CNN Exposes “Titanic” as Cover for Secret US Operation
the English section of webangah News Agency cites Mehr news Agency and RT in reporting that Bob Ballard, the leader of the 1985 expedition that discovered the wreck of the titanic, told CNN that the mission was actually part of a secret U.S. Navy operation.
In an interview with CNN, Ballard recounted his appeal to the U.S. military after his initial attempt in the 1970s to locate the Titanic had failed. He explained that he sought military funding to develop a remote-controlled submarine capable of transmitting live video images to a surface vessel.
According to Ballard, the U.S. Navy ultimately approved funding for his proposed deep-sea imaging system called “Argo.”
He added, “The Titanic exploration served as cover for a highly classified Navy mission I carried out as an intelligence officer.”
Ballard also said his backers-the U.S.Navy and, more broadly, the Department of Defense-were cautious about keeping their activities hidden from Soviet intelligence at the time.
CNN reports that military officials intended to deploy this submersible device first to investigate two lost American nuclear submarines: USS Thresher and USS Scorpion.Later on, it would be used “for broader Cold War intelligence collection purposes.”
The network further notes that Ballard assisted Navy efforts investigating those two submerged submarines and spent time exploring Titanic’s remains under what was essentially a cover story for this classified naval operation.
The Titanic,once one of the largest passenger ocean liners globally,sank on April 15,1912-after striking an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton in England to New York City-in waters off Newfoundland in Canada. Of approximately 2,224 passengers and crew aboard,over 1,500 perished in one of modern history’s deadliest maritime disasters. Thanks largely to James Cameron’s film “Titanic,” this tragedy is now familiar worldwide.
