Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pogue: OceanGate Operated with a Strict Rocket-Launch-Style Safety Culture
“There is a very obvious culture of safety among the crew. I mean, this thing is run like a rocket launch with Long countdowns and checklists and inspections and mandatory twice daily briefings, even if you're not diving, you have to be there, where they go thr…”
Assertion Contradicted
Pogue: OceanGate's Titan Completed 20 Dives to Titanic Depths
“Secondly, it had made 20 uneventful dives to the Titanic depths and back.
Without a blink.”
Assertion Contradicted
Pogue: Titanic Expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet Fully Approved Titan's Design
“Thirdly, probably the most famous, one of the most famous living Titanic explorers in the world, P.H. Nargele was on board as an Ocean Gate employee.
He had been looking over the design, construction, and testing of the Titan submersible and fully approved.”
Assertion Supported
Pogue: Stockton Rush pressure-tested a 1/3-scale Titan model to implosion at UW
“Stockton first made a one-third scale model. Nobody talks about this. He took it to the University of Washington, subjected it to pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure, until it imploded to see what the level of pressure was that it could handle.”
Opinion
Pogue: Titan implosion likely caused by dissimilar material fatigue, not carbon fiber alone
“I believe that he's correct, meaning submarine pilot, that it's not the carbon fiber, it's the dissimilar materials connected to it. So, the titanium end caps, and the plexiglass porthole, seven inch thick, What happens is each of them has a different coeffici…”
Assertion Supported
Pogue: OceanGate shut off ship Wi-Fi when Titan lost contact
“During the time that the sub was lost on the seafloor, the CBS crew, and actually everybody else, was on the bridge of the ship with the control room people which is primarily Wendy Rush, Stockton's wife, ran the comms, and the various experts and scientists, …”
Assertion Supported
Pogue: OceanGate took hours to notify Coast Guard about missing Titan
“Why did it take them so long To notify the Coast Guard that the sub had gone missing. I think it was a number of hours.”
Opinion
Pogue: Before implosion, Titan sub seemed far safer than spaceflight
“I, to me, the sub was far safer than a Blue Origin or a SpaceX. I mean, obviously that looks insane now, but it imploded.”
Assertion Supported
Pogue: Titan had a 16-hour dissolving hook to surface automatically
“And one of these backup systems would work even if everyone inside was unconscious or dead. It was a time-release, sixteen-hour, dissolving sandbag hook.”
Opinion
Pogue: Massive Titan Sub Coverage Parallels 'Missing White Woman Syndrome' For Billionaires
“I mean, it's the white girl in danger scenario. I don't know if you've heard this term, but when there's a white girl in danger, it's national headlines or pictures on the front page of every newspaper. If it's an identical black girl, you just don't hear abou…”
Prediction Open · timeframe Jun 2073
Stockton Rush: The Titanic wreck will deteriorate into rust within 50 years
“I had a long conversation with Stockton Rush about this, and he said, I think that the people who object are wrong, because first of all, this wreck won't be there in 50 years. It's gonna be a lump of Rust. And if we're not there filming it, shooting it, makin…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pogue: Major submersibles like Mir, Alvin, and Nautile glitch constantly
“The Mir, the Alvin, the Nautil, all of these submersibles glitch all the time. And through all this, through this whole conversation, let's keep in mind what PH Nargile told me. All submersibles are prototypes.”
Assertion Supported
Pogue: OceanGate Titan used eight embedded microphones for acoustic hull monitoring
“The carbon fiber also had an acoustic monitoring system. Carbon fibers are actual fibers. They're like hairs. And when they break, they make a little crackle, and he had eight microphones embedded that could pick up on the crackling”
Assertion Contradicted
Pogue: Only three dives separated CBS News crew from the fatal Titan implosion
“And so if you think about it, the only thing that separated the CBS crew and the fatal dive was three dives.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pogue: Stockton Rush often compared himself to Steve Jobs and Elon Musk
“He fancies himself, fancied himself with a little bit of Elon Musk, a little bit of Steve Jobs, to whom he compared himself often.”
Assertion Supported
Pogue: Titan hull is a 5-inch-thick carbon fiber cylinder
“The hull, of course, is a carbon fiber cylinder, five inches thick, and you may not drill anything into carbon fiber. You may not interrupt that surface.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pogue: Stockton Rush invited CBS on OceanGate Titanic dive
“Stockton Rush, the now familiar name, the CEO of Ocean Gate and the designer of The Sub was a fan of our show, and he sent over an invitation to our producers that said we could accommodate three of you on our support ship for one of our nine-day expeditions, …”
David Pogue