#32: USS Indianapolis: The Cruiser With the Navy's Worst Shark Attack
Shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945, the Japanese submarine I-58 hit USS Indianapolis with two torpedoes. The heavy cruiser sank in 12 minutes, dumping nearly 900 men into the open Pacific. Over the next four days, before rescue arrived, approximately 580 sailors perished from exposure, dehydration, salt poisoning, and relentless shark attacks, the worst shark-inflicted disaster in recorded history.
What makes Indianapolis's story even more remarkable is her final mission: she had just delivered the core components of "Little Boy," the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima, to Tinian Island. Her crew had no idea what they were carrying. The Navy's failure to notice her absence for four days, despite distress signals, led to a congressional investigation. Her captain, Charles McVay, was controversially court-martialed but was posthumously exonerated in 2000. Indianapolis has become one of the most discussed warships in American military history.
