The famous Titanic sank at a depth of approximately 3,810 meters, but it is still far from the deepest shipwreck ever discovered.
Titanic, the ship that sank in 1912, has gained renewed interest following the disappearance of the Titan submersible carrying five tourists to the Titanic site in the Atlantic Ocean on June 18. In the early hours of June 23 (Hanoi time), the U.S. Coast Guard announced the discovery of debris from the Titan, indicating that the vessel was crushed.
The Titanic sank in waters about 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. According to the website of OceanGate Expeditions, the underwater tours of the wreck have been conducted since 2021, at a cost of $250,000 per person. The wreck lies at a depth of approximately 3,810 meters, more than double the depth of the famous Grand Canyon and five times the height of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
However, this depth is still significantly less than that of the world’s deepest shipwreck – USS Samuel B. Roberts, also known as “Sammy B.” The ship was discovered nearly a year ago, in June 2022, at a depth of 6,895 meters in the Philippine Sea. American explorer Victor Vescovo discovered the ship after decades since the tragedy.
The USS Samuel B. Roberts participated in the final stages of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 when the Japanese Navy and American forces clashed in the Leyte Gulf, Philippines. During this period, the ship was attacked by a warship, leading to its sinking and the loss of 89 lives. Currently, it remains at a depth nearly four times that of the Grand Canyon.
USS Samuel B. Roberts before sinking in the Philippine Sea. (Image: DM Published Images)
The discovery of the USS Samuel B. Roberts last year meant that USS Johnston lost its title as the deepest shipwreck in the world. The USS Johnston, a U.S. Navy destroyer that sank on October 25, 1944, after a battle with Japanese forces during World War II, held this title for only about a year. The wreck was first located in 2019 off the coast of Samar in the Philippine Sea and was officially confirmed in 2021. The ship lies at a depth of 6,456 meters, equivalent to about 15 stacked Empire State Buildings.
In 2019, experts aboard the research vessel Petrel released video footage showing the distorted hull of the USS Johnston on the ocean floor. “We did not find any intact hull structures. The wreck has been completely destroyed, leaving only debris,” the team stated upon discovering the wreck.
Before the USS Johnston, SS Rio Grande held the record for the world’s deepest shipwreck for nearly 30 years. The ship was discovered in 1996, nearly 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Brazil. To this day, pieces of the wreck and its artifacts continue to wash ashore. The SS Rio Grande was a German ship during World War II, attacked by American fighter planes in 1944 and sinking to a depth of approximately 5,762 meters.
SS City of Cairo, sunk 770km south of St Helena Island. (Image: DM Published Images)
Following SS Rio Grande in the list of the deepest shipwrecks in the world is the SS City of Cairo, which sank at a depth of 5,150 meters in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was attacked by a German U-boat with torpedoes in 1942 and sank to the ocean floor. At the time, it was carrying 136 passengers and approximately 100 tons of silver coins, which were salvaged in 2015.
The British government tasked Deep Ocean Search (DOS) with locating artifacts from the ship. Currently, the treasure of silver coins belongs to the British government and is estimated to be worth around £34 million.
“The team quickly realized that operating at such great depths presents serious technical challenges. These challenges are new to us and must be resolved quickly. The combination of pressure, temperature, repeated dives at this depth, and other issues has led to many system failures we have never encountered before while working at depths of 3,000 – 4,000 meters,” a DOS spokesperson shared about the mission.
