US Navy Recorded Explosion Sound Immediately After Submersible's Descent: WSJ

The US Navy recorded the sound of the bathyscaphe's hull failure immediately after it submerged. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing officials involved in the search efforts.

According to a representative of the US Department of Defense, the Navy began to hear the Titan submersible’s connection almost immediately afterward. The department noted that the sound from the bathyscaphe was recorded thanks to a secret sonar system designed to detect enemy submarines.

“The US Navy analyzed acoustic data and detected an anomaly consistent with an explosion in the immediate vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when contact was lost,” a senior US Navy official told The Wall Street Journal. He stated that the information was “immediately communicated to the commander of the search and rescue operation.”

The Bathyscaphe OceanGate Expeditions had conducted another expedition to the Titanic wreckage, which sank in 1912. As The Wall Street Journal notes, samples for DNA collection were planned during the descent near the ship's debris. Contact with the device was lost on the morning of June 18, and the submersible disappeared from radar.

On June 22, the US Coast Guard reported that unidentified debris had been found in the search area for the Titan submersible. Several hours later, the operating company, OceanGate Expeditions, announced that its crew had been declared deceased.

The bathyscaphe was carrying British billionaire businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, and French adventurer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.