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

USS Indianapolis

On this day in 1945 a Japanese sub fired on and sank the USS Indianapolis. The sinking of the Indianapolis set up Captain Quint's mesmerizing soliloquy in the movie Jaws:

Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn't know, was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named "The Battle of Waterloo" and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us... he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened... waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

I get chills just reading that. I can't imagine what the real survivors of the Indianapolis must have gone through.