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The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 3:24 pm
by clearspira
Anyone else following this tragedy?

The more I learn about this sub, the more it sounds like something that Wallace and Gromit built.

The material is widely regarded as being completely wrong for the task, supposedly it was missing several key features, and (and I swear that this is true because it sounds like total BS) its steering wheel is a controller from a games console.

The key moment for me is I was listening to a retired US submarine captain with hundreds of hours of sea time under his belt on the news earlier today and he was saying that at $250,000 this thing is stupid cheap. So cheap in fact that he said you couldn't have paid him to get on it.

I hope they are OK of course. But... yeesh. There are going to be serious questions raised about this one in the enquiry that is no doubt coming. Personally, I hope that travel to the Titanic is banned. We know that the wreck is deteriorating fast, but more than that, its a grave site. 1,500 people died here. Men, women, children, even cats and dogs. It should be shown more respect. Not reduced to a rich man's Disneyland.

Re: The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 4:38 pm
by stryke
Not something you can really ban in international waters. It's why the guy in charge didn't need to have the sub certified properly and could ignore safety rules.

Re: The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 6:02 pm
by Riedquat
Why not use a game controller rather than developing something yourself to do the same job, if it's a fly-by-wire type design anyway?

Re: The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 8:56 pm
by hammerofglass
They found the debris field from the sub, probably imploded on Sunday.

https://apnews.com/article/missing-tita ... 24c3e9b1c1

Re: The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 11:14 pm
by BridgeConsoleMasher
Riedquat wrote: Thu Jun 22, 2023 6:02 pm Why not use a game controller rather than developing something yourself to do the same job, if it's a fly-by-wire type design anyway?
It’s a tour guide, so I’m pretty sure it ends bad for the tourists whether there is a physical pilot or not.

Re: The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2023 3:13 am
by Fuzzy Necromancer
The CEO said that safety was wasteful. Hardly an unexpected result.

Anyway I'm not going to waste any tears on these billionaires.

Re: The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2023 9:08 am
by ProfessorDetective
clearspira wrote: Thu Jun 22, 2023 3:24 pm The more I learn about this sub, the more it sounds like something that Wallace and Gromit built.
That's an insult to Wallace, his homemade rocket made it to the Moon AND back with minimal issue.

As to the controller, the US Navy uses Xbox gamepads for many submarine systems these days, citing that many recruits already have basic training with them. The real joke is that they cheapped out with a third-party pad from Logitech ($20) and didn't spring for the first-party Xbox pads ($60) like the Navy does. Probably wouldn't have saved them, though.

Re: The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2023 9:19 am
by hammerofglass
I've seen a couple references to the sub sinking because of "wokeness" and I genuinely don't understand why. Apparently that company run entirely by middle aged white guys was too diverse? It seems like a parody of anti-woke stuff but Fox and NY Post ran it unironically.

Re: The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2023 12:25 pm
by TGLS
hammerofglass wrote: Fri Jun 23, 2023 9:19 am I've seen a couple references to the sub sinking because of "wokeness" and I genuinely don't understand why. Apparently that company run entirely by middle aged white guys was too diverse? It seems like a parody of anti-woke stuff but Fox and NY Post ran it unironically.
The company said the boilerplate "Diversity is important to us" bit that most corporations do these days.

Re: The Missing Titanic Submarine

Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2023 8:55 pm
by Frustration
I am very annoyed by the coverage this has gotten. The lives of five people who risked their safety for a foolish adventure simply aren't worth the airtime the story takes away from more important stories that affect the lives of billions... yet even NPR kept breathlessly updating on it every news cycle.