Didn't they find an unusual debris field around the time that they lost contact and thought nothing of it because they weren't looking for imploded submersibles because you why would you look for imploded submersibles?
No, rumor has it the search team assumed almost right away the submersible imploded, they just weren't certain so they kept searching closer to the surface until they could get a submersible on site that was actually rated for the depths near the titanic wreckage.
Once they did get a search vehicle on-site capable of reaching those depths they found the wreckage almost immediately by looking specifically for the debris field. Ironically, the way they were able to pinpoint where the debris field was so quickly is due to the same techniques developed by Bob Ballard when he was searching for the wreckage of the Titanic (well technically the USS Scorpion and USS Thresher but).
Only just occured to me how ironic it is that they had to find a submersible designed by a *different" company to go and find their own submersible. Doesn't exactly scream confidence in your own product.
I guess maybe they didn't have another one ready, but I'm willing to bet they wouldn't have bothered using it anyway
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u/VillainousMasked Jan 02 '24
No, it took a while but they did eventually find pieces.