who was on board?
The family of world explorer Hamish Harding confirmed on Facebook that he was among the five traveling in the missing submarine. Harding, a British businessman who previously paid for a space ride aboard the Blue Origin rocket last year, shared a photo of himself on Sunday signing a banner for OceanGate’s latest voyage to the shipwreck.
Also onboard were Pakistani energy and tech mogul Shanzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman, 19; famed French diver and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush.
- Missing Titanic sub live updates
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- Titanic tourist Hamish Harding’s family slams OceanGate for delay in reporting missing sub
- Coast Guard knew Titan sub imploded Sunday, but continued search anyway — here’s why
What’s next?
“We’re doing everything we can do to locate the submersible and rescue those on board,” Rear Adm. John Mauger told reporters. “In terms of the hours, we understood that was 96 hours of emergency capability from the operator.
Coast Guard officials said they are currently focusing all their efforts on locating the sub first before deploying any vessel capable of reaching as far below as 12,500 feet where the Titanic wreck is located.
Mauger, first district commander and leader of the search-and-rescue mission, said the US was coordinating with Canada on the operation.
The debris recovered from the US Coast Guard’s Titan submersible search site early Thursday included “a landing frame and a rear cover from the submersible.”
After search efforts to recover the stranded passengers proved futile, and bits of debris from the submersible were found, it was decided that the sub imploded, which correlated with an anomaly picked up by the US Navy in the same area.
The Coast Guard later reported that all 5 passengers were confirmed dead, and rescue efforts were halted.
He admitted that the hull of a prototype — only a third the size of the Titan — imploded during those tests, shaking the building and blowing out the lab’s pressure sensors, which Rush had to replace.
Balta said its $5 million research deal with OceanGate was scrapped early, after “only $650,000 worth of work was completed.”
“That collaboration resulted in a steel-hulled vessel, named the Cyclops 1, that can travel to [1,650 feet] depth, which is far shallower than the depths that OceanGate’s TITAN submersible traveled to,” Balta also noted.
NASA, meanwhile, told AL.com that its “Marshall Space Flight Center had a Space Act Agreement with OceanGate and consulted on materials and manufacturing processes for the submersible.”
However, “NASA did not conduct testing and manufacturing via its workforce or facilities, which was done elsewhere by OceanGate,” a rep told the outlet.
“We regret to hear the Titan submersible is missing, and we remain hopeful the crew will be found unharmed,” NASA said.
OceanGate did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Thursday. Its website appeared to be mostly offline.
Along with Rush, the missing include British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani tech and energy mogul Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Sulaiman, and famed Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
