Military aircraft, salvage equipment and ships are heading to a remote part of the Atlantic Ocean to aid in rescue efforts of a private submersible craft carrying five people that was lost Sunday evening as it ventured toward the wreckage of the Titanic.
Department of Defense spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that two C-130 Hercules aircraft with U.S. Transportation Command helped with search-and-rescue efforts as recently as Tuesday, and Air National Guard, Coast Guard and Navy assets were assisting, too.
"Right now, we're working with the Coast Guard; the Coast Guard is the lead on this mission," Singh said. "I believe that we are doing everything we can in terms of surveying the area, and that's been the focus of the department."
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Singh said in a follow-up statement Tuesday that three C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, also from U.S. Transportation Command, were heading to the area with "commercial, rescue-related cargo and equipment."
During a press briefing Tuesday, Coast Guard officials told reporters that rescue teams had searched 7,600 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean but had not found the submersible, named Titan.
Inside the carbon-fiber submersible, which is part of a private mission led by OceanGate Expeditions, are a pilot, a renowned British adventurer, two members of an iconic Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert, according to The Associated Press. There was 96 hours worth of air inside the vessel when it deployed Sunday.
The Canadian Polar Prince, a research icebreaker, reportedly lost contact with the vessel about an hour and 45 minutes after it submerged Sunday, the news service reported. The submersible was reported overdue about 400 miles south of St. John's, Newfoundland.
Time is critical for the search efforts.
In addition to the U.S. Transportation Command's C-130s, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in a press release that an HC-130J Combat King search-and-rescue aircraft from the New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing deployed to the area Monday and was returning Tuesday as well.
"When the Coast Guard called on the New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing for assistance in this search mission, our airmen responded quickly and professionally as they have in the past when called for other missions," Maj. Gen. Ray Shields said in a press release. "Our men and women are always ready to respond when needed."
On Monday, a C-130 Hercules aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, as well as a Canadian P-8 aircraft equipped with underwater sonar capability, were sent to search the area, the Coast Guard said in a statement. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sycamore and other aircraft were en route Tuesday.
"We know there's about 40 hours of breathable air left,'' Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said during Tuesday's briefing, estimating the remaining amount based on how much air was onboard the vessel when it departed.
Canadian aircraft and the country's own coast guard vessels are also en route to the scene. Singh said that "conversations between the Navy and Coast Guard began this weekend."
A Navy spokesman said that the sea service is sending subject matter experts and a Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System, or FADOSS, to help with search and rescue as well as any possible recovery efforts.
Navy salvage experts previously described the FADOSS as "a portable motion-compensated lift system connected through the ship's crane boom" that can be used to bring objects up from the ocean floor.
The spokesman said the Navy personnel and equipment were scheduled to arrive at St. John's on Tuesday night.
The Navy's Supervisor of Salvage has a lot of experience in recovering sunken objects as the team has regularly been called upon to recover downed aircraft from deep on the ocean floor -- albeit perhaps not on timelines that will work for the crew of the Titan.
The depth of the ocean around the wreck of the Titanic -- around 14,000 feet -- does not seem like it would pose an issue for the Navy.
In 2021, the team set a salvage depth record when it recovered an MH-60S helicopter from a depth of 19,075 feet off the coast of Okinawa, Japan. More recently, in March 2022, the unit also recovered an F-35C Lightning II fighter that crashed into the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson before sliding off and sinking into the South China Sea at a depth of 12,400 feet.
While the Navy has historically offered little detail on its salvage operations, data available from the recovery of the F-35C suggests it took more than a month. A naval navigation alert over salvage operations in the area of the incident was posted on Jan. 29, 2022, but the Navy announced the plane's recovery on March 3.
-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.
-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.
