The wreck of the Titanic was hit by a research submarine last year, but the crash was kept secret by the U.S. government for five months. The revelation was made as part of a court wrangle between a major U.S. salvage firm, named RMS Titanic Inc., which is seeking to retrieve artifacts from the wreck, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal weather agency that holds responsibility for protecting deep sea wrecks. The salvage firm, the official salvor-in-possession of the wreck since 1994, said the fact that the government kept the crash secret for five months “raises a series of troubling issues” about the agency’s stewardship of the wreck. The $35 million underwater vehicle smashed into the wreck in July when “intense and highly unpredictable currents” caused the pilot to lose control. It is the first accident with the Titanic made public since the ship, which sank in 1912, was rediscovered in 1985.
