This Indiana museum holds WWII’s most horrific survival story

USS Indianapolis’s Five-Day Shark-Infested Survival Ordeal

The USS Indianapolis had just done the most vital job of the war. On July 16, 1945, it left San Francisco with parts for the atomic bomb that would end WWII.

Then, just after midnight on July 30, two Japanese torpedoes hit. The ship sank in 12 minutes, with 890 men cast into the open sea.

For five days, they fought sharks, thirst, and the sun while no one knew they were missing. Only 316 men lived to tell the tale.

The USS Indianapolis Gallery at Indiana War Memorial brings this harrowing story to life, complete with the ship’s radio room that went silent that fateful night.

Top-Secret Bomb Parts Left San Francisco on USS Indianapolis

The USS Indianapolis left San Francisco on July 16, 1945, carrying uranium-235 and parts for the Little Boy atomic bomb. Marine guards watched over heavy boxes as they came aboard.

Captain Charles McVay got sealed orders sending him to Tinian Island, 5,000 miles across the Pacific. The ship carried 1,196 crew members on its final trip.

No one on board knew they were moving the most important cargo of World War II.

The Ship Broke Speed Records Delivering Its Deadly Cargo

Indianapolis reached Tinian in just 10 days on July 26, 1945. Crew members unloaded the atomic bomb parts that workers would put together to make Little Boy.

The ship set a record for the fastest trip across the Pacific at that time. The bomb they brought fell on Hiroshima 11 days later on August 6.

After finishing this key mission, Indianapolis got new orders to stop at Guam before heading to Leyte Gulf for training.

Navy Sent Indianapolis Into Danger Without Protection

The ship stopped at Guam on July 28 for supplies and fuel.

Captain McVay asked for a destroyer to go with his ship to Leyte Gulf, but the Navy said none were free. Officials at Guam didn’t tell McVay about Japanese submarines spotted along his route.

Indianapolis left Guam alone on July 28, heading toward Leyte Gulf. The ship had no sonar to spot submarines, leaving it open to underwater attacks.

Japanese Submarine Captain Spotted His Target After Midnight

Japanese submarine I-58, under Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, hunted Allied ships in the Philippine Sea. Just after midnight on July 30, Hashimoto saw Indianapolis against the moonlit sky.

The submarine rose to the surface and fired six torpedoes from 1,500 yards away. Two torpedoes hit the right side of the ship within seconds.

The first blew off the entire front section while the second struck near the powder storage area.

The Massive Warship Vanished In Less Than 15 Minutes

The first blast killed dozens of sailors in their beds and broke all the ship’s radio gear. The second blast almost split the ship in half and cut all power.

Water rushed in so fast the crew couldn’t send any calls for help. Captain McVay told everyone to leave the ship, but many sailors never heard him through the chaos.

Indianapolis sank front-first at 12:30 AM, just 12 minutes after being hit, pulling about 300 men down with it.

Hundreds Of Sailors Floated With Almost No Supplies

The rest of the crew spread across miles of ocean in the dark. Only a few life rafts worked right, forcing most men to float with just life jackets in open water.

Survivors had almost no food or fresh water, with some rafts holding only a couple cans of Spam and some crackers. Men grouped together, many holding onto floating wreckage.

No one on shore knew Indianapolis was missing because the ship sank before sending any emergency messages.

Sailors Fought Hallucinations And Severe Dehydration

Survivors dealt with awful thirst under the hot sun with no shade. Salt water caused painful burns and sores on their skin.

Men started seeing things that weren’t there from lack of water, with some swimming away thinking they spotted the ship or land. Sharks began circling the groups, drawn by blood from hurt sailors.

Some men drank sea water even after warnings not to, which made them more thirsty and confused.

Shark Attacks Became More Frequent As Days Passed

Oceanic whitetip sharks attacked swimmers who drifted away from the main groups. Survivors later told stories of sharks being most mean during the night hours.

When sailors died from injuries or exposure, sharks sometimes attacked their bodies before they floated away.

Staying in tight groups became key to survival since sharks seemed less likely to come near larger clusters of men. By the fourth day, hundreds had died from thirst, exposure, injuries, and shark attacks.

A Pilot On Routine Patrol Made A Lucky Discovery

Navy pilot Chuck Gwinn spotted an oil slick during a regular patrol flight on August 2. Gwinn flew lower to check it out and saw men waving at his plane from the water.

He quickly radioed what he found and dropped life rafts and supplies to the survivors. Lieutenant Adrian Marks got orders to fly his PBY Catalina seaplane to the area.

News that the heavy cruiser was missing shocked Navy leaders since they never got any distress call.

A Brave Pilot Landed His Plane On Rough Seas To Save Lives

Marks arrived at the scene and saw men being attacked by sharks and dying in the water. He decided to land his PBY Catalina in 12-foot waves, breaking direct orders against landing on open ocean.

His crew pulled 56 men aboard and tied others to the wings when the cabin got full. Destroyer USS Cecil J. Doyle showed up after dark and used its searchlight to guide other ships, risking submarine attack. Six more ships joined the rescue through the night.

By the morning of August 4, rescue ships found only 316 survivors from the 890 men who went into the water.

A Sixth-Grader’s School Project Finally Cleared The Captain’s Name

The Navy court-martialed Captain McVay in November 1945 for “putting his ship at risk by not zigzagging.” He became the only U.S. Navy captain punished for losing a ship to enemy action during World War II.

Commander Hashimoto came from Japan to testify, saying zigzagging wouldn’t have stopped the attack. The court found McVay guilty anyway, despite Hashimoto’s statement and support from many survivors.

McVay received hate mail blaming him for sailors’ deaths, leading to his suicide on November 6, 1968. In 1996, Pensacola sixth-grader Hunter Scott started a history project about Indianapolis, talking to 150 survivors.

Scott’s research showed the Navy failed to provide intelligence and proper rescue procedures. Congress passed a resolution clearing McVay’s name, signed by President Clinton on October 30, 2000.

Visiting Indiana War Memorial WWII Gallery, Indiana

The Indiana War Memorial Museum at 55 East Michigan Street houses the USS Indianapolis Gallery, which tells the story of the ship’s final mission delivering atomic bomb components and the crew’s five-day survival ordeal.

You can see the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the final crew members. The museum is free and open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 AM to 5 PM.

Enter through the main doors on Michigan Street.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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