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U.S. Warship Indianapolis Found 18,000 Feet Deep In Pacific Ocean

More than seven decades after a Japanese torpedo sank the U.S.S. Indianapolis, researchers have located its wreckage at the bottom of the Pacific. The U.S. … Continue reading U.S. Warship Indianapolis Found 18,000 Feet Deep In Pacific Ocean


Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

More than seven decades after a Japanese torpedo sank the U.S.S. Indianapolis, researchers have located its wreckage at the bottom of the Pacific.

The U.S. Warship was hit as it was returning from its mission to deliver components for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.

It when down in just 12 minutes and sent no distress signal.

Although 800 of its nearly 1,200 crew survived the attack, only 316 were rescued five days later.

The rest were either killed by sharks or died from exposure, dehydration or drowning.

It’s an incident famously recounted in the movie JAWS by rugged shark hunter and World War 2 vet Captain Quint.

A research team led by Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen revived the search in 2016 after a Navy historian unearthed new information about its last movements.

“We try to do this both as really exciting examples of under-water archeology and as tributes to the brave men that went down in these ships,” Allen said.

The team spent months scouring a 600-square-mile (1,500-square-kilometer) patch of ocean… before finally locating the wreckage, on Friday.

The U.S. Navy says it plans to honor the 22 survivors from the Indianapolis still alive along with the families of the ship’s crew.