CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Watching news coverage of the search for the missing submersible Titan brings back a flood of memories for former Navy submariner Ted Vorce.
“It’s scary and I can’t imagine what those guys are going through. I mean, I’ve been on a submarine when we lost our oxygen and we had to make our own burning candles. That was back in the day; you could still smoke and you couldn’t keep a cigarette lit, that was how low the oxygen got,” Vorce told WAVY.
By Coast Guard estimates, the five-person crew on board the Titan should have between 40-41 hours of oxygen left (as of 1 p.m. Tuesday).
Vorce recalls burning candles for two weeks to create oxygen, indicating some hope even if the crew isn’t found by Thursday.
“I’m hoping they have some kind of function and I’m hoping they haven’t gone to a crush depth,” he said.
Crush depth is when the sub sinks so deep it implodes due to water pressure. The Titan is designed to go depths of 13,000 feet.
Titan submerged on its dive to the Titanic wreckage Sunday morning. The Polar Prince research ship lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later.
“That’s the scary part with losing communications that fast; it almost sounds like its something a little more tragic,” Vorce said.
On Navy subs he explained, there’s a chicken switch, an emergency blow that forces the ship to surface. WAVY has not been able to determine if the Titan has anything like that.
“I’m hopin’ that they’re sitting there and they’re still fine and they can be rescued,” Vorce said.
The U.S. Coast Guard indicated the search for the missing sub is taking place on the surface, and underwater. We know aircraft from Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City have been involved.
They are also using sonar and an underwater robot – or ROV connected to a ship.
If they find it, and depending on what they find, will determine the next steps.
