Posted on 08/19/2017 1:08:09 PM PDT by Riley
Seventy-two years after two torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine sunk cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the ship’s wreckage was found resting on the seafloor on Saturday – more than 18,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean’s surface.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.usni.org ...
There was another cruiser that the Japs sank early in the war in the Dutch East Indies. It was nicked a ghost ship because the Japs had claimed to have sunk so many times and it kept returning to the fight. The survivors wound up building a railroad in Burma. when they were freed and returned home they were totally forgotten.
USS HOUSTON - sunk March 1, in Sunda Strait along with
HMAS PERTH. Ran into Japanese invasion fleet for Java
**Around 800 of the ship’s 1,196 sailors and Marines survived the sinking, but after four to five days in the water, suffering exposure, dehydration, drowning, and shark attacks, only 316 survived.**
If anyone ever wondered what it was like to be in the water after a enemy attack, I offer my Uncle Joe’s verbal account of what it was like after his ship the USS Juneau was hit. [The Juneau was the ship of the Sullivan Brothers tragedy.]
**TEN MEN OUT OF 700** is not a perfect piece of literature; it is what it is. I’m so glad we have his first hand account of what happened. God rest my Uncle Joe.
You’re both right.
When John Milieus a history/military buff read a quote from a surviving crew member and dramatized it, gave the Indianapolis story international legs. Almost everyone on the planet soon knew the story via that scene.
But historians and military buffs had and would have known the story without seeing ‘Jaws’.
The UK Daily mail site has photos of the wreck. Amazing condition.
Quite a remarkable history (especially the “Secret Mission” section) at this link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)
I remember reading that Robert Shaw was drunk (he often was) the night they were to shoot that scene. He couldn’t get it right so Spielberg gave up and they all went back to their hotels for the night. The next morning they sat down to shoot that scene again and Shaw nailed it in one take.
I honor the men of the USS Indianapolis for their honorable service, both those who survived and those who didn’t. Salute!
But with this discovery coming so close to other recent events, I wouldn’t be surprised for someone to claim they deserved it, for delivering the atomic bomb to Tinian Island.
USS Indianapolis survivor: ‘That first morning, we had sharks’
Marine Corporal Edgar Harrell’s story can be found here:
You’re welcome. That scene really set the mood for the rest of the movie.
What a beautiful ship.
One of the best scenes in movie history.
bttt
Good story, thank you.
I remember reading that Robert Shaw was drunk (he often was) the night they were to shoot that scene. He couldn’t get it right so Spielberg gave up and they all went back to their hotels for the night. The next morning they sat down to shoot that scene again and Shaw nailed it in one take.
...
He probably had more to drink. I also read he wrote that scene.
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