Nuclear Subs, a Top Secret Mission, and the Discovery of the Titanic

In ‘This Week in History,’ the Navy sends a scientist and his team to investigate two sunken subs—what they discover will change oceanography forever.

The bow of the Titanic is seen during a dive at the resting place of the ship's wreck, in July 1986. WHOI Archives/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/Handout via Reuters

“Are you in control?”

It was 9:14 a.m. on April 10, 1963. Lt. Cmdr. Stanley W. Hecker, commander of the USS Skylark, awaited a response from the nuclear submarine, USS Thresher. The Skylark, a submarine rescue ship, was accompanying the submarine during a test run. The submarine had recently undergone an overhaul, and it was protocol for a rescue vessel to follow a submarine while it tested its capabilities. About 90 minutes before, Lt. Cmdr. John Wesley Harvey relayed to Hecker that he was taking Thresher to “test depth”—approximately 1,300 feet.