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In the 1980s oceanographer and Naval Reserve commanding officer Robert Ballard found the resting place of the Titanic. It turns out that as part of the deal to get funding for the search from the US Navy, he was to first find the two missing nuclear submarines, the Thresher and the Scorpion, both of which sank in the 1960s. After finding both submarines, he located the remains of the Titanic in only 8 days by finding and following its debris trail, leaving the last 4 days of the mission to examine the wreck.
It starts in 1982, when Ballard, who had performed a number of top-secret Naval missions during the Cold War, was developing his own remotely-operated underwater vehicle.
Unable to get science grants, he asked Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Ronald Thunman if the Navy would help fund his project. "He said, 'All my life I've wanted to go find the Titanic.' And I was taken aback by that," Thunman recalled. "I said, 'Come on, this is a serious, top secret operation. Find the Titanic? That's crazy!'"
Thunman did say yes, but only if Ballard used the funds and the time to find two missing U.S. nuclear submarines – the Thresher and the Scorpion – which had sunk in the Atlantic in the 1960s.
Earlier on SN:
Titanic Engineering Facts (2015)
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday December 16 2018, @06:25AM (2 children)
I worked in the industry, but I did not have security clearance and don't know the stories. So I'm guessing what this article implies is that he had map data which gave him a place to look. What I'm trying to say is, that this was a problem that was solved with intelligence data rather than proper oceanographic exploration.
On the surface (heh) they try to make it sound like that they had awesome underwater technology to discover the remains later, but based on what I know about the operating depth of subs and modern SONAR technology, to have discovered that all back then based on the official story smells fishy. Somebody knew.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Sunday December 16 2018, @01:02PM
I just flipped through the Wikipedia articles, and the Navy had already found the wrecks during the 60s soon after the boats sank. I suspect the navy's requirements for Ballard are due to the depth of the wreckages: Thresher at 2,560 meters and Scorpion at 3,000 meters. For perspective the Titanic is at 3,700 meters.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 16 2018, @04:13PM
Quit being so stupid. You're actually depressing the collective IQ of the world.