OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush crashed a submersible into a shipwreck and then threw the vessel’s rudimentary controls at a more experienced employee years before he piloted the doomed Titan voyage last summer.
Rush insisted on piloting a Cyclops submersible to the Andrea Doria wreck off Massachusetts in the summer of 2016, OceanGate whistleblower David Lochridge told the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation on Tuesday morning.
Rush then flew into a panic and asked if there was enough life support on board, Lochridge claimed.
Lochridge begged Rush several times to hand him the Playstation controller that operated the sub, but Rush refused.
Rush only agreed to hand over the controls when one of the paying customers shouted at him to stand down, Lochridge claimed.
If he in any way had behaved as any other sub pilot that I know, [it wouldn’t have happened],” Lochridge told the Coast Guard panel of the near-miss.
The Andrea Doria incident was a turning point in Lochridge’s relationship with Rush, he explained.
From that point on, Lochridge claimed, he was phased out of the Titan submersible project, and his misgivings about the vessel’s safety were repeatedly ignored until he was ultimately fired in January 2018.
A cameraman who previously worked with Rush told The Post last year that Rush “didn’t want anyone telling him what he couldn’t do” — and this hubristic attitude ultimately drove OceanGate’s fiascos, Lochridge claimed.
In the years after he was dismissed from OceanGate, Lochridge frequently worried “is something gonna happen [with the sub] this year?” “It was inevitable something was gonna happen … it was just when,” Lochridge said Tuesday afternoon.
Years before he piloted the tragic Titan voyage last summer, OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush crashed a submersible into a shipwreck and then gave the vessel’s basic controls to a more experienced employee.
OceanGate whistleblower David Lochridge testified before the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation on Tuesday morning that Rush insisted on piloting a Cyclops submersible to the Andrea Doria wreck off Massachusetts in the summer of 2016.
Recalling that Rush had deployed the sub 250 feet underwater while carrying three paying clients, Lochridge said, “He wouldn’t listen.”.
When he landed the Cyclops, Rush “smashed straight down” and “basically drove it full speed,” jamming the sub into the port side of the bow of the deteriorating ship, according to Lochridge, who had beseeched him to stay away from the Andrea Doria.
Then, according to Lochridge, Rush flew into a panic and questioned whether there was enough life support on board.
He characterized his former boss’s response to the crisis as “unprofessional behavior.”.
Rush refused to give Lochridge the Playstation controller that controlled the sub, despite Lochridge’s repeated requests.
According to Lochridge, Rush only gave up the controls when one of the paying patrons yelled at him to get down.
Rush finally lost his temper and threw the controller at Lochridge, hitting him in the side of the head, he remembered.
Within “ten to fifteen minutes,” Rush threw the controller so hard that one of the buttons flew off, which Lochridge reattached before safely lifting the sub to the surface. “.
“It wasn’t supposed to reach the point that it did. “It wouldn’t have happened if he had acted like any other sub pilot I know,” Lochridge said to the Coast Guard panel regarding the near-miss.
Rush clarified that Lochridge’s relationship with him changed drastically after the Andrea Doria incident.
After that, according to Lochridge, he was kicked out of the Titan submersible project and his concerns about the safety of the ship were continually disregarded until he was fired in January 2018.
When the Titan imploded in the North Atlantic Ocean close to the Titanic wreck, Rush and four other passengers perished in June 2023.
At the time of the incident, Rush was operating the submersible.
Rush “didn’t want anyone telling him what he couldn’t do,” a cameraman who had previously worked with him told The Post last year. Lochridge claimed that this arrogant mentality was ultimately responsible for OceanGate’s disasters.
Lochridge often asked himself, “Is something gonna happen [with the sub] this year?” in the years following his firing from OceanGate.
Tuesday afternoon, Lochridge stated, “Something was going to happen; the only question was when.”.
