DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ The wreckage of the Titanic was found nearly 39 years ago during a secret US Navy mission to recover nuclear submarines
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Gabbi Shaw | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

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. The USS Thresher sank in April 1963, and the USS Scorpion followed five years later, in May 1968. They remain the only nuclear submarines the Navy has ever lost, reported the United States Naval Institute. Xavier Desmier/Gamma-Rapho/GettyWith 12 days left in the mission, Ballard found the Titanic using a hunch that the ship had split in two and left a trail of debris. Correction: July 18, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misstated when the USS Scorpion disappeared.

Persons: —, Robert Ballard, Jean, Louis Michel, Ballard, Bettmann, Getty Ballard, Ronald Thunman, Xavier Desmier Organizations: Service, Titanic, Navy, New York Times, Business, USS, Geographic, National Geographic, US Navy, United States Naval Institute, Soviet Union Locations: American, French, Soviet

☆ How the wreckage of the Titanic was found during a secret US Navy mission to recover nuclear submarines
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Gabbi Shaw | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

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

What lies at the bottom of the oceanWhile what’s considered the deep ocean extends from 3,280 feet to 19,685 feet (1,000 meters to 6,000 meters) beneath the surface, deep-sea trenches can plunge to 36,000 feet (11,000 meters), according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Alessandro Mancini/Alamy Stock PhotoWhy mapping the ocean is so challengingFrom a strictly scientific perspective, touristic trips to the ocean floor do little to advance our understanding of the ocean’s mysteries. “We want to go to the highest, the lowest, the longest.”But only a “very small percentage of the deep ocean, and even the middle ocean, has been seen by human eyes — an infinitesimal amount. “However, 150 years of modern oceanography have led to better understanding of many aspects of the ocean such as the life it contains, its chemistry and its role in the Earth system.”Mapping the ocean “helps us to understand how the shape of the seafloor affects ocean currents, and where marine life occurs,” Rogers added. Researchers say the ocean and the life it contains could provide answers to some of medicine’s biggest challenges, such as antibiotic drug resistance.

Persons: ”, Gene Feldman, Jamie Pringle, Pringle, Cornelis Drebbel, Auguste Piccard, Feldman, ” Feldman, Jacques Piccard, Don Walsh, what’s, “, Robert Ballard, Alvin, Ballard, Alessandro Mancini, Alamy, Alex Rogers, ” Rogers Organizations: CNN, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Oceanographic, NASA, OceanGate Expeditions, England’s Keele University, bathyscaphe, Keystone, Hulton, NOAA, Bluegreen, Sea Ventures, of Ocean Exploration, Research, University of Oxford Locations: Cape Cod , Massachusetts, Washington, Dutch, Trieste, bathyscaphe Trieste, Italy, Massachusetts, Japan, United Kingdom

☆ French send deep diving robot to help Titanic sub search
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Louise Dalmasso | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

PARIS, June 21 (Reuters) - A French robot that can dive to 20,000 feet (6,000 metres) underwater is on its way to help find a tourist submersible that vanished as it descended to the Titanic wreck and it could help free the sub if it is trapped, its operator said on Wednesday. "Victor is not capable of lifting the submarine up on its own," said Olivier Lefort, the head of naval operations at Ifremer, the state-run French ocean research institute which operates the robot. But he told Reuters the robot could help hook the 10-tonne submersible called Titan to a ship with the capacity to lift it to the surface. Ifremer was part of the team that located the wreck of the Titanic in 1985 with American underwater archaeologist Robert Ballard. French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, who is reported to be among the five people inside the missing submersible, previously worked at Ifremer and piloted its flagship Nautile submarine that was used to examine the Titanic wreck.

Persons: Victor, Olivier Lefort, Ifremer, Robert Ballard ., Paul, Henri Nargeolet, Lefort, Michel Rose, Edmund Blair Organizations: Reuters, British, U.S . Navy, U.S . Coast Guard, Canadian, Thomson Locations: Ifremer, Robert Ballard . French, U.S

☆ Three historical shipwrecks uncovered in the Mediterranean
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —An international team of scientists discovered three historical shipwrecks during an underwater archaeological expedition last year in the Mediterranean Sea. Scientists conducted their expedition in the Mediterranean last year aboard the Alfred Merlin research vessel. The team used the research vessel’s underwater mapping and imaging equipment to catalog shipwrecks, dating from ancient times to the 20th century, with sonar. Located along a heavily traveled route in the Mediterranean, the Skerki Bank in the Strait of Sicily is one of the most treacherous maritime areas. As you know, the Mediterranean with its very rich history, and its countless shipwrecks and archaeological sites offer a unique and fascinating stage for such expeditions.

Persons: Robert Ballard, Anna Marguerite McCann, Alfred Merlin, Arthur, Keith Reef, Angel Fitor, DRASSM, ”, Barbara Davidde, Lazare Eloundou Assomo Organizations: CNN, UNESCO, Skerki Bank of, Skerki Bank, DRASSM UNESCO, Drassm, UNESCO World Heritage, “ UNESCO Locations: Paris, Algeria, Croatia, Egypt, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, Skerki Bank of Tunisia, Strait, Sicily, Tunisian

☆ The US Navy backed the hunt for Titanic in part because the explorer who found it argued it would 'drive the Soviets crazy,' book reveals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The hunt for the Titanic was cover for a secret Navy mission to investigate two submarine wrecks. It was also part of a psychological warfare game the US was playing with the Soviets, Ballard revealed in a 2021 book. But his most recognizable discovery was the British passenger ship Titanic that sank in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, ending more than 1,500 lives. "I wanted to do a bang-up job for the Navy, but I was also constantly thinking about how to find Titanic," Ballard wrote. "There it was, one of 29 boilers that had created steam for Titanic's engines," Ballard wrote in his book.

Search resuls for: "Robert Ballard"

6 mentions found