Robert Ballard became famous as the explorer who found the wreckage of the Titanic. But what most people don’t know about that expedition is that Ballard also secretly worked with the U.S. Navy to learn more about two lost nuclear submarines.[the Thresher and the Scorpion. The only two subs ever lost by the Navy during peacetime.]
Ballard shared that nugget when he came to the Tampa Bay area last week for the Coastal Cities Summit, organized by the University of South Florida and other institutions. He spoke with the St. Petersburg Times about the Titanic and his underwater exploration career.
When you wanted to search for the Titanic, did you make an arrangement with the military?
I can only tell you now because they declassified this a few months ago. The Navy was not interested in the Titanic. … I mean, they funded the technology because it had so many military applications. And I was a naval intelligence officer for 30 years, and so I did a lot of missions for the Navy. Many remain classified, my best stuff. Rats …
Yes, the Titanic was a cover for a series of military operations.
First under-reported mention of this found here.
Found by Aric Mackey.
Your complaint is overstated. Its like saying “Teflon is bad because it has a military connection.”
Like it or not, aside from space exploration, the military has forwarded a great number of advances in technology and knowledge. The advantage of a large budget I guess.
We seem to get to know the real story after a few decades go by.
The WMD cover for the Iraq fiasco should be released in 2025 or so. However. I wouldn’t bet on it until at least the next 2 generations of the Bush and Cheney clan are gone.
Quite frankly, I’m glad. What possible reason could the US government have for funding an exploration to find a British ship that sank closest to Canada, that never even entered a US port?
#2…I think even space exploration could be chalked up to military advancement. Apollo was a great front for developing superior missile guidance systems.
So what if the defense department is the driver for cutting edge innovation? Would we be better off if we had no military and just hoped for the best?
This blog and the whole Internet would not exist if it wasn’t for the US military wanting to build a network that could survive nuclear attack. Google for ARPANET if you don’t believe it.
This fact was known years ago. I believe they were looking at the Thresher to see what the condition of the reactor core was. I believe they also looked for another sub also. This story isn’t new.
There’s so much we don’t know and never will…I remember my military intelligence father watching the nightly news like it was slapstick – big laughs for him. Dan Rather was his clown.
I thought this was a blog of current events?
Here’s a link from May of 2008
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,358029,00.html
Has someone had too many truffles?
Wow…. he got to use US Navy equipment to find the Titanic. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. Good for the Navy for being so open minded.
How is this news? It was mentioned as part of the National Geographic special on finding the Titanic. Or does the fact that it finally came to your attention make it news?
About the same time the American people find out the true level of scumbaggery that occurred during 8 years of Bill Clinton.
The US Navy has an academic history to be very, very proud of. As do others, but the US in particular seems to have, at an early stage in it’s history, embraced humanist philosophical attitudes to educating it’s personnel in as broad and encompassing way as possible. I think the French, rather than British influence may have lent to this.
If you think a lost luxury liner being discovered by the military is interesting, check this out!
http://tinyurl.com/64znxw
This news is like a year old. Epic fail.
I wasn’t bamboozled.
# 5 roger dodger said,
…This blog and the whole Internet would not exist if it wasn’t for the US military wanting to build a network that could survive nuclear attack. Google for ARPANET if you don’t believe it.
This is true, but I believe had the military and academic types not originated the Internet, someone eventually would have, as people have a desire for this kind of universal communication system.
Number 10 and 3 let it go.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robert_ballard_on_exploring_the_oceans.html
good talk about oceanic exploration… i didn’t Tiny-ize the URL so you can see what you are clicking… I hope that it’s not too ugly.
the part where he says “we were looking for something and found something else” makes more sense now.
Old news….
I just saw a “History Channel” sort of show (can’t recall the exact source) where Ballard pretty well covered this. Figure a year to make it, if not more….
Very simply, Ballard had the hardware, courtesy of our taxes, and some spare time to look….
Some years ago there was a local flap over Firefighters stopping at McD’s with the “Engine”. It costs a pile to take one out for a ride, but if you’re on the way back from a legitimate “mission” (fire, rescue, etc.), it’s a better use of resources than driving back to the Station and taking some other vehicle…. Took a while for the local nay-sayers to figure that out.
Regards
There were rumors back when the Titanic was found. Why do you think the Russians had these deep sea submersibles also? If you look real hard and put the pieces together all the answers are there.
As for Iraq, I think even Obama is beginning to understand what the real reason behind it is, at least I can only hope he gets it.