Titanic was found largely thanks to a secret Cold War navy mission

Four4Four Science: 'Titanic iceberg' photo; doctors' hologram house calls, canine DNA, insect naming rights It was famously described as unsinkable, but in April 1912 the mighty Titanic struck an iceberg and disappeared beneath the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. It was many decades until it would be discovered in 1985, and even longer before we knew the true story behind what led to its discovery. Filmmaker James Cameron's epic Titanic blockbuster was released 20 years ago this year, but at the time it was scarcely known that RMS Titanic's discovery was largely the result of a secret Cold War military expedition. Details of the story had trickled out, but it wasn't until the past decade that the United States navy became comfortable to reveal the finer details of the search, according to Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who discovered RMS Titanic. He met with the navy in 1982 to request funding to develop the robotic submersible technology he needed to find the sunken vessel, National Geographic reported.