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The Indianapolis has been found

MaggieD said:
Was that the shark ship?
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Yup. That's the one. The one that delivered the Little Boy A-bomb to Tinian, the B-29 base / island.

USS Indianapolis (CL/CA-35) was a Portland-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. She was named for the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. She was the flagship of Admiral Raymond Spruance while he commanded the Fifth Fleet in battles across the Central Pacific.
Her sinking led to the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy. On 30 July 1945, after a high-speed trip to deliver parts for Little Boy, the first atomic bomb used in combat, to the United States air base at Tinian, the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 while on her way to the Philippines, sinking in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 900 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks while floating with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. The Navy learned of the sinking when survivors were spotted four days later by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. Only 317 survived.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)
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Damn, that is like a mile deeper than the Titanic.
 
Any links to an article about it being found?
 
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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.
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[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial]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. [/FONT]
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Delayed Rescue[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial]Shortly after 11:00 A.M. of the fourth day, the survivors were accidentally discovered by LT. (jg) Wilbur C. Gwinn, piloting his PV-1 Ventura Bomber on routine antisubmarine patrol. Radioing his base at Peleiu, he alerted, "many men in the water". A PBY (seaplane) under the command of LT. R. Adrian Marks was dispatched to lend assistance and report. Enroute to the scene, Marks overflew the destroyer USS Cecil Doyle (DD-368), and alerted her captain, of the emergency. The captain of the Doyle, on his own authority, decided to divert to the scene. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial]Arriving hours ahead of the Doyle, Marks' crew began dropping rubber rafts and supplies. While so engaged, they observed men being attacked by sharks. Disregarding standing orders not to land at sea, Marks landed and began taxiing to pick up the stragglers and lone swimmers who were at greatest risk of shark attack. Learning the men were the crew of the Indianapolis, he radioed the news, requesting immediate assistance. The Doyle responded she was enroute. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial]As complete darkness fell, Marks waited for help to arrive, all the while continuing to seek out and pull nearly dead men from the water. When the plane's fuselage was full, survivors were tied to the wing with parachute cord. Marks and his crew rescued 56 men that day. The Cecil Doyle was the first vessel on the scene. Homing on Marks' PBY in total darkness, the Doyle halted to avoid killing or further injuring survivors, and began taking Marks' survivors aboard. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial]Disregarding the safety of his own vessel, the Doyle's captain pointed his largest searchlight into the night sky to serve as a beacon for other rescue vessels. This beacon was the first indication to most survivors, that their prayers had been answered. Help had at last arrived. Of the 900 who made it into the water, only 317 remained alive. After almost five days of constant shark attacks, starvation, terrible thirst, suffering from exposure and their wounds, the men of the Indianapolis were at last rescued from the sea.
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Thought I'd post up.[/FONT]
 




Thank Stephen Spielberg and Robert Shaw for bringing the USS Indianapolis story to the forefront!
 
katzgar said:
Look at the Google News
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Bah being lazy didnt feel like opening another tab to google it. Maybe later.
Though I am glad that they found this historically significant vessel
 
MaggieD said:
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Thought I'd post up.[/FONT]
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Wow. That story's true?
317 out of 1,196. 5 days. Damn. Just, damn.
 
Grand Mal said:
Wow. That story's true?
317 out of 1,196. 5 days. Damn. Just, damn.
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A bit more...
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 only 316 men were still alive when rescued, almost five days later
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Quag said:
Bah being lazy didnt feel like opening another tab to google it. Maybe later.
Though I am glad that they found this historically significant vessel
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My father served as a radioman on the Indie. He was transferred off prior to that mission although his next ship was also torpedoed but took several days to sink. My whole life he loved to fish, but would never enter any body of water. Mom said he couldn't swim. And when I joined the Navy and went into submarines, he was not happy about it. I didn't understand, but I never knew the details of his Navy past until after his death.
I have my own story of a dead boat and a shark, but that's for another thread.
 
trblmkr said:
My father served as a radioman on the Indie. He was transferred off prior to that mission although his next ship was also torpedoed but took several days to sink. My whole life he loved to fish, but would never enter any body of water. Mom said he couldn't swim. And when I joined the Navy and went into submarines, he was not happy about it. I didn't understand, but I never knew the details of his Navy past until after his death.
I have my own story of a dead boat and a shark, but that's for another thread.
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I would love to see her raised and become a memorial but maybe that would be disrespectful and likely she is just too damn deep
 
Quag said:
Bah being lazy didnt feel like opening another tab to google it. Maybe later.
Though I am glad that they found this historically significant vessel
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What? So that some can tear this one down as well? :roll:
 
katzgar said:
I would love to see her raised and become a memorial but maybe that would be disrespectful and likely she is just too damn deep
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But then it would become a monument to war. Cant' have that, now can we? It'd be against all the SJW / Excessive PC nonsense. So verboten!
 
trblmkr said:
My father served as a radioman on the Indie. He was transferred off prior to that mission although his next ship was also torpedoed but took several days to sink. My whole life he loved to fish, but would never enter any body of water. Mom said he couldn't swim. And when I joined the Navy and went into submarines, he was not happy about it. I didn't understand, but I never knew the details of his Navy past until after his death.
I have my own story of a dead boat and a shark, but that's for another thread.
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I thank you for your service.
 
trblmkr said:
Thank you, but please don't thank me. My reasons at the time of the decision were less than honorable.
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To me, it matters not. You served. That's that matters.

I registered, but was not called. Had I been called, I would have served.
 
trblmkr said:
My father served as a radioman on the Indie. He was transferred off prior to that mission although his next ship was also torpedoed but took several days to sink. My whole life he loved to fish, but would never enter any body of water. Mom said he couldn't swim. And when I joined the Navy and went into submarines, he was not happy about it. I didn't understand, but I never knew the details of his Navy past until after his death.
I have my own story of a dead boat and a shark, but that's for another thread.
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Glad for you that he was transferred in time. I can understand his hesitation about going onto subs. Personally I dont think I could do subs. I'm not claustrophobic per say but drowning is one of the last ways I'd ever want to die and since if things go wrong on a sub that tends to be your fate......
 
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