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How the US Navy Helped Find Titanic and Other Sunken Ships

Larry Holzwarth October 23, 2019 31 min

23. US Navy operations in conjunction with undersea searches benefits both

US Navy submersible technology and operator’s skills are enhanced by co-operation with deep sea exploration and research. US Navy

The classified participation of the US Navy covered by the search for Titanic brought benefits to the science of undersea exploration and to the Navy’s understanding of how two of its submarines were lost. Items were recovered from the site of USS Thresher which confirmed much of what the Navy already suspected regarding the tragedy which cost 129 men their lives. Whether anything was recovered from the wreck of Scorpion remains classified, but the data obtained in the case of both sunken submarines ensured that they are having no adverse effect on the environment, and their nuclear reactors and weapons remain safe.

Both search techniques and capabilities were improved, for both the Navy and the ocean research community. The techniques developed have been used, and will continue to be used and improved, in the search for aircraft lost at sea, both commercial and military. They have helped the Navy locate lost weapons, map the sea bottom, and locate undersea cables and hazards. Deep submergence photography which sends back ghostly images of long-lost ships has other military applications used by the Navy to enhance its capabilities. The search for Titanic was not the first seemingly civilian operation that was actually a secret military exercise, nor will it be the last, as long as there is discernible mutual benefit.

Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

“USS Thresher (SSN 593)” Article, Naval History and Heritage Command. Online

“Why They Called the Scorpion ‘Scrapiron'”. Mark A. Bradley, Proceedings, US Naval Institute. July, 1998

“Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage”. Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew. 1999

“Robert Ballard, American Oceanographer”. Entry, Encyclopedia Brittanica. Online

“Navy Indicates Cause of 1968 Sub Sinking”. UPI, The New York Times. December 17, 1984

“Titanic Was Found During Secret Cold War Navy Mission”. John Roach, National Geographic. November 21, 2017

“Titanic discovery was part of a secret US military mission”. Eric Levenson, CNN. December 14, 2018. Online

“How the US Navy used the Titanic search as a Cold War coverup”. Staff, Irish Central. December 14, 2018. Online

“The Discovery of the Titanic”. Robert D. Ballard. 1987

“Two Fallen Nuclear Submarines and their Top-Secret Link to the Titanic”. Erik Ofgang, Connecticut Magazine. April 17, 2019

“The discovery of the Titanic Wreck was a front for a secret US military mission”. Natasha Frost. QZ.com. December 18, 2018