"What Was That Bang?" — Stockton Rush's Wife Heard the Titan Sub Implosion Without Realizing It

What started as a mission to study one tragedy ended in another — the implosion of the Titan submersible.

On June 18, 2023, the Titan submarine, operated by OceanGate, made its way down to the bottom of the Atlantic to explore the wreckage of the infamous RMS Titanic, which sits roughly 12,500 feet underwater. Inside were Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, and Shahzada’s son, Suleman Dawood.

As the vessel descended, less than two hours into the dive, it imploded, essentially the opposite of an explosion, killing everyone on board. It’s believed the implosion happened so quickly that the passengers felt no pain or panic. Still, investigations are ongoing, and nearly two years later, the actual audio of the implosion is now being shared with the public.

What’s eerie is that a message from the Titan was transmitted after the implosion occurred. Here’s why.

In a video shared by the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation with the BBC, the sound of the Titan imploding can be heard. The noise is subtle but distinct, comparable to a pop, or as the team who heard it first described it, a bang.

The Marine Board of Investigation is still digging into what happened to the Titan, reviewing footage from the tragic day. Among the clips, they came across video taken aboard the submersible’s support ship, where Rush’s wife, Wendy, was one of the occupants.

In the footage, Wendy and two others are seated in front of a computer. She’s holding a communication device, waiting for any updates as the Titan descends toward the sea floor. Then, a sudden pop is heard.

Wendy looks over at one of the men and asks, "What was that bang?" The other can be seen heading outside to investigate. What they didn’t know at the time was that was the sound of the Titan imploding. One Coast Guard investigator later compared it to the sound of a door slamming.

What’s odd, though, is that moments after the sound is heard, Wendy receives a message from the Titan. Still assuming everything on board is fine, she attempts to respond with, "Titan dropped two weights." Sadly, by the time that message is received, everyone inside the submersible is already dead.

But how did Wendy hear the implosion before the message from the Titan came through?

A lengthy discussion about this is playing out on Reddit, with some users explaining that what they likely heard on the support boat was the shockwave from the implosion, while the message, traveling at a slower speed, arrived moments later.

The hull of the Titan, where the crew sat, was made from multiple layers of carbon fiber, which, according to the BBC, can come apart through a process called delamination. The outlet noted that during the Titan's 80th dive in 2022, a bang could be heard, though Rush brushed it off at the time, claiming it was just the sub shifting in its frame. But further analysis revealed that the sound was actually layers of carbon fiber breaking apart.

As the BBC put it, every subsequent dive was essentially "a disaster waiting to happen." It now appears that the delamination and structural failure of the carbon fiber hull is what led to the Titan’s implosion. Simply put, the sub wasn’t equipped to handle the underwater pressure.