Ship used to find Titanic headed to Mexican navy

The ship that oceanographer Robert Ballard used to discover the wreck of the Titanic is headed to the Mexican navy.

The Knorr is now officially retired, and employees of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will gather Tuesday afternoon to bid the vessel a final farewell.

Ballard famously used the ship to pinpoint the Titanic's location in 1985, and it logged more than 1 million miles' worth of explorations over the past four decades.

It was officially decommissioned in 2014.

Woods Hole scientists say the Knorr weathered 70-foot waves, hurricanes and arctic ice. The organization said in a statement that the ship's final exit will be "bittersweet."

The Knorr was named in honor of Ernest R. Knorr, a distinguished Navy hydrographic engineer and cartographer.