Billionaire is planning to take two-person sub to depths of Titanic – despite deadly Titan tragedy
A billionaire is planning to take a two-person submersible to the depths of the Titanic to demonstrate that the industry is safe.
Five people were killed in June when the Titan submersible, built by OceanGate, suffered a catastrophic implosion.
Now Larry Connor, an Ohio real estate investor, wants to rehabilitate the sector’s public image following the deaths.
“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,” he told The Wall Street Journal.
He has teamed up with Patrick Lahey, one of the world’s most experienced submersible operators, and co-founder and chief executive of Triton Submarines.
The Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer that will be used for the voyage. Pic: The Connor Group
“Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade. But we didn’t have the materials and technology,” Mr Connor said.
“You couldn’t have built this sub five years ago.”
They are due to make the voyage in the $20m (£15.65m) Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer.
The 4,000 refers to the depth it can purportedly dive to in metres – about 200m lower than the wreck of the Titanic, which rests at 3,800m.
Pic: The Connor Group
Mr Lahey said Mr Connor called him just a few days after the deadly implosion.
“We had a client, a wonderful man,” Mr Lahey told WSJ.
“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, and that Titan was a contraption.'”
Those behind the project are keen to emphasise the difference between classed and unclassed submersibles.
Triton and other major manufacturers use third-party maritime-classification societies to ensure that their vessels are classed – meaning they are safe and meet all regulations.
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Titan submersible in June 2021. File pic: OceanGate Expeditions via AP.
Mr Lahey said he was close friends with Paul-Henri Nargeolet, one of the Titan passengers and a deep sea explorer he knew as PH.
“Sometimes I wonder if I should have got more out in front of the story, because I was chomping at the bit,” Lahey told WSJ.
“But I was very emotional. It still baffles me beyond words that PH was onboard.”
Craig Barnett, Triton’s director of sales, said the firm had delivered 18 submersibles in the past 15 years, and five in the past three.
He also added that before the OceanGate tragedy, Triton was working on 15 different projects – but that one disappeared almost instandly.
“We had a $4 million sub we were building for a family’s yacht,” he said, “and the wife pulled the plug on it.”
Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he “will not back down” from Russia’s goals in Ukraine during a phone call today, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian president spoke to his US counterpart for almost an hour, and Mr Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
In response, Mr Putin said “Russia will not back down” from its aims there, which include “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Mr Ushakov said.
The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for Moscow’s argument that it was compelled to invade Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.
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Trump and Putin’s latest call on Ukraine
Ukraine and its European allies say this is a pretext to justify what they call an imperial-style war, but Mr Trump has previously shown sympathy with Russia.
At the same time, Mr Putin told the US president that Russia is ready to continue negotiating, the aide said.
The Russian president said any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine give up its NATO bid and recognise his country’s territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seen with Mr Trump in June, is pushing for Ukraine to join NATO. Pic: Reuters
He also briefed Mr Trump on agreements made last month, which saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war and dead soldiers.
Specific dates for the third round of peace talks in Istanbul were not discussed – nor was the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s call came after the Pentagon confirmed some weapons due to be sent to Ukraine have been held as it reviews military stockpiles.
The paused shipments include air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery, two people familiar with the situation have said.
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The decision led to Ukraine calling in the acting US envoy to Kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of military aid from Washington.
Kyiv also cautioned that the move would weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s phone call was the sixth they have publicly disclosed since the US president returned to the White House in January.
Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ has been passed by the US congress, sending it to the president to sign into law.
The controversial tax breaks and spending cuts package cleared its final hurdle as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the bill with a 218-214 vote.
The bill delivers tax breaks Mr Trump promised in his 2024 election campaign, cuts health and food safety programmes, and zeroes out dozens of green energy incentives.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will lower tax revenues by $4.5trn over 10 years and add $3.4trn to the US’s $36.2trn debt.
But despite concerns over the 869-page bill’s price tag – and its hit to healthcare programmes – Republicans largely lined up in support, with just two rebelling on the vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is congratulated following the vote. Pic: Reuters
Every Democrat in Congress voted against the bill, blasting it as a giveaway to the wealthy that will leave millions of Americans uninsured.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made the Republicans’ closing argument for the bill, telling Congress: “For everyday Americans, this means real, positive change that they can feel.”
Earlier, the House’s Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a record-breaking eight-hour and 44-minute speech against it.
“The focus of this bill, the justification for all of the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans, is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires,” he said.
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The bill’s spending cuts largely target Medicaid, the health programme that covers 71 million Americans on low incomes.
It will tighten enrolment standards, institute a work requirement and clamp down on a funding mechanism used by states to boost federal payments.
The changes could leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance, according to the CBO.
On the other side of the ledger, it will stave off tax increases that were due to hit most Americans at the end of the year, when tax cuts from President Trump’s first term were due to expire.
It also sets up new tax breaks for overtime pay, seniors and tipped income.
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The bill narrowly passed the US Senate on Tuesday after vice president JD Vance cast the deciding vote to break a 50-50 tie.
Mr Trump will sign it into law on Friday at 5pm local time (10pm in the UK), the White House said.
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