Final answer:
Finding the Titanic wreckage was difficult due to the vast search area, the depth of the ocean, and technological challenges in deep-sea exploration. It took 73 years and advanced equipment like sonar and remotely operated vehicles to finally locate the wreckage, which was also scattered over a large debris field.
Step-by-step explanation:
The main challenge of finding the Titanic wreckage was the immense size of the search area combined with the depth and darkness of the North Atlantic Ocean. The Titanic sank in 1912, but it wasn't until 1985 that the wreckage was finally located by a joint American-French expedition led by oceanographer Robert Ballard. The team had to deal with the technological limitations of deep-sea exploration. They used sophisticated sonar and remotely operated vehicles to painstakingly scan the ocean floor, which is over 12,000 feet deep in some places.
Even after locating the general area where the Titanic sank, they had to sift through a vast undersea mountainous terrain, which further complicated the search. Furthermore, the wreckage was scattered over a large debris field due to the violent nature of the sinking, adding to the difficulty of pinpointing the exact location of the main parts of the ship.