The world’s most famous shipwreck, the Titanic, which sank on April 15, 1912, taking more than 1,500 passengers to the bottom, is revealed through a three-dimensional (3D) video created with the technique of deep-sea mapping.

It is the first full-size digital scan of the Titanic, which lies 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) deep in the Atlantic and is expected to shed new light on exactly what happened to the liner.

“There are still questions, fundamental questions, that need to be answered about the ship,” Titanic analyst Parks Stevenson told BBC News.

He added that the model is “one of the first important steps for the Titanic investigation to move towards evidence-based research rather than speculation-based research”.

The Titanic has been extensively explored since the wreck was discovered in 1985. But such is the size of the wreck and so deep is the darkness in the depths where it lies that until now cameras have captured only a few aspects of the wreck, but never the whole of it.

The new 3D scan captures the wreck in its entirety, revealing a full view of the Titanic. It is in two parts, with the bow and stern separated by about 800 meters (2,600 ft). A huge debris field surrounds the wrecked craft.

The scan was carried out in the summer of 2022 by Magellan Ltd, a deep-sea mapping company, and Atlantic Productions, who are making a documentary about the Titanic.

The submarines, which are controlled remotely by a team aboard a special ship, spent more than 200 hours searching the length and breadth of the wreck.

They took more than 700,000 images from every angle, creating an accurate 3D reconstruction.

Parks Stevenson, who has studied the Titanic for many years, was “amazed” when he first saw the 3D scan.

“It allows you to see the wreck like you never can from a submarine, and you can see the wreck as a whole, you can see it in context and perspective. And what it’s showing you now is the true state of the wreck,” Stevenson said.