National Geographic - Titanic: Ballard's Secret Mission (2008)

Another excellent documentary features Bob Ballard as he talks about the two secret missions he did before being able to do his search for Titanic. Most of this information was highly classified at the time so not many people knew about everything that went on. It was the middle of the Cold War and the U.S. Navy was originally against Ballard's search for the Titanic but he eventually sold them on the idea. First, the Navy wanted him to use his equipment to look for two submarines, the Thrasher and Scorpion, both of which were sunk at sea and the government wanted to know what happened. Ballard talks about these two missions and the difficulties in locating both. He also talks about the debris fields that he found on both and how these helped him when it came time to search for the Titanic. This is a really terrific documentary that history buffs should enjoy for a couple reasons. One is that Ballard is such a great storyteller that you can't help but be drawn into the topic as he discusses what all went into the searches. We also get some terrific back stories on the two subs as well as different theories as to what happened to them. We're also treated to some wonderful footage of the original search and it ends with the Titanic discovery, which most people will already know about.