OceanGate co-founder says Titan built from scratch because no one else could meet needs [Video]

The co-founder of the company that owned the experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreckage of the Titanic said Monday the company zeroed in on the use of carbon fiber for the doomed vessel because the company wanted a lightweight, less costly submersible that did not need to be tethered to an expensive mother ship.Businessman Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Stockton Rush, described the use of carbon fiber as “not a novel idea” and said “people have looked at that before.”Sohnlein ultimately left the company before the Titan disaster in June 2023. Rush was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded. Though Sohnlein left the Washington company years ago, he spoke in defense of its efforts in the aftermath of the submersible’s implosion.On Monday, he testified that no existing sub builders could meet the company’s requirements, necessitating the pivot to building its own …