The story of the USS Indianapolis is one of tragedy and survival that remains etched in history as one of the most devastating naval disasters the U.S. Navy has ever faced.
After completing its secret mission of delivering components for the atomic bomb to the island of Tinian, the ship embarked on a fateful journey toward the Philippines.
But just days later, on July 30, 1945, a Japanese submarine struck with devastating precision, leading to the Indianapolis sinking in just 12 minutes.
A Deadly Night: The USS Indianapolis Sinks in the Pacific Ocean
As the USS Indianapolis was making its way toward the Philippines, it was struck by two torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine.
The first blast tore through the starboard bow, causing an explosion of aviation fuel that ignited a massive fire.
Moments later, a second torpedo struck midship, sparking a catastrophic chain reaction that sent the ship plummeting into the ocean.
The devastation was swift, and in a matter of minutes, nearly 900 men were stranded in the vast, open water.
A Desperate Fight for Survival in the Open Ocean
With the ship now at the bottom of the Pacific, the survivors faced their worst nightmare.
The men were scattered across the water, clinging to whatever wreckage they could find.
Many hadn’t had time to grab lifejackets, and few life rafts were available.
As daylight broke, the survivors began to notice shadows beneath them, signaling the imminent danger they were about to face.
In a horrifying twist, sharks, attracted by the smell of blood and the chaos that followed the explosion, began circling the survivors, turning their struggle for survival into a battle against the ocean’s most fearsome predators.
The Feeding Frenzy: Sharks Turn Their Attention to the Survivors
The survivors of the Indianapolis were subjected to a relentless barrage from sharks, primarily oceanic whitetip sharks, and possibly tiger sharks.
Initially, the predators focused on the floating dead, but it wasn’t long before they turned their attention to the living.
“Every now and then, like lightning, a shark would come straight up and take a sailor and take him straight down,” said survivor Loel Dean Cox.
The men were trapped, unable to escape the sharks’ insatiable hunger.
Even the smallest movements in the water would trigger the sharks’ predatory instincts, and the survivors realized too late that they were being hunted.
Hunger, Thirst, and Madness: The Struggles of the Survivors
As the days dragged on, the men faced more than just sharks.
The brutal sun caused dehydration, while exhaustion took its toll.
Many began hallucinating and drank seawater, which only worsened their condition.
Some even began to attack their comrades in their delirium, convinced that drinking seawater was their only option.
As the survivors fought for their lives, they also fought against the overwhelming despair that came with their isolation.
Sharks Attack in Waves: A Nightmare of Fear and Death
The survivors quickly learned that isolation meant death. Those who drifted alone were picked off first, their screams heard in the silence before they were dragged under the water.
Survivors clung to one another, hoping that sticking together would offer some protection.
But the sharks were relentless. “The sharks were around, hundreds of them,” said one survivor.
“Everything would be quiet, and then someone would scream—and they’d be gone.”
The survivors were trapped in a never-ending cycle of fear, constantly in danger of being pulled under by the deadly creatures circling them.
A Long Wait for Rescue: The Men of the USS Indianapolis Left to Die Alone
Despite intelligence intercepting a Japanese message detailing the sinking, U.S. officials dismissed it as a ruse.
No immediate rescue mission was launched, and the men of the Indianapolis were left to die alone in the Pacific.
It wasn’t until four days later, on August 2, 1945, that a Navy plane, flying by chance, spotted the survivors.
A rescue operation was launched, but by then, most of the men had perished from the combination of shark attacks, dehydration, exhaustion, and madness.
Of the 1,196 men aboard the USS Indianapolis, only 316 survived.
The Legacy of the USS Indianapolis: A Tragedy That Should Never Have Happened
The rescue of the survivors marked the end of one of the most harrowing chapters in U.S. Navy history, but the tragedy did not end there.
The captain of the Indianapolis, Charles B. McVay III, was court-martialed for the disaster, despite evidence that the attack could not have been prevented. Haunted by guilt, McVay took his own life in 1968.
It wasn’t until 2001 that his name was cleared, but by then, the damage had already been done.
The wreckage of the USS Indianapolis remained undiscovered for more than 70 years, until it was found in 2017 by a research team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
The USS Indianapolis Movie: A Cinematic Representation of Tragedy
In 2016, a movie titled USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage was released, based on the tragic events of the sinking.
However, the film received poor reviews in the U.S. for its shoddy production and failure to do justice to the survivors’ stories.
Despite the film’s shortcomings, the story of the Indianapolis remains an enduring reminder of the horrors faced by the men in the water and the profound tragedy that befell them.
A Dark Legacy: The USS Indianapolis Tragedy Lives On
The story of the USS Indianapolis and the shark attacks that followed is a chilling reminder of the brutality of war and the horrors of the deep sea.
While the men of the Indianapolis faced an unimaginable ordeal, their story continues to resonate as a tragedy that should never have occurred—a tale of survival, loss, and the devastating consequences of war.