During the night of April 14 to 15, 1912, the Titanic found its end in the north Atlantic waters. The “unusual” colossus He crashed into an iceberg and sank in less than three hourstaking more than 1,500 lives. What began as an inaugural trip full of promises ended up becoming a tragedy that no one would forget.
His remains remained in an unknown whereabouts for more than 70 years, until the morning of the September 1, 1985 were discovered. A group of Researchers aboard the Knorr ship I observed black and white granulated images that came from the Atlantic depths.
What seemed like a simple metal cylinder became the most anticipated finding: Titanic remains,luxury and modernity symbol. What the world did not know then that this iconic search hid a ultra -stretch military mission in full cold war.
The team’s chef was the one who ran to notify the chief scientist, Robert Ballardthat was in his cabin. “The phrase did not even end. I jumped. I literally put on the flight suit above the pajamas, that I did not take off until several days later“, The expert, currently Sénir Emeritus scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute of Massachusetts.
Upon arriving at the control room, there were no doubts: “We had a photo of the boiler on the wall, and we looked at it. We realized that it was definitely from Titanic, and a fuss was armed“The finding was historical, because it resolved what for decades had obsessed with the researchers and society, but behind there was an even more intriguing story.
A dual purpose search
The expedition was not, in reality, a selfless exploration trip. Ballard had been looking for a financing for years to develop a vehicle of deep water images to which ‘Argo’ baptized. The United States Navy agreed to support it, but with one condition: first He had to inspect the remains of two sunk nuclear submarines in the sixties, the USS Thresher and the USS Scorpion.
“What people did not know at that time, at least much, was that Titanic’s search was a cover for an ultrasecreta military operation that I performed as a naval intelligence officer“Ballard confessed decades later.” We didn’t want the Soviets to know where the submarine was, “he adds. The operation remained secret for years.
Even with Argo’s technology, Ballard was not optimistic. The assigned time was short and a French team, with an advanced sonar, sought in parallel. According to the agreement, the French would find the wreck and Ballard would document it later. But it didn’t happen that way.
The key was a intuition that Ballard obtained by mapping the rubble field of the scorpion submarine. There he discovered that the remains extended over more than a kilometer and a half, dragged by the currents. He then understood that Titanic should have left an even greater footprint.
“It was the technology and the knowledge of how to use it”he explains Dana YoergerSenior scientific in Woods Hole Marina Robotics and team member, who clarifies that “What led to our success was Ballard’s strategy “. “I didn’t seek to find the ship, but the field of rubble, which is a much larger and particularly easy to find with the naked eye,” he develops.
