Titanic expert Bob Ballard reacts to 'catastrophic implosion' of missing submersible

all this Bob Ballard a renowned oceanographer and Explorer is joining us right now Bob thank you so much we truly appreciate it I understand you know obviously you were part of the mission that discovered the Titanic and you've been down there I I'm being told on about 150 Dives to the wreckage just want to get your take on the news that we're hearing breaking right now well I didn't make that many Dives I made the first 12 that were ever made on the Titanic and then I went back with a remotely operated Vehicles last time uh in 2004 but yes it's very tragic what happened I I know the people that passed away I've known uh Stockton for 20 years and I know this was his dream so my heart goes out to he and his family and the families of all the people who who lost loved ones there's a tragic event more than likely took place on Sunday when they lost a connection with the surface more than likely they as they were experiencing difficulties began to drop their weights and Ascend to the surface they never made it so if you're on your way up and you're buoyant and you don't make it it's a catastrophic implosion and I don't think people can appreciate the amazing energy involved in the destructive process of an implosion I've explored the thresher and the Scorpion which were two U.S submarines in the case of the of the Scorpion ended up at a similar depth and it just takes and literally shreds everything so it's extremely powerful and then that's what they'll be doing right now they're now below the circulation system of the ocean in that area so they'll do a systematic mapping those rovs can remain I I have one just like it the one over my shoulder uh Hercules is on my ship in fact you can see in the image I'm in my command center my ship's at Sea right now unfortunately we are unable to help because we're in the Pacific Ocean but it's a very simple similar technology and the beauty of these remotely operated Vehicles is they can stay down days and days and days so they'll be mapping all through the night and into the next day until they believed they've done 100 percent systematic coverage of the wreck site and then the analysis of that database will start to tell the larger story and Bob since you are so familiar with the site of the wreckage and also these other submersible vehicles that that go down and explore things like the Titanic we've been reporting on for a few years now concerns over this specific vehicle the carbon fiber titanium combination that essentially made up uh the shell of this for lack of a better word did you have a sense initially when you first learned that the vehicle was lost that perhaps something catastrophic may have happened well you have to understand that we began taking Vehicles into the deep sea with the historic uh dive of the thresher I mean the the triask and Challenger Deep In 1960. we've made thousands and thousands of Dives with different Vehicles whether they're French whether they're Russian whether they're American and we've never had ever in the history of these extreme deep diving programs ever lost a vehicle so this is the first and and so you naturally go to how does this vehicle differ from the vehicles that we've been using for many years and it did did have a very experimental Hull and obviously that Hall imploded and Bob do you think given what happened here that there ought to be an end or at least a temporary pause to this type of Tourism to go see the Titanic wreckage while they sort out what happened well you know I again as you know I was opposed to taking anything from the Titanic but I've never been opposed to people visiting as long as they do it in a safe way we've gone back Jim Cameron mounted numerous Expeditions there again uh what's different about a submarine for example than an airplane an airplane gravity is your enemy but if you have a deep submersible buoyancy is your friend all you have to do when you're in trouble is get light and you go home and I'm sure they were attempting to get light and go home but the hull itself imploded so that's that's where you'll see all the energy focusing on any future regulations on die on safety but again I want to point out this has never happened in our deep submergence World Went beginning from we first started in 1960 and again safer if you look at our history it's safer to be in a submarine like Alvin that I spent many years in than driving on I-95 well Bob Ballard we certainly appreciate your Insight and expertise in all of this again we do remember five people on board their families grieving as Searchers now try to recover the rest of that debris Bob hi everyone George stephanopolis here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 1,459,040

Keywords: CEO, Five, OceanGate, aboard, imploded., including, it, of, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-100316625, people, sub, the, were, when

Id: 2jJ_SSU-ocU

Length: 5min 46sec (346 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 22 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/Abearattack33]

I was hoping he’d give input on the subject! If anyone understands the enormity of this situation it’s him.

[u/MildSpaghettiSauce]

Oh man.

Dr. Ballard looks a lot different than how I remember him from books grade school. Amazing man

[u/basketofselkies]

I’m glad to have seen this. I was surprised that other news agencies hadn’t reached out to him earlier, but it makes sense if he was out at sea. That dig about 95, though… He isn’t wrong.

[u/Bilbo10baggins]

What are everyone's thoughts on Ballard saying they were in the process of surfacing?

[u/fenway206]

Great research scientist! I've admired him for years. My Brother worked for NOAA, and was at Woods Hole occasionally, he got to meet Dr. Ballard and said he was a super nice person .👍