Note this etherit reference says no SOS which is not true. But we won’t know this till declassification. I wonder what is going through the minds of those that heard it but disregarded?
Search goes on for another 6 days.
While on routine patrol, the crew of a US Navy PV-1 Ventura of Patrol Bombing Squadron One Hundred Fifty Two (VPB-152), based on Peleliu, spots a large oil slick with 30 survivors in the water. Further examination of the area reveals another group of 150 survivors. An immediate call for assistance is made, with PBY Catalinas and the high speed transport USS Bassett (APD-73) soon enroute to rescue the men. This is the remainder of the crew of the USS Indianapolis (CA-35), sunk by the Japanese submarine HIJMS I-58, which had sunk without sending an SOS on 30 July, with the majority of the ship’s crew dying of exposure and shark attacks. The searches continue until 8 August.
The 316 survivors of the crew of the USS INDIANAPOLIS have been telling harrowing tales of their sinking. She was torpedoed at midnight three days ago and sank so quickly that many of the crew of 1,196 were trapped below decks and the radio officer could not send an SOS.
The chances of any of the missing 880 men being alive in the shark-infested Philippine Sea are remote.
The same as every human being: a mixture of shame, embarrassment, self-recrimination, fear of exposure, and self-justification. See: Cain, et al. God created us with a conscience so we would recognize our need of Him as Savior.