10 Gruesome Details Surrounding The USS Indianapolis Wreck, Which Turned Into The Worst Shark Attacks In History

6 /10 Useless Supply

First-aid kits would have been helpful. However, since the container was not watertight, they were useless due to water damage.

Floating food containers should have been a blessing too, but it was once again a terrible assumption. Cans of Spam could be opened daily and divided equally to sustain living survivors.

The problem was that each time a man opened a can of Spam, the smell of the cooked pork drew the attention of sharks.

Malted milk tablets, biscuits, and no freshwater were the only options. Survivors had to endure the ordeal for nearly five days.

5 /10 Discovered By Accident

A passing US naval aircraft spotted them by accident on August 2 during a routine patrol flight.

It was a PV-1 Ventura Bomber piloted by Lt. Wilbur C. Gwinn, who immediately alerted his base about the surviving crews. Help was on the way.

After almost five days of terrible thirst, starvation, suffering from open wounds, and constant shark attacks, the men of the USS Indianapolis were rescued at last.

Their number had shrunk from around 900 to 316 survivors; most were on the brink of death. By the time rescued survivors recovered from their ordeal, the war had ended.

4 /10 Delayed Rescue, Delayed Reporting

The US government announced the loss of Indianapolis on August 15, more than two weeks after the tragedy. Many now believe the delayed announcement was made on purpose.

By promoting it on the same day that President Truman delivered the news of Japanese surrender, the government hoped the story of USS Indianapolis would be overshadowed.

Victory over the Imperial Japanese Army in the Pacific Theater of World War II changed history. To say that it was monumental would be an understatement. Still, the USS Indianapolis deserved a little bit more respect than that.

3 /10 Captain Charles B. McVay III

The commanding officer of the USS Indianapolis, Captain Charles B. McVay III, was among the survivor.

He was court-martialed, and in February 1946, found guilty of negligence for having failed to steer the ship in a zigzag course to evade the attack that had sunken his boat.

The court recommended clemency. He committed suicide in 1968, almost 20 years after his retirement.

Many survivors believed the US Navy had scapegoated their captain. Poor visibility during the attack made zigzagging inadvisable. Captain McVay testified at the court-martial that even zigzag course would not have thwarted the attack.

2 /10 Exonerated

It later came to light the US Navy had deciphered secret messaging code used by their Japanese counterpart.

They knew all along that Japanese submarines were operating in the area where the Indianapolis sank. Still, they chose not to warn her to avoid revealing the code-breaking success to the enemy.

Moments after the attack, the US Navy also decoded a message from I-58 that it had sunk an American battleship.

The news was ignored. However, it was not until 2000 that Captain McVay was exonerated for the loss of the USS Indianapolis and cleared of all wrongdoings.

1 /10 Discovery Of The USS Indianapolis Wreckage

After decades of searching, the wreckage of the USS Indianapolis was found on August 19, 2017.

A team of researchers, led by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, located the ship (or what’s left of it) 5,500 meters below the Philippine Sea.

A breakthrough in the search happened in 2016 when Richard Hulver, a naval historian, discovered records showing the ship’s exact location just 11 hours before it sank.

Records suggest that no distress call from Indianapolis was ever received. The site helped direct Paul Allen in the right direction.