In a scathing indictment of the U.S. government’s leadership, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) slammed the response to the recent OceanGate’s Titan submersible tragedy. Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, highlighted the “epic failure of leadership” and questioned whether it was the fault of the White House, U.S. Navy, or the Coast Guard that led to the devastating result.
Earlier reports confirmed that all five people onboard the vessel had died, and the Wall Street Journal revealed that the U.S. Navy had detected the moment when the vessel imploded earlier this week using a secret acoustic detection system designed to spot enemy submarines.
In an appearance on Fox News, Crenshaw shared that he spoke to industry experts who opined that the implosion sound could have been the sub just hitting the floor. Additionally, standard procedure SOS tapping continued every half hour throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, suggesting that there was more time to act but was not utilized.
Crenshaw expressed that the critical failure in leadership was that the U.S. assets, such as the 6K ROV and a Magellan submarine, should have been deployed sooner to join rescue efforts. “If you had just deployed those assets, they would have arrived on scene by Wednesday morning at the latest,” he stated.
The former Navy SEAL emphasized that the U.S. assets were capable of going to that depth and seeing what was down there. It was later confirmed that had the assets been deployed sooner, they would have found the wreckage exactly where the sub imploded.
He further questioned those in charge who failed to put all available options on the table and instead assumed the worst outcome without exploring other possibilities. “It begs the question – could this have been resolved differently if leadership had acted sooner and put all options on the table instead of simply letting assumptions guide their decision-making?” he challenged.
Crenshaw’s remarks have called attention to the need for a thorough investigation into the tragic events leading up to the implosion of the Titan submersible and the failure of U.S. leadership.
