The shark attacks of World War II, 1945 The USS Indianapolis was a flag ship during World War II... world history and facts

The shark attacks of World War II, 1945
The USS Indianapolis was a flag ship during World War II... world history and facts




The ship is considered to be one of the most infamous ships of all time, because of what it's crew went through after the ship sank due to being struck by a Japenese torpedo. 

The ship saw extensive use during the war. It saw many battles against the Japanese, and took part in the bombardment of Iwo Jima. It even survived a direct kamikaze hit (suicidal pilot attack). The ship even took part in a top secret mission, which involved delivering parts of the atomic bomb that was used on Hiroshima.

On July 30 1945 at 00:15, the ship was struck by two torpedos by the I-58 Japanese Submarine. 1,200 men were on board. The ship sank in 12 minutes with 300 men dying in that time frame. The rest of the crew clung on to the debris of the ship for the next 4 days in the water. 

They had to resist the heat from the sun, dehydration and hunger. It got so bad that some of the crew began to hallucinate. Some of the men even committed suicide in the water, as they believed that help would never arrive.

The most grim part about the ordeal, was the fact that the men were being eaten by sharks. The sharks were attracted to the wreckage due to the shock waves and blood in the water.  One sailor described the shark attacks as:

"You were constantly in fear because you saw them all the time, but you never knew when they were going to attack you". 

It is estimated that the sharks ate about 150 of the men.

This number of fatalities due to shark attacks was influenced by the crew in the water. Some of the crew had hallucinations due to dehydration and some of these men would turn very aggressive and would try to drown or kill other members in the water, so they were pushed away in hopes that the sharks would eat them to prevent human on human killings.

The men were saved on the 4th day. Only 316 men survived the ordeal. It is considered to be the worst incident in American naval history. 


Photographer: unknown

Source: ATI

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