Yes, the Missing Titanic-Touring Submarine Is, in Fact, Piloted by a $30 Logitech Controller

While the U.S. Coast Guard is dumping all its available resources into searching the Atlantic for any sign of the lost submarine called the Titan, which set out on a tourism trip to view the sunken wreckage of the Titanic early Sunday morning, many of us dorks back on land seem to be obsessing over the wild and woefully non-regulation equipment that steers the missing carbon fiber submersible. Apparently, the Titan, which currently holds the uncertainty of the lives of one pilot and four passengers in its hull somewhere deep in the Atlantic, is steered by nothing more than a cheap videogame controller from 2010. 

The Logitech F710 is a simple dual-thumb hand-held controller for PC that, having come out 13 years ago, is not considered a very “cool” piece of tech, even for casual gamers. It normally sells for about $30, but since the news that it’s controlling the missing submarine went viral, they’ve sold out many places, driving the price way up at others. You can currently buy one for about $70 on Amazon.

Expeditions to the wreckage of the Titanic on the Titan—which is owned by a company called OceanGate, whose CEO went on record saying “safety is waste”—reportedly cost each tourist about $250,000 in 2023. One of the four paying passengers currently lost aboard is Hamish Harding, a British billionaire. 

Once news broke on Sunday that the submarine was missing, former coverage of the submarine, showing its strange controls and previous failings, started to get attention online. Details like the expedition company’s history of annoyance and reluctance to meet safety requirements, as well as a 2022 CBS segment showing the strange and haphazard way the interior of the craft was cobbled together. 

And also!

People are understandably uncomfortable with the idea of a submarine carrying real people using such a non-special piece of videogame equipment at its helm, and they have been airing their grievances and making fun online. Again, understandably. But actually, the U.S. military does it too. Back in 2018, USA Today reported on a Navy attack submarine being fitted with an Xbox controller. The Army has also been known to use Xbox-style controllers to control bomb-removal robots. 

At a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon, a Coast Guard rep said the Titan is believed to have “about 40 hours of breathable air left.” So far, the Guard has searched around 7600 square miles of ocean, turning up no clues.

(featured image: MTStock Studio/Getty Images)