OceanGate whistleblower says he had 'no confidence' in development of Titan sub

NEW YORK — An OceanGate whistleblower testified during a United States Coast Guard hearing into the deadly 2023 implosion of the Titan that he had "no confidence" in the way the experimental submersible was being built.

David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations for OceanGate, said he was known as a "troublemaker" in the tourism and expeditions company because he was so outspoken about his safety concerns -- voiced years before five people were killed when the Titan catastrophically imploded during a deep-sea voyage to the Titanic wreckage in June 2023.

Lochridge said Tuesday during an ongoing Coast Guard hearing into the deadly implosion that he was hired in 2015 to in part work on the operations for the Titan but was ultimately not involved in its development. Lochridge said he was "phased out" after butting heads with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush -- one of the five people who died in the implosion.

When asked by the Marine Board of Investigation for the U.S. Coast Guard if he had confidence in the way the Titan was being built in 2017, Lochridge said, "No confidence whatsoever, and I was very vocal about that, and still am."

Lochridge submitted a report in January 2018 outlining his concerns about the submersible's carbon-fiber hull, including imperfections, after he said Rush asked him to inspect it.

"At the end of the day, safety comes first," Lochridge said. "Yes, you're taking a risk going down in a submersible, but don't take risks that are unnecessary with faulty, and I mean faulty, deficient equipment."

Lochridge testified Rush "liked to do things on the cheap." Asked why the company resorted to cost-cutting measures, Lochridge said, "The desire to get to the Titanic as quickly as we could to start making profit."

He said he did not know about the financial side of the company, but that "there was a big push to get this done."

"A lot of steps along the way were missed," he said.

Lochridge testified that Rush wanted to do manned testing of the first Titan prototype, though Lochridge recommended doing unmanned testing due to his concerns.

"I knew that hull would fail," he said. "It's an absolute mess."

Lochridge was fired from OceanGate in 2018, days after submitting his report and attending an hourslong meeting with OceanGate executives, including Rush, ABC News previously reported. Documents reviewed by ABC News stated that it was clear Lochridge and Rush were "at an impasse" regarding the Titan hull, and "the only option was the termination of your employment."

Lochridge testified Tuesday he was terminated because he was "anti-project."

"I didn't want to lose my job," Lochridge said. "I wanted to go to Titanic. It was on my bucket list. I wanted to dive this, but dive it safely."

Following his termination, Lochridge said he reached out to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in February 2018 with his concerns about public safety and was placed under the agency's Whistleblower Protection Program.

"I wouldn't want to see anybody dying for the sake of going in a sub," Lochridge said Tuesday. "It's a magical place. I love it. I'm very passionate about what I do. If there's risk like that, don't do it."

A defect was discovered in the first prototype of the carbon-fiber hull in 2019, and it was not used on Titanic missions, the Coast Guard said.

A second carbon-fiber hull was subsequently made that was used on Titanic missions, including the doomed dive on June 18, 2023.

OceanGate suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the implosion.

The Coast Guard's hearing into the implosion is scheduled to last two weeks. Lochridge is the only witness scheduled to testify on Tuesday.

During his testimony, Lochridge said he started being phased out of his duties after he inadvertently "embarrassed" Rush during a 2016 dive to the Andrea Doria shipwreck on OceanGate's Cyclops 1 submersible.

Lochridge, a veteran submersible pilot, said he was meant to take several paying clients down to the wreck to take a 3-D model, but Rush wanted to pilot the dive instead. Lochridge said he objected, noting that the wreck is "dangerous" and that over a dozen people died during dives to the site at the time -- and eventually persuaded Rush to let him go along.

He said Rush ended up getting the vessel stuck in the wreck and refused to relinquish control of the submersible to Lochridge until one of the crew members yelled at Rush to give Lochridge the PlayStation controller that piloted the vessel.

Lochridge said Rush threw the controller at his head and one of the buttons came off, though he testified that he was able to repair it and get them back to the surface.

After that, Lochridge said Rush stopped talking to him.

Lochridge testified he raised objections after OceanGate phased out its relationship with the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory in 2016. He said Rush decided to do all engineering for the Titan in-house.

Asked by the board why that was the case, Lochridge said, "Arrogance."

He also testified the company only cared about making money and it wasn't interested in scientific research.

"The whole idea behind the company was to make money, that's it," Lochridge said. "There was very little in the way of science."

OceanGate sued Lochridge following his termination, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets. Lochridge alleged in a counterclaim lawsuit that he was fired for raising concerns about quality control.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Lochridge said he dropped his OSHA case and walked away from the lawsuits in late 2018 because he didn't want to "put my family through any more of this," financially and emotionally.

"It was going nowhere," he said. "It was too much for us as a family."

Lochridge and OceanGate settled the dispute out of court in November 2018. Lochridge said OSHA closed the case in December 2018 following the settlement agreement.

"I never paid a penny to OceanGate, I'm going to state that clearly," Lochridge said Tuesday. "I gave them nothing, they gave me nothing."

In his final remarks, Lochridge said he hopes the investigation will shed light on "why OSHA did not actively address my concerns."

"I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented," he said. "As a seafarer, I feel deeply let down and disappointed by the system that is meant to protect not only seafarers but the general public as well."

OSHA said in a statement to ABC News on Thursday that after Lochridge filed a whistleblower claim of retaliation under the Seaman's Protection Act in February 2018, "OSHA promptly referred his safety allegations regarding the Titan submersible to the Coast Guard, per policy."

"The Coast Guard, not OSHA, had jurisdiction to investigate Mr. Lochridge's allegations regarding the safe design and construction of marine vessels," OSHA said in the statement. "OSHA's jurisdiction under the [Seaman's Protection Act] is limited to investigating a whistleblower's claims of employment retaliation for making those complaints (or similar protected activity)."

OSHA said it opened an investigation into the retaliation allegations, including interviewing Lochridge, which "followed the normal process and timeline for a retaliation case." After Lochridge and OceanGate entered a settlement agreement, OSHA terminated its investigation in December 2019 "pursuant to the terms of the parties' agreement."

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