July 30, 1945
- Jul 30, 2023
- 2 min read
On this day in history in 1945 the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
A Secret Delivery
The USS Indianapolis was a heavy cruiser of the United States Navy during WWII. She first launched in 1931 but one of her most important missions came in 1945 at the end of the war. She completed a top-secret mission to deliver the atomic bomb, "Little Boy," that was to be dropped on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. The ship departed from San Francisco on July 16 just hours after the successful Trinity test, which was the first detonation of an atomic bomb that was tested in New Mexico. She arrived at Pearl Harbor by the 19th and then proceeded, unaccompanied, to Tinian.
The Indianapolis successfully delivered the bomb to the Tinian Naval Base, on an island that is part of the Northern Mariana Islands on the east side of the Philippine Sea. After dropping its payload the ship departed. She stopped in Guam where some crew were changed out, then began sailing toward Leyte, an island in the Philippines.
Torpedoed in Shark-Infested Waters
Just after midnight on the morning of July 30, 1945 the Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes. One hit her bow and the other the middle of the ship, both on the starboard (right side when facing forward) of the ship. They caused massive damage and within twelve minutes the ship rolled over and sank. 300 of the nearly 1,200 crewmen went down with the ship. The rest went into the water.
It took 3 1/2 days for Navy command to know of the ship's sinking. They were discovered by a US plane flying overhead who spotted the men adrift. However, in the days before their rescue sharks had infested the waters. They were likely drawn to the scene by the noise of the explosion and the scent of blood in the water. They started with the dead, then began attacking the survivors. Those who didn't die from dehydration or hypernatremia (lack of water) were killed by the sharks. 900 men went into the water, 316 survived.
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