The discovery of the "Titanic" was a cover for a secret operation by the U.S. Navy

American researcher Robert Ballard, the leader of the team that searched for the wreck of the Titanic in 1985, revealed that the famous mission was actually a cover for a secret operation carried out by the U.S. Navy to examine its two nuclear submarines, Thresher and Scorpion, which sank in the 1960s.

Ballard stated in an interview with CNN: "Not many people knew that the search for the Titanic was part of a highly classified military operation, conducted as a naval intelligence officer."


He explained that the primary goal was to conceal the locations of the two submarines from the Soviet Union and to understand the reasons for their sinking, using the Argo system developed by the Navy to photograph the seabed and transmit data directly to the research vessel.

Ballard added that his suggestion to search for the Titanic was a way to "disguise" the mission, which enabled the team to discover the wreck of the giant British ship that sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg, resulting in the deaths of about 1,500 people.

It is noted that the American submarines Thresher and Scorpion sank in 1963 and 1968, respectively, with more than 100 people on board each, and the reasons for the sinking of Scorpion remain undetermined to this day.