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Started By
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Here’s the tale of the Ship Indianapolis, The torpedoes got some, the sharks got the rest
Posted on 4/1/21 at 1:06 am
Posted on 4/1/21 at 1:06 am
Hardcore History-Nightmares of Indianapolis
USS Indianapolis Wiki
Quint’s Tale of the Indianapolis from Jaws
USS Indianapolis
Indianapolis left,
With near twelve hundred men,
Only three hundred sixteen,
Would come back again,
And so secret was she,
sent no call of distress,
The torpedoes got some,
And the sharks got the rest,
They delivered the bomb,
And in secret returned,
‘Til a Japanese sub,
Their location discerned,
And a pair of torpedoes,
With hardly a sound,
Put a hole in her hull,
In 12 minutes she drowned,
Some unlucky three hundred,
Joined her when she did sink,
Nearly 900 men,
Still remained in the drink,
Oil-coated, they floated,
Out there in the dark,
But when dawn broke upon them,
They saw the first shark,
Floating there in the flotsam,
And then came the screams,
Then the spreading red water,
That would haunt them in dreams,
Doll-eyed bulls, hungry tigers,
Whites and fierce hammerheads,
Bodies bobbed, as asleep,
Bitten in half, were dead,
In warm seas of the tropics,
The blue water was clear,
Sailors spied swimming specters,
Of death drawing near,
As the salt and sun burned,
Robbing men of their pallor,
As these beasts had their feast,
Taking six men an hour,
Adrift in the ocean,
No planes, and no birds,
Only sharks by the thousand,
And the screams of two thirds,
But as bad as the day was,
The night was the worst,
Though surrounded by water,
Sailors cried out from thirst,
It was nearly 4 days,
Until rescue would come,
Men were begging for death,
Wishes granted for some,
Dying words from the wounded,
Vests unstrapped from the dead,
All while unblinking monsters,
Would grow fat and well fed,
With near twelve hundred men,
That doomed ship had set out,
Only three hundred sixteen,
Would still be about,
Of that secret ship’s sailors,
Were near nine hundred less,
The cruel sea claimed the lucky,
And the sharks got the rest.
I highly recommend listening to Dan Carlin’s recounting of that terrible tragedy. I can’t even imagine the sheer terror, the hopelessness, the abject fear.
What would be worse, being able to see them during the day, or the blind horror of the night?
A salute to those that lived and died, adrift in the endless dark waters.
USS Indianapolis Wiki
Quint’s Tale of the Indianapolis from Jaws
USS Indianapolis
Indianapolis left,
With near twelve hundred men,
Only three hundred sixteen,
Would come back again,
And so secret was she,
sent no call of distress,
The torpedoes got some,
And the sharks got the rest,
They delivered the bomb,
And in secret returned,
‘Til a Japanese sub,
Their location discerned,
And a pair of torpedoes,
With hardly a sound,
Put a hole in her hull,
In 12 minutes she drowned,
Some unlucky three hundred,
Joined her when she did sink,
Nearly 900 men,
Still remained in the drink,
Oil-coated, they floated,
Out there in the dark,
But when dawn broke upon them,
They saw the first shark,
Floating there in the flotsam,
And then came the screams,
Then the spreading red water,
That would haunt them in dreams,
Doll-eyed bulls, hungry tigers,
Whites and fierce hammerheads,
Bodies bobbed, as asleep,
Bitten in half, were dead,
In warm seas of the tropics,
The blue water was clear,
Sailors spied swimming specters,
Of death drawing near,
As the salt and sun burned,
Robbing men of their pallor,
As these beasts had their feast,
Taking six men an hour,
Adrift in the ocean,
No planes, and no birds,
Only sharks by the thousand,
And the screams of two thirds,
But as bad as the day was,
The night was the worst,
Though surrounded by water,
Sailors cried out from thirst,
It was nearly 4 days,
Until rescue would come,
Men were begging for death,
Wishes granted for some,
Dying words from the wounded,
Vests unstrapped from the dead,
All while unblinking monsters,
Would grow fat and well fed,
With near twelve hundred men,
That doomed ship had set out,
Only three hundred sixteen,
Would still be about,
Of that secret ship’s sailors,
Were near nine hundred less,
The cruel sea claimed the lucky,
And the sharks got the rest.
I highly recommend listening to Dan Carlin’s recounting of that terrible tragedy. I can’t even imagine the sheer terror, the hopelessness, the abject fear.
What would be worse, being able to see them during the day, or the blind horror of the night?
A salute to those that lived and died, adrift in the endless dark waters.
This post was edited on 4/1/21 at 10:24 pm
24
Posted on 4/1/21 at 1:35 am to fr33manator
The family of the ship’s captain has tried for decades to get the Navy to clear his name.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 1:39 am to fr33manator
Baw couldn't lay across that and somehow keep his feet out the water?
