The 1991 discovery and subsequent identification of the German submarine U-869, off the coast of New Jersey, has been the subject of several television documentaries including Hitler’s Lost Sub, a two-hour special for the popular Nova series on PBS.
A few years later, at a depth of 400 feet (120 m), he was the first diver to use rebreather diving technology on the wreck of HMHS Britannic, near the island of Kea in Greece.
In 2006, Chatterton re-visited the wreck of Britannic in the History Channel documentary Titanic's Tragic Sister, to try to find out what sank the third Olympic-class ocean liner.
He was also the sole American on a British expedition, sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, seeking the historic shipwreck MV Struma in the Black Sea off Istanbul.
In November 2000, John Chatterton was diagnosed with metastasized squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil, which was thought to be likely a result of his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam.