Titan submersible: What is an implosion, who was on board and more questions answered

Your questions answered, from where the Titanic wreck lies to who was on board the Titan submersible.

Following extensive search and rescue efforts, it has been confirmed that the five passengers on board the Titan submarine have died.

Tour firm OceanGate's Titan submersible, which was to explore the wreck of Titanic, lost contact with its tether vessel one hour and 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday June 18. The craft went missing off the coast of Cape Cod, with the group descending at 3,500 metres.

From where the Titanic sunk to what it means when a submarine implodes, here are your questions answered.

The OceanGate Expeditions submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. Picture: American Photo Archive/Alamy/PA Wire

Where was the Titanic built?

Construction on the Titanic began in Belfast, Ireland in 1909. One of three ships built by Harland & Wolff and White Star Line, the vessel was completed in 1912.

Where did the Titanic sail from?

The Titanic’s maiden voyage set sail from Southampton’s White Star Dock on Wednesday April 10, 1912.

Where was the Titanic going?

Nicknamed the “Millionaire’s Special,” RMS Titanic’s maiden voyage would take passengers from England to New York City.

The Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage to America in 1912, seen on trials in Belfast Lough. Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

When did the Titanic sink?

Just before midnight on April 14 1912 – four days after it set sail – the Titanic collided with an iceberg off the coast of Canada. The ship sank and around 1,500 of its 2,200 passengers died.

Where is the Titanic?

The wreckage of the Titanic can be found approximately 400 nautical miles – 740km – south of St John's, Newfoundland.

The wreck has two main pieces, the bow and stern. The bow is the largest and most intact portion of the vessel.

The Titanic lies in two parts on the ocean floor.

How deep is the Titanic in miles?

At the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the Titanic rests 4,000 metres underwater which is around 2.5 miles deep.

How much do Titanic submarine tours cost?

OceanGate Expeditions charges $250,000 for tourists to join their eight-day Titanic survey, which is more than £195,000.

The company has removed information surrounding the dive, but full information on the tour can be found via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

It is estimated that a full dive to the Titanic's wreck reportedly takes eight hours.

Who owns OceanGate?

Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, founded the company in 2009. The 61-year-old is among the passengers who died on the Titan.

What is known about the Titan submersible?

OceanGate's Titan submersible is a five-person vessel built to descend 4,000 metres below the surface.

It travels at three knots, which is 3.5 miles per hour and, when it's not escorting tourists, is used for site surveys and inspections, research and data collection, filming and deep sea equipment testing.

The Titan submersible is directed by a games console controller.

The company says the vessel, controlled by a games console controller, had real-time systems for monitoring the hull, which were designed to give the pilot enough time to resurface safely.

Last year, CBS journalist David Pogue joined the excursion and reported the waiver he had to sign described the vessel as "experimental" and "has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma or death".

Who were the passengers on the Titanic submarine?

Now confirmed to be dead, those on board the Titan included businessmen Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood, his son Strathclyde University student Suleman Dawood, OceanGate’s chief executive and founder Stockton Rush, and French submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

In a Facebook post from June 17, Mr Harding shared that he was “proud to finally announce” he would be joining the Titanic expedition.

What does it mean for a submarine to implode?

On Sunday, when the vessel went missing, the US Navy detected sounds "consistent with an implosion", and on Thursday evening the Coast Guard reported finding several key pieces of the Titan which they said was "consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber".

Typically the result of high pressure, when an implosion happens to a submersible the vessel collapses inward on itself. No one would be able to survive such an event.

Implosions can occur if any part of the submersible's carbon fibre and titanium hull has suffered a small crack or fault.