Also imagine sittin with the guys in the last picture and someone is snapping photos
Posted on 4/1/21 at 1:44 am to SoFla Tideroller
Been a long time since I read up on that, I get the secrecy of her mission on the way to deliver, not so much afterwards. Plus the radio silence afterwards. As the other ships in the group saw her fatally torpedoed, don’t you think the Japs knew where they were? But radio silence was the order.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 1:52 am to sgallo3
At least they were Tiger sharks. Don’t know if those are real pics, if they are they were, they were probably taken from the PBY rescue plane. I doubt if the baw had the strength or mental wherewithal to lift his legs. Probably delusional from taking a sip or two of seawater to try and quench his thirst. To me that would have been the worst, floating on all of that beautiful water but not a drop to drink.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 2:02 am to 777Tiger
Yeah. Waa probably after day 3 and he would rather risk it just to cool off from the heat a little. By then the sharks probably had plenty of food available
Posted on 4/1/21 at 3:12 am to fr33manator
I just read the book by Lynn Vincent about the lead up to the sinking, the crews survival, and the trail that followed. I highly recommend it
Posted on 4/1/21 at 4:53 am to fr33manator
The court martialing of Captain McVay still baffles me. As well as some of the hate he got post the sinking from families. The Navy fricked him over so hard from the need for a scapegoat.
Believe he even got Christmas cards saying "Merry Christmas! Would've been better if you didn't kill my son!". He saved every one of these letters.
He eventually killed himself 20 years later. They found him on his back porch with a revolver in one hand, and a toy sailor in the other.
Imagine surviving a burning, sinking ship, 3 days in 100 degree temps in the middle if the ocean during the day, hypothermia conditions at night, your fellow shipmen going crazy, not to mention hundreds of sharks picking off the dead and alive.
But then the aftermath being even harder for you to overcome.
Believe he even got Christmas cards saying "Merry Christmas! Would've been better if you didn't kill my son!". He saved every one of these letters.
He eventually killed himself 20 years later. They found him on his back porch with a revolver in one hand, and a toy sailor in the other.
Imagine surviving a burning, sinking ship, 3 days in 100 degree temps in the middle if the ocean during the day, hypothermia conditions at night, your fellow shipmen going crazy, not to mention hundreds of sharks picking off the dead and alive.
But then the aftermath being even harder for you to overcome.
This post was edited on 4/1/21 at 4:59 am
Posted on 4/1/21 at 5:12 am to fr33manator
I think Carlin recounts that in the battle of the Atlantic the water was cold enough that after a fee hours you would die of hypothermia, but that in the South Pacific the water was warm enough that you stayed alive as long as you could handle the sun exposure, dehydration, and the sharks. It must have been hell on earth.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 7:54 am to Oilfieldbiology
quote:
It must have been hell on earth
Worse. At least on earth you don’t have beasts coming from below to feast on you. They were in a completely alien world
Posted on 4/1/21 at 7:57 am to fr33manator
Despite Nicholas Cage I thought the movie was pretty good.
Definitely a miracle the Japs never came across them.
Definitely a miracle the Japs never came across them.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 7:58 am to BennyAndTheInkJets
quote:
The court martialing of Captain McVay still baffles me.
Yeah, he was screwed over big time. There was nothing he could do. The Japanese commander of the sub testified that zigzag or not, he would have hit the Indianapolis. Indianapolis had no sub detection equipment, and McVay was denied an escort so the ship was out there alone.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 8:23 am to fr33manator
Fantastic survivor first person account documentary on Amazon Prime at the moment. USS Indianapolis: The Legacy. Chilling stuff.
quote:
The story of the greatest sea disaster in U.S. Navy History, told for the first time by only the men who lived it. In the most top secret Navy mission of World War II, the crew of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis delivers components of the atomic bomb to Tinian island. Four days later, two Japanese torpedoes sink the ship in the Challenger Deep, triggering an epic tale of survival. For 5 days.
Directors Sara Vladic
Starring USS Indianapolis Survivors, USS Indianapolis Rescue and Recovery Crew, USS Indianapolis Crew Family Members
Posted on 4/1/21 at 8:44 am to GetCocky11
What I don’t understand is why a distress signal wasn’t sent out. The Japanese sub had spotted and torpedoed them so their location was known to the enemy anyways. It seems that common sense should have overridden the orders for secrecy once the secret was out.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 8:50 am to fr33manator
quote:
What I don’t understand is why a distress signal wasn’t sent out.
I always thought that the ship managed to get one distress signal out, but the operators never responded. Also, nobody in the Philippines seemed to care that the ship never arrived at all.
The ship sank really fast...something like 15 minutes or less. It was probably an incredibly chaotic situation.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 8:53 am to SoFla Tideroller
quote:
The family of the ship’s captain has tried for decades to get the Navy to clear his name.
His name was cleared:
quote:
McVay was posthumously exonerated by the 106th United States Congress and President Bill Clinton on October 30, 2000.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 8:56 am to fr33manator
And here I am popping anti anxiety meds while sitting at my desk job. Perspective is a slap in the face
Posted on 4/1/21 at 9:06 am to fr33manator
Nobody knew the ship was coming except for a few top brass, it was not supposed to be anywhere. I believe they did send distress signal or call for help but they didn’t believe it if I remember correctly. Nobody knew the ship was at sea even more missing therefore no search party
Posted on 4/1/21 at 9:13 am to DaBeerz
quote:
Nobody knew the ship was coming except for a few top brass, it was not supposed to be anywhere.
The secret mission to Tinian was over. The ship had already been to Guam at this point and some of the crew had also been relieved by replacements while in Guam.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 9:17 am to Hotgin
quote:
I just read the book by Lynn Vincent about the lead up to the sinking, the crews survival, and the trail that followed. I highly recommend it
I listened to the audio book a few years back. It was Fantastic. The multiple points of view really puts the incident in perspective. The accounts of those floating in the water, shark attacks, and sailors losing their minds is chilling.
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