Early in the morning of April 15, 1912, the world's largest ocean liner slipped beneath the icy waves of the North Atlantic, carrying 1,500 people to their graves. For decades, the shipwreck remained hidden - but how did they find the Titanic? Treasure hunters searched for the ocean liner for years, hoping to find valuable items that sank with the Titanic. But in 1985, oceanographer Robert Ballard successfully found the Titanic on a scientific mission. Or, at least, that's what he told the press. The mission was "strictly scientific," one scientist told The New York Times in 1985. In fact, the search for the Titanic was actually a cover story for a secret Cold War mission.