July 30 1945 The USS Indianapolis sunk

[Valin]

USS Indianapolis

 

 

 

The Story

Torpedoed Ship

 

The world's first operational atomic bomb was delivered by the Indianapolis, (CA-35) to the island of Tinian on 26 July 1945. The Indianapolis then reported to CINCPAC (Commander-In-Chief, Pacific) Headquarters at Guam for further orders. She was directed to join the battleship USS Idaho (BB-42) at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines to prepare for the invasion of Japan. The Indianapolis, unescorted, departed Guam on a course of 262 degrees making about 17 knots.

 

At 14 minutes past midnight, on 30 July 1945, midway between Guam and Leyte Gulf, she was hit by two torpedoes out of six fired by the I-58, a Japanese submarine. The first blew away the bow, the second struck near midship on the starboard side adjacent to a fuel tank and a powder magazine. The resulting explosion split the ship to the keel, knocking out all electric power. Within minutes she went down rapidly by the bow, rolling to starboard.

 

Of the 1,196 aboard, about 900 made it into the water in the twelve minutes before she sank. Few life rafts were released. Most survivors wore the standard kapok life jacket. Shark attacks began with sunrise of the first day and continued until the men were physically removed from the water, almost five days later.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

[Draggingtree]

Cost Of War: Veterans Remember USS Indianapolis, Shark Attacks

 

JULY 26, 2015 8:06 AM ET

The USS Indianapolis (CA-35), pictured off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Calif., in July 1945.

U.S. Navy/National Archives via Wikimedia Commons

 

Next week marks the 70th anniversary of one of the worst disasters in U.S. Naval history — and one of the worst shark attacks on record. But it's a story that many people don't know.

 

In the summer of 1945, World War II was almost over, but in the shadows of that moment comes a story of survival that changed lives forever.

 

If you're a movie fan, you may recognize this line from the 1975 blockbuster,Jaws: "Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was coming back from the island of Tinian to Leyte. Just delivered the bomb."

That's Robert Shaw's monologue about a wartime ship sinking and shark attacks. It's a story that World War II veteran Dick Thelen knows all too well.

 

"July 26, we delivered the bomb. And July 30, the ship was sank," Thelen says. http://www.npr.org/2015/07/26/425904134/cost-of-war-veterans-remember-uss-indianapolis-shark-attacks#