It took 73 years to find the wreckage of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Decades later, Ballard revealed that the dive was actually a secret Cold War Navy mission.
But the dive initially had nothing to do with the Titanic at all — it was a secret mission to find the wrecks of two nuclear submarines, the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher.
Of course, nobody knew that until 2008, when Ballard revealed the true nature of the mission to National Geographic.
So, 23 years later, Ballard revealed the truth about his mission.
Persons:
Robert Ballard, Ballard, Jean, Louis Michel, Bettmann, Ronald Thunman, Xavier Desmier
Organizations:
Navy, Service, Titanic, USS, Geographic, National Geographic, US Navy, Soviet Union
Locations:
Wall, Silicon, French, Soviet