{"id":27422,"date":"2023-07-28T08:15:07","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T06:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=232764"},"modified":"2023-07-28T12:14:07","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T10:14:07","slug":"into-the-jaws-of-hell-the-ww2-sinking-of-uss-indianapolis","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/into-the-jaws-of-hell-the-ww2-sinking-of-uss-indianapolis\/","title":{"rendered":"Into the jaws of hell: the WW2 sinking of USS Indianapolis"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the final days of World War II, a US Navy crew endured unimaginable horrors when they were left stranded in the waters of the Pacific, facing hypothermia, madness and sharks. Jonny Wilkes tells the story of USS Indianapolis, and reveals how its sinking inspired a speech in Steven Spielberg masterpiece Jaws <\/p>

By Jonny Wilkes\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 28 July 2023 at 06:15 AM<\/p>

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\u201cThat\u2019s the USS Indianapolis<\/em>,\u201d mumbles Quint as he points to a scar on his arm; a tattoo he had removed a long time ago. The very name stops Hooper\u2019s laughter. The jovial mood is lost and the men\u2019s drunken, one-upping exchange of stories about their shark inflicted wounds abandoned. A look of pained understanding now on his face, Hooper can only say: \u201cYou were on the Indianapolis<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

So begins a monologue by the grizzled, briny and fanatical shark hunter Quint in Jaws<\/em> (1975), a chilling three-and-a-half minutes that have gone down in cinema lore. At the core of the scene was a real ship, a heavy cruiser sunk by the enemy in the Second World War<\/a> after completing the most top-secret of missions. And that was just the beginning of a traumatic ordeal, the worst disaster in US naval history.<\/p>\n

While not everything said by Quint \u2013 played to perfection by Robert Shaw \u2013 was factually accurate, the scene captured the tragedy with harrowing authenticity. It got survivors who saw Steven Spielberg\u2019s movie talking about what they went through, many for the first time, and helped ensure the Indianapolis<\/em> would not be forgotten.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws. In an iconic scene, the character talks of surviving the sinking of USS Indianapolis \u2013 and his terrifying encounters with sharks (Photo by Alamy Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

By mid-1945, USS Indianapolis<\/em>, or \u2018Indy\u2019 to the crew, had earned 10 battle stars serving in the Pacific Theatre, but its war looked to be over when damaged by a Japanese kamikaze fighter off Okinawa<\/a>. Instead, while at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco Bay, orders came in to transport a mystery cargo with all haste to the island of Tinian. No one, including the captain, could know what was inside the two cylindrical containers and large crate brought aboard and kept under armed guard at all times.<\/p>\n

The purpose of the top-secret mission was to deliver the enriched uranium and some of the parts that would make the atomic bomb, Little Boy: the one to be dropped on Hiroshima. The crew\u2019s guesses of airplane engines, whiskey to celebrate the end of the war, or scented toilet paper for the Pacific commander, were way off.<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Charles B McVay III, captain of the USS Indianapolis and the first US Navy officer to be court-martialled for losing a ship (Photo by Bettmann\/Contributor\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The Indy completed the voyage without incident in just 10 days, arriving on 26 July and met by a host of high-ranking officers impatient to take control of the cargo. The job done, the ship headed for Guam before making for the Philippines. It wouldn\u2019t get there.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Where and when did the Indianapolis sink?<\/h2>\n

Shortly after midnight on 30 July 1945, the submarine I-58 snuck up on the Indianapolis<\/em> and fired six torpedoes. Japan may have been near defeat, but commander Mochitsura Hashimoto intended to keep fighting. One torpedo slammed into the starboard bow and another hit amidships, setting off huge explosions and causing the ship to list severely. It took only 12 minutes to sink.<\/p>\n

The Japanese sub had prepared for another attack before realising that was not needed and making a swift exit from the area. Of the nearly 1,200 men on board, around 900 survived the sinking and went into the water when the order was given to abandon ship. With many terribly burned or injured, they left with the barest provisions and limited numbers of lifejackets, and in the darkness they could not see that they were leaping into the gloopy oil slick leaking from the engines.<\/p>\n

Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief. We was comin\u2019 back from the island of Tinian to Leyte. We\u2019d just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes