USS Indianapolis

Many only learned of the USS Indianapolis from Captain Quint's speech in the movie Jaws. Here's what really happened after the Indianapolis delivered the bomb at Tinian.

"...the Indianapolis, an older vessel, lacked sonar gear for submarine detection and was top heavy. Japanese submarine I-38 discovered the heavy cruiser in the Philippines Sea a little before Midnight on Sunday, July 29...

The torpedoes and following explosions of ammunition and aviation fuel ripped away the cruiser's bow and destroyed the power center. without power the radio officer was unable to send a distress signal - he went through the motions anyway - or the bridge to communicate with the engine room, The engines pushed the ship forward unchecked, scooping up water through the holes in the hull and leaving behind the sailors thrown overboard who had been sleeping on deck in the tropical heat. The order to abandon ship, when it came, had to be passed word of mouth."

About 850 sailors went into the sea facing 12 foot waves:

"Most had kapok lifejackets. Few could find their way to the life rafts. They floated instead in clusters, linked together, stronger men swimming the circumferences to catch sleepers before they drifted away, one group numbered between three and four hundred souls. They pushed the wounded to the center where the water was calmer and prayed the distress call had gone out.

The captain had found two empty life rafts and later that night encountered one more unoccupied. He ordered the rafts lashed together. They sheltered ten men and he thought them the only survivors. Through the night a current carried the swimmers southwest while winds blew the rafts northeast: by the light of morning rafts and swimmers had separated beyond discovery."

What happened next to those in the water was beyond terrorizing and I'll omit because words can't do it justice.

"Thursday morning, August 2, a Navy plane spotted the survivors. Because of negligence at Leyte the Indianapolis had not even been missed. A major rescue effort began, ships streaming to the area. PBY's and PBM's dropping food, water, and survival gear. The rescuers found 318 naked and emaciated men."

From The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes