Lochridge, OceanGate's former director of marine operations, is now discussing the engineering work of his former employer.

He reveals that OceanGate initially collaborated with the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at the University of Washington.

However, OceanGate's CEO Stockton Rush and engineering director Tony Nissen eventually became unhappy with APL and decided to phase out the partnership, opting to handle all engineering in-house.

When asked why he thinks the pair wanted to do the engineering in-house, Lochridge replies: "Arrogance. They think they could do this on their own without proper engineering support".

Lochridge points out that Tony Nissen lacks experience in submersible design or construction and he disagreed with the decision to stop cooperating with APL.

Additionally, Lochridge mentions being informed of Boeing and NASA's involvement but says he has never seen any evidence of their participation.

Cyclops One was uninspected, Lochridge says, so it had no certificate of inspection by the US Coast Guard.

He also says the "whole idea" of OceanGate was "to make money", and that there was "very little" in the way of science and media behind it.

"At the end of the day, they weren't taking samples," he says.

But there was a "very strong" social team behind them who could sell the company to paying customers, to join the trips.

A dive to Alcatraz, for example, he says from memory cost $35,000 (£29,491).

Lochridge adds he had no involvement in the selling, but he was "100% involved in the piloting."

Lochridge goes on to discuss a dive he did to the Andrea Doria shipwreck off the American coast, joining paying clients and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

He describes how simple some of the equipment was, including how a PlayStation controller was used to operate the sub.

Lochridge also criticises Rush for being unprofessional in the journey.

One of the passengers on this trip, Renata Rojas, will give evidence this Thursday.

Lochridge tells the hearing how he reached out to OceanGate in 2015 after his wife saw an advert for a job.

He was working offshore in the North Sea at the time and sent OceanGate his resume.

Lochridge says it "seemed like a good fit," and after a phone call he went to see them in May 2015.

He says "from the outset", OceanGate told him the company's plan was to go to the Titanic.

OceanGate "wanted to be able to qualify a pilot in a day, somebody that had never sat in a submersible," Lochridge tells the hearing.

"That is a huge red flag," he says.

There was no set training for the pilot, he adds, and nobody was qualified to take dives in the sub.

Lochridge begins by discussing his career background and qualifications before joining OceanGate.

He talks about his extensive experience in rescuing submersibles and mentions his naval qualifications.

Lochridge also notes his work with three main agencies: The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), DNV (a global accreditation organisation based in Norway), and Lloyd's Register.

“The only submersible that wasn't fully classed [by these agencies] was Cyclops,” he says.

For clarity, Cyclops refers to Titan, the sub that imploded last June.

Moments before David Lochridge started addressing the hearing, we had opening remarks from Jason Neubauer, board chairman for the US Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigations.

Neubauer, who is overseeing the hearing, starts by giving a summary of what happened on 18 June 2023.

He says this investigation will look into the factors that caused the incident, and will make recommendations based on their findings.

The hearing will also look at whether there's evidence of "active misconduct" or if any licensed person broke the law, leading to the causalities.

Neubauer adds they will examine the coastguard, and any representative or employee of government agencies, to see if they contributed to the deaths of the five men.

Witnesses will be subject to federal laws, he adds.

People are urged to bring any information to him that he may still need to see, Neubauer finishes.

David Lochridge, the former OceanGate director of marine operations is about to speak.

He had warned of safety concerns before the submersible imploded last year.

Stand by as we bring you his evidence.

You can watch the hearing live by pressing Watch live at the top of the page.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

A full day has been dedicated to hearing evidence from David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former operations director.

He was asked to assemble a quality inspection report by OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush, which he presented at a meeting in 2018.

US court documents show Lochridge had significant concerns, external with the Titan sub’s design.

These include the fact that the pressure hull - the part of the sub that keeps passengers safe - had not been tested, and a window in the sub was only tested to 1,300 metres - when Titan would dive three times deeper.

Lochridge was also worried that an acoustic warning system, designed to sound an alarm if the hull was beginning to break, would not work quickly enough for a dive to be aborted.

His biggest concern was with the material the sub was made from - carbon fibre.

Every dive would damage the layers of carbon fibre, making the sub weaker with each descent. Lochridge was fired after the 2018 meeting, according to the documents.

The company then sued him for revealing confidential information, and he countersued for unfair dismissal. The lawsuit was later settled but we don't know the details of the settlement.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

The first day of the hearings also revealed problems that OceanGate’s sub had experienced on earlier expeditions.

In 2021 and 2022 it had descended to the Titanic 13 times - and over the course of these dives there were a jaw-dropping 118 technical issues.

These included its front dome falling off when it was brought out of the sea, its thrusters - which steer the craft - failing at 3,500m, and the faring around its tail cone being ripped.

On one dive, its batteries died leaving the passengers stuck inside for 27 hours.

The hearing also gave an insight into OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush’s management style.

Tony Nissen, a former OceanGate Engineering Director, said "Stockton would fight for what he wanted and, even if it changed from day to day, he wouldn't give an inch."

He added: "Most people would eventually back down to Stockton, it was death by a thousand cuts."

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

The public hearings began with the release of exchanges between the Titan sub and the surface ship.

These were short text messages sent back and forth during the final dive.

Communications were a bit patchy during the descent, but a message from the sub about an hour into the dive said: “All good here”.

A little after the passengers gave their location as being above the south east of Titanic’s bow.

The final exchange was sent from 3,346m saying Titan had dropped two weights - it would have released them to slow its descent as it neared the sea floor.

After that the messages stopped - the sub had imploded.

The US Coast Guard said that there was nothing in the messages that indicated that the passengers knew the sub was failing.

Imogen James
Live reporter

Welcome to our live coverage of the US Coast Guard hearing into the Titan submersible implosion last year.

It's day two of the hearing, the full day has been dedicated to witness David Lochridge.

He is the former operations director of OceanGate, the company responsible for the Titan.

In 2018, Mr Lochridge raised safety concerns over the vessel, including that it had not been properly tested and could not withstand pressure, but he was fired shortly after.

He has said his warnings were ignored.

Lochridge is a highly anticipated witness, and it is expected he will expand on those safety concerns in his testimony.

His questioning will begin at 09:00 EDT (13:00 GMT), in front of a panel of US Coast Guard investigators.

We will be here throughout, bringing you the key lines.