The Titan was a submersible. What is the difference between a submersible and a submarine? Let's understand

On June 19, the Titan, a vessel that went missing in the Titanic wreck, in North America has become a recent hot topic. A common misconception is that the Titan is a submarine. However, very few know the fact; it is a submersible. What makes it a submersible is the fact that it is not an autonomous craft. Contrary to popular belief, it is dependent on a support platform that helps them deploy and return.

As per the website of OceanGate Expeditions of Everett, the vessel is not a submarine, but a submersible that has the capacity of carrying five persons. The five people included four crew members along with the pilot.
“The platform is used to launch and recover manned submersibles by flooding its flotation tanks with water for a controlled descent to depths of 9.1 meters (30 feet) to avoid any surface turbulence,” says the website.
“Once submerged, the platform uses a patented motion-dampening flotation system to remain coupled to the surface yet still provide a stable underwater platform from which our manned submersibles lift off of and return to after each dive,” the website further explained.

“At the conclusion of each dive, the sub lands on the submerged platform, and the entire system is brought to the surface in approximately two minutes by filling the ballast tanks with air,” the website further continued.

What happened to the Titan vessel? 

The Titan submersible search has faced an extremely tragic end. According to reports, the Titan submersible saw a catastrophic implosion on the journey headed to the shipwreck.

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Difference between submersible and submarine- EXPLAINED 

Let us describe each one of the two, one by one. 

Starting with submersibles, these are underwater robots. They are actually deployed to waters from the ship. These robots record and gather data from the water column of the ocean and seafloor that further aids in scientific analysis. 

Submersibles are of various types. For instance, some submersibles hold the capacity to be operated in real-time remotely. Some can be preprogrammed to follow a pre-decided path.
Some types of submersibles are able to transport people to the depths of the water. The Titan was one such submersible.

A submarine, on the other hand, is a watercraft that can independently operate underwater. A submersible, albeit has limited underwater capability, but this is not the case with a submersible.

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