A catastrophic engineering flaw doomed the experimental Titan submersible before it even reached the Titanic's depths, killing all five aboard in an instant implosion last June, federal investigators concluded in a long-awaited final report.

The National Transportation Safety Board laid bare the findings Wednesday, pinning the June 18, 2023, disaster on a carbon fiber pressure hull riddled with anomalies that never met basic strength and durability standards.

OceanGate Expeditions, the Washington-based operator, skipped rigorous testing and misjudged the vessel's limits, the report stated, turning a high-stakes dive into a tragedy that claimed CEO Stockton Rush, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British adventurer Hamish Harding, and Pakistani businessmen Shahzada and Suleman Dawood.

The 100-plus page document, drawn from wreckage analysis and simulations, echoed an August U.S. Coast Guard review that slammed OceanGate's "critically flawed" safety protocols—gaps between rules and reality that left crews exposed. Families of the lost, still raw from the ordeal, have filed suits alleging negligence, while industry watchers nod to a boom in private deep-sea ventures demanding tighter reins.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stressed prevention: Had OceanGate heeded emergency guidelines, rescuers might have pinpointed the debris field faster, saving "time and resources" in a hopeless hunt. The board urged the Coast Guard to convene experts for a submersible safety overhaul, craft binding rules and share lessons with a sector eyeing uncharted frontiers.

OceanGate halted dives in July 2023 and shuttered amid fallout, offering no comment Wednesday but past condolences to grieving kin. As lawsuits grind on and regulators mull reforms, the Titan's end serves as stark warning: Innovation can't outpace scrutiny in the ocean's crush.