U.S. Navy’s Worst Wartime Loss at Sea

July 30, 1945

After the USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese torpedo, the survivors were stranded for three and half days in shark-infested waters. Only 316 of the 1,195-man crew survived the ordeal. This was the greatest single loss of life at sea, from a single ship, in the history of the U.S. Navy. In the 1975 movie Jaws, Quint’s (Robert Shaw) Indianapolis speech was based on these events. The ship was struck by a Japanese torpedo and sank 12 minutes later with about 300 men going down with the ship. The remaining men were left stranded with little food or water. When the Indianapolis didn’t arrive in port the following day as scheduled, no one followed up to find out why it was missing, leaving the crew stranded on the ocean for another three days until, by accident, another ship on a routine mission spotted the survivors on the water. During this time, many of the men were eaten by sharks or succumbed to the elements. First to arrive on the scene was an amphibious patrol plane. Even though they had standing orders not to land in open ocean, the plane’s crew took a vote and decided to disobey their orders and land the aircraft in the twelve-foot (3.7 m) swells. With the plane filled to capacity and additional men tied to the wings with parachute cords, the plane was unable to take off and had to wait until a rescue ship could arrive. The Indianapolis had just completed a top-secret mission to deliver parts