I am sure lessons from this accident will be taken as feeder for the next generation of adventurous and more reliable submarines. Progress must be made. May they rest in peace
By Chris Obiekwe
Anytime I am flying in an earoplane, I always marvel at the courage of the men that challenged widely held beliefs of their time and even died to create this technological feat for me and millions of others to fly across the world in record time, in comfort and in style.
In 1996, for the first time, I experienced living in an offshore production platform called Ubit. Owned by Mobil Producing. It is an impressive structure, housing more than a hundred men, five star restaurant, top of the class sleeper rooms. it was installed in the middle of nowhere in the ocean.
Then, I looked around and all I could see is water, the dirty blue water of the Atlantic Ocean. I was blown away by how man could muster courage to conquer the wilderness of the ocean to that extent. Then a giant semi-submersible drilling rig came around the platform. It looked liked a giant robotic monster. Its size swallowed the production platform. It came to drill more oil wells for Ubit platform. I was mesmerized.
In 2012, I was in San Diego for one reason – to tour an old aircraft carrier USS Midway that has been retired by the US military. It served in almost all wars involving US, from 1945 to 1992. It still carried almost all the war planes (retired) the US manufactured since 1940s. I walked on the runaway, entered the cabins and walked down the giant storage areas for fighter planes. I jumped into the cockpit of those fighter planes. I marveled at what the Americans built.
In 2018, I did not miss the chance of entering a Russian submarine. It was intimidating seeing what the submarine could do and how men lived in it under the ocean for months…it’s an old diesel powered submarine. I asked the guide if I can see and enter a Russian nuclear submarine. The Russian guide looked at me like I am nuts. He politely shook his head.
The point of above is that I deeply respect and appreciate the men who dream big, went to work with their brains, invested time and resources to achieve these impressive pieces of technology. I am always inspired by them and what they built. Many of the men died in pursuit of their dreams. Many failed severally along the way but each failure is actually a landmark towards eventual success.
I doff my hat to the men that died in the Oceangate submarine off the eastern coast of Canada. We are actually witnessing in real time how great inventions that are part of lives today came to be. I respect them because it’s through this type of sacrifice that we come to enjoy the modern inventions that make our life so different from older generation of human beings.
To build anything outstanding is serious business. It takes sweat and tears in addition to discipline, dedication, motivation, knowledge and sacrifice. I find solace in the fact they did not suffer. Experiencing an implosion at such depths means instant death in fraction of a second.
I am sure lessons from this accident will be taken as feeder for the next generation of adventurous and more reliable submarines. Progress must be made. May they rest in peace.