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Surviving sailor's book: "Out of the Depths". WWII, Pacific. USS Indianapolis torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-58
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USS Indianapolis was a Portland class heavy cruiser of the US Navy, flagship for Admiral Raymond Spruance while he commanded the Fifth Fleet in battles across the Central Pacific. On 30 July 1945, the ship was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-58, sinking in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 crewmen aboard, 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 900 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks. Her sinking led to the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy.
On 30 July 1945, the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58, sinking in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship.
The remaining 900 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks.
Out of the Depths: A WWII Vet's Miracle of Survival Edgar Harrell, survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945.
Harrell saw fierce combat on the ship - events that shook him to the core. The 89-year-old vividly recalls one harrowing incident when a Japanese kamikaze plane struck the Indianapolis in the battle for Okinawa. "I can remember seeing that plane, thinking that life is over," Harrell shared. "This is the end of life because he's diving for the fantail."
Harrell survived that attack, but nine of his shipmates did not. The Indianapolis had to return to the States for repairs. Eventually, it left the San Francisco Bay to head back to the South Pacific on what would be its final mission.
July 30, 1945 - A Japanese submarine spotted the Indianapolis in the Philippine sea and fired a spread of torpedoes. Two hit their mark and in less than 15 minutes, the ship went down. Around 900 of the nearly 1,200-man crew who survived the initial attack found themselves oil-soaked, many with injuries, and clinging to kapok life jackets in the shark-infested waters. "I thought of mom and dad back home; I thought of six younger brothers, an older sister and a younger sister, and I thought of this certain brunette that said that she would wait for me," Harrell recalled. "And I told the Lord, 'I don't want to die; I want to live!'"
"Out of the Depths" - all books are signed by Ed Harrell, USMC Survivor
USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was a Portland class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. She was named for the city of Indianapolis, Indiana.
She was flagship for Admiral Raymond Spruance while he commanded the Fifth Fleet in battles across the Central Pacific. Her sinking led to the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy. On 30 July 1945, after delivering parts for the first atomic bomb to the United States air base at Tinian, the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58, sinking in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship.
The remaining 900 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks while floating with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. The Navy learned of the sinking when survivors were spotted four days later by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. Only 317 survived.
USS Japanese submarine I-58 was a Japanese B3 type cruiser submarine that served in the final year of World War II:
- Attack on Guam
- Operation Tan No. 2 was a long-range Kamikaze mission directed at the main Allied naval fleet anchorage at Ulithi atoll in the western Pacific on March 11, 1945 during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The Japanese hoped to take the U.S. Pacific fleet by surprise and sink or damage a significant number of the fleet's aircraft carriers or other large ships.
- Operation Ten-Go
After returning to Kure for further training, I-58 was attached to the Tatara group, with I-44, I-47 and I-56, formed to attack American shipping anchored off Okinawa as part of Operation Ten-Go.
- Attack on Wild Hunter and Lowry
- Sinking of Indianapolis
- Attack on Task Group 75.19
- Attack on Oak Hill and Thomas F. Nickel
At the end of the war, Japanese submarine I-58 surrendered in September 1945, and was later scuttled by the United States Navy.
The Worst Shark Attack in History
In 1945, a U.S. naval ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine, but the ship's sinking was just the beginning of the sailors' nightmare...
Captain McVay was facing more than just physical suffering. The recriminations he had feared followed quickly. It was obvious the sinking and the failure to rescue the crew was a scandal, which the navy first tried to hide by revealing the loss of the Indianapolis on the same day that President Harry Truman announced the Japanese surrender.
ussindianapolis.org Webmaster's Note:
"Survivor Woody James left this life on Monday Sept 19, 2005 just shy of his 83rd birthday. He died late in the afternoon in a tragic car accident in Salt Lake City, Utah. Woody was my grandfather, and although this site was built for the entire crew of the Indy, both survivors and the fallen, it was done especially out of love for Woody. He was one great giant of a man, in stature and in action. My grandfather didn't waste a day in his life, and what a life it was. The words that Woody inscribed in a book of mine gives me comfort and seems a fitting goodbye:
"May you have a long and happy life, as I have had. - Love You, Grandpa"
"I miss you Grandpa"
Related sites:
America Enters World War II
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt committed American forces to the Allied cause in World War II.
Week in History, May 13 - May 19
May 13, 1940
Churchill announces: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
May 14, 1943
United States and Britain plan Operation Pointblank
May 15, 1942
Legislation creating the Women's Army Corps becomes law
May 16, 1943
As Brits launch Operation Chastise, Germans launch Operation Gypsy Baron
May 17, 1943
The Memphis Belle flies its 25th bombing mission
May 18, 1943
Hitler gives the order for Operation Alaric
May 18, 1944
Polish Corps takes Monte Cassino
May 19, 1943
Churchill and FDR plot D-Day
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Image courtesy indysurvivor.com, Daily Mail, and Wikipedia