Billionaire Plans To Take $20 Million Sub To Titanic Site To Prove Industry’s Safer After OceanGate Implosion

A year after the devastating implosion of the Titan submersible, a billionaire is committed to launching another sub to the Titanic wreck site to demonstrate that such missions can be conducted safely.

Larry Connor, a real estate mogul with a net worth of $2 billion, reached out to a submersible company just days following the tragic event.

His goal was to commission the design of a new sub to show that the Titan disaster was an isolated incident.

On June 18, 2023, the OceanGate submersible Titan lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince, about one hour and 45 minutes into a dive to the Titanic wreckage, located 12,500 feet beneath the surface.

The sub was carrying OceanGate's founder Stockton Rush, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, UK billionaire Hamish Harding, and former French navy commander Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

In the days following the sub's disappearance, the story captured worldwide attention.

OceanGate's 2023 expedition ended in tragedy OceanGate/Becky Kagan Schott

It was later revealed on June 22 that the sub had imploded catastrophically, resulting in the immediate deaths of everyone on board.

Following this tragedy, OceanGate halted all its Titanic expeditions.

However, Connor is now ready to embark on a similar journey.

He expressed his motivation to the Wall Street Journal: 

"I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way."

Connor plans to undertake this venture with Patrick Lahey, CEO of Triton Submarines, a leading company in personal submersibles.

Lahey had previously criticized Stockton Rush as 'predatory' after the Titan disaster.

Another sub is set to follow in the footsteps of the doomed Titan OceanGate/Becky Kagan Schott

The duo intends to use the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, a state-of-the-art, two-person vessel, for their expedition.

According to Triton Submarines' website, the sub costs about $20 million and is capable of diving to depths of 4000 meters—deeper than the Titanic's resting place at 3800 meters.

Connor shared, "Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade.

"But we didn't have the materials and technology. You couldn't have built this sub five years ago."

Lahey recalled their conversation shortly after the Titan tragedy: "He called me up and said, 

"'You know, what we need to do is build a sub that can dive to [Titanic-level depths] repeatedly and safely and demonstrate to the world that you guys can do that."

Their planned expedition is expected to be enveloped in controversy, as many people debate whether it's appropriate to continue sending missions to the Titanic wreck following the recent catastrophic event.