Lost For 70+ Years, How US Navy’s Top-Secret Mission To Find Its Two Missing Submarines Led To Titanic

American oceanographer and marine geologist Robert Ballard successfully discovered the sunken R.M.S. Titanic approximately 39 years ago, marking a significant achievement in maritime exploration.

This discovery, which followed numerous unsuccessful attempts to locate the ship that sank in 1912, was, in fact, a “cover story” for a covert operation conducted by the United States Navy.

The Titanic descended into the ocean’s depths after an extraordinary collision with an iceberg. This tragic event captivated and astonished the global community, inspiring various artistic expressions, including the renowned film ‘Titanic,’ featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

For nearly 70 years following the sinking of the Titanic, which resulted in the loss of 1,500 lives, marine researchers and deep-sea divers faced significant challenges in locating the gigantic shipwreck. These difficulties were primarily attributed to erroneous information and the technological constraints of diving equipment available during that period.

However, those circumstances changed when Robert Ballard stepped onto the scene in 1982 and embarked on a mission to trace the shipwreck using an autonomous underwater vehicle.

A distinguished oceanographer celebrated for his acclaimed deep-sea explorations and findings, Ballard lacked the financial resources to support his most ambitious endeavor.

Consequently, he sought assistance from the one organization capable of providing it: the US Navy. He requested funding from the Navy for his submersible technology, which would subsequently be employed in the search for the Titanic.

The Navy consented to finance Robert Ballard’s initiative. However, in his pursuit of locating the submerged Titanic, Ballard became involved in a classified US Navy endeavor.

As a US Naval Reserve Commanding Officer, Ballard was told he would have to use the funds to also search for and photograph two missing US Navy submarines: the USS Thresher and the USS Scorpion.

Since the mission to locate these submarines was purportedly a secret one, the Titanic discovery expedition was supposed to be an “eyewash.”

The actual mission was revealed several years later when the service declassified documents and Robert Ballard spoke to National Geographic in 2008. At that time, Ballard said, “The Navy never expected me to find the Titanic, and so when that happened, they got really nervous because of the publicity. But people were so focused on the legend of the Titanic they never connected the dots.”

The two nuclear-powered submarines were of interest to the US Navy.

Among these vessels, the USS Thresher sank in 1963 while conducting deep-diving tests a few kilometers away from Cape Cod in the North Atlantic. The submarine was the fastest in the US inventory and was designed to locate and destroy Soviet submarines.

The other missing submarine that the US Navy wanted to find in 1985 was the USS Scorpion, the only second American nuclear submarine to have been lost at sea in 1968. This submarine also sank somewhere in the North Atlantic.

So, while the US Navy did not know exactly where the submarines and their crucial components were under the seabed, it knew that they were located in the North Atlantic. And so was the Titanic, much to Robert Ballard’s advantage.

Ballard was tasked by the Navy to take pictures of the wrecks. Given that the Cold War was still in progress, the United States Navy sought to determine if the former Soviet Union had any involvement in the sinking of the USS Scorpion. Additionally, there was a keen interest in assessing the condition of the nuclear reactors aboard the submarines.

The Discovery Of The Titanic 

The location of the nuclear reactors had never been determined, despite the Navy having previously determined their location.

While the mission was a strategically important one for the US Navy, the secrecy of the mission to locate the submarines was paramount since the service did not want Russian satellites to follow the mission and locate the submarine instead. So, Ballard told the Navy officials, “Let’s tell the world I am going after the Titanic.”

And so, it began. The rules of this expedition did not entirely favor Robert Ballard, and the Navy said that the researcher could look for the Titanic if he finished the operation to locate and photograph the US Navy submarines ahead of schedule.

In a media interaction later, Ballard said that the Navy officials likely didn’t anticipate that he would be able to finish just in time to look for the Titanic in earnest. A 30-year-old Naval intelligence officer, Ballard was not letting go of the opportunity to find the Titanic. He told the St. Petersburg Times later that he had promised the Navy he would “take whatever I can get.”

Ballard was finally able to locate the submarines. Photographs were taken, and an examination ensued.

After locating the submarines, Robbert Ballard had to undertake another journey: the one of utmost importance to him. He stated that after finding the two submarines, the researchers had to restrict their search area to 100 square miles as they were left with funds for just twelve days.

The endeavor to locate the sunken US submarine, USS Scorpion, provided Ballard with significant insights. He learned that denser and heavier objects descend more rapidly in currents, leaving behind a trail of debris. Ballard understood that by identifying the debris field of the Titanic, he could successfully locate the ship. Consequently, it took the brilliant explorer merely eight days to find the Titanic.

Ballard discovered the Titanic by following a theory that the ship had broken in two and left a trail of debris. He later told National Geographic that this wild hunch turned out to be true and “saved our butts.”

The Titanic’s boiler was detected just after one in the morning on September 1, 1985, under more than 12,400 feet of water. Ballard retains a vivid memory of his initial sighting of the Titanic, a detail he later recounted in official statements. After numerous unsuccessful searches spanning 73 years, the most renowned ship in history, the Titanic, had finally been located.

The Titanic was split in two, but its bow was upright. The remains of an elaborate stairway could be seen where one skylight was missing. There was furniture, china plates, and an unopened champagne bottle all across the ocean floor. Even the chandeliers were still somehow hanging.

Ballard described the image as a haunting mansion, mostly intact save for many leather shoes that remained as the only reminders of the dead. In his book, “Discovery of the Titanic, he wrote: “It was one thing to have won — to have found the ship. It was another thing to be there. That was the spooky part.”

As for the submarines, they were found by the US Navy, but there was no USSR link to the downing of the USS Scorpion, as previously suspected.

Ronald Thunman, who was the deputy chief of naval operations for submarine warfare during the mission, later told National Geographic, “We saw no indication of some sort of external weapon that caused the ship to go down.”

For nearly three decades, Ballard maintained a highly confidential association with the sunken nuclear submarines. The related documents concerning this operation were ultimately declassified. The National Geographic Museum in Washington is hosting an exhibition that explores the authentic story of these events, which will continue until the end of the year.

Every year, September 1 commemorates the discovery of the Titanic and highlights Robert Ballard’s brilliance and commitment to the mission of the US Navy, which may have significantly altered the course of his life.

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