US Navy sends salvage system to site of Titanic sub to join French crew which can dive to 20,000ft

Deep dive vessels from across the world have been deployed to help search for the missing Titanic tourist submersible – as the Coast Guard says those on board only have about 40 hours of oxygen left.

The US Navy said on Tuesday it is sending experts and a ‘Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System’ — which can lift small vessels — to assist.

A team from France is expected to arrive in Canada on Wednesday to operate a remotely operated robot and a submarine deployed from the L’Atlante ship.

The boat can hold up to 30 technicians and scientists for up to 45 days, and both the devices on board are able to reach 6,000m (around 20,000ft) below sea level.

OceanGate’s submersible, the Titan, is currently missing with five people on board after it lost communication during a dive to the Titanic’s wreckage, which is around 12,500ft below the Atlantic.

A frantic search and rescue operation is underway to locate and recover the vessel before its 96-hour oxygen supply runs out.

A team from France is expected to arrive in Canada on Wednesday to operate a remotely operated robot and a submarine (pictured) which are deployed from the L’Atlante ship.

Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding, CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai, and Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, plus his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19.

OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush is also understood to be on board the vessel, which vanished on Sunday, along with French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet.

The Navy does not say how deep its lifting system can operated. Titanic sits 12,500ft below sea level. 

The system was successfully used in March 2021 to retrieve a Sea Hawk helicopter that was sitting on the seabed near Okinawa, Japan, some 19,075 feet below the surface. A new salvage record was set at the time.

‘The Navy is sending subject matter experts and a Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System (FADOSS), motion compensated lift system designed to provide reliable deep ocean lifting capacity for the recovery of large, bulky, and heavy undersea objects such as aircraft or small vessels, from Navy Supervisor of Salvage,’ a Navy Spokesperson told The War Zone on Tuesday. 

This ‘expertise and equipment will support USCG [U.S. Coast Guard] and the unified command. Personnel and equipment are scheduled to arrive at St. John’s [in Canada] tonight.’

FADOSS is a modular system that can be employed from any suitable ship to recover objects weight up to 60,000 pounds. 

Titan weighs some 23,000 pounds, according to OceanGate.

L’Atlante, which is expected to arrive in the search zone later on Wednesday, is less than 48 hours away from the site where the sub went missing, according to Hervé Berville, France’s junior minister in charge of maritime affairs.

It has a manned submersible called Nautile and remote-operated vehicle Victor 6000 on board.

Nautile can dive to a depth of 20,000ft with a crew of three and is one of the very few manned deep-sea submarines. 

It has three wide-angle viewports and LED searchlights provide a direct view of the seabed. A dive on board the sub can last up to eight hours, of which six can be spent working at the sea floor.

The remote-operated Victor 600 is a deep-water ROV remotely operated by cable that can also go to depths of 20,000ft.

Victor 6000 is connected to the ship by an electromechanical cable which is 26,250ft long and supplies 20 kW of power

L’Atlante  can hold up to 30 technicians and scientists for up to 45 days, and both the devices on board are able to reach 20,000ft below sea level

It is equipped with a high-performance navigation system which comprises a range of sensors connected to an inertial navigation system and has completed more than 700 dives.

The high-resolution optical imaging system ensures an optimal visual perception of the environment and can also generate optical 3D reconstructions of the area under observation.

Victor 6000 is connected to the ship by an electromechanical cable which is 26,250ft-long and supplies 20 kW of power.

Optical fibers in the cable send the data and image flows to the surface, allowing it to be piloted from the ship in real time – with there being no limit to the duration of a drive.

Along with the French vessels, a Bahamas-flagged ship – which is owned by a UK and US company – is also assisting in the search effort.    

The Deep Energy is owned by TechnipFMC, which specializes in laying pipe and cables, and arrived at the wreck site on Tuesday morning.

In a statement they said: ‘The effort is being led by the United States Coast Guard with support from the Canadian Coast Guard.’

Titan is currently missing with five people on board after it lost communication during a dive to the Titanic’s wreckage, which is around 12,500ft below the Atlantic

Two remotely operated vehicles are being used to help the search, but they can only dive to 9,850ft. The Titanic wreck is 12,500ft below sea level

Along with the French ship, a Bahamas-flagged ship which specializes in laying pipe and cables is also assisting in the search effort

The ship is carrying two remotely operated vehicles that can dive to 9,850ft to help with the search. 

They unmanned submersibles, operated from a control room on the mothership, and are tethered with 3,280ft-long cables. 

At a press conference at the US Coast Guard Station in Boston – which is coordinating the search and rescue effort – First District Response Coordinator Capt. Jamie Frederick conceded on Tuesday that a rescue was far from guaranteed.

Even if they locate the missing vessel in time, there is no certainty it can safely be brought to surface.

The Coast Guard has already searched 7,600 square miles of ocean – an area the size of Connecticut.

Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, are among the five people trapped in the sub

French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) is believed to be taking part in the expedition, along with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition

Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding (pictured), CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted to social media about being there on Sunday

At 12,500ft underwater, there are few vessels able to dive deeply enough to find it.

The only ones able to search the ocean floor are remotely operated vehicles which are searching the ocean now.

If they find the sub, getting it to the surface is another feat entirely, requiring specialist equipment that is not yet on-site.

Other experts likened it to requiring a 2.5 mile-long cable to lasso to the far side of the moon.

There are multiple civilian ships assisting in the search, along with US Navy, Canadian Navy ships and aircraft.

Among pieces of equipment now on the way to the site is a decompression chamber for the five passengers, should they be brought to the surface.