6. The Navy agreed to let Ballard search for Titanic if there was time left after he completed his missions at the submarine wreck sites
Ballard lobbied the Navy to allow him to search for Titanic, the suspected site being in between that of Scorpion, southwest of the Azores, and Thresher, east of Cape Cod. The Navy balked, stressing that the mission’s primary reason for being was surveying the sites of the lost submarines. When it was pointed out that a search for RMS Titanic would provide a solid cover for the true intent of the mission, the Navy reconsidered. It was finally agreed that Ballard could use any remaining time in the scheduled mission to search for the Titanic only after all the mission requirements of the Navy had been met.
For the first phase of the mission, conducted in the summer of 1984, Ballard was to map the wrecks of USS Scorpion and USS Thresher towing Argo over the wreck using the research vessel RV Knorr. A close-up camera vehicle was tethered to Argo and named Jason. His mission was to establish that the reactors were intact, that nuclear weapons were still present, and, if possible, obtain additional information regarding what kind of catastrophic event occurred which triggered the chain of events which caused the submarine to be lost. The following year he was to return to Scorpion, after which he would be free to search for Titanic if there was any time remaining.
