In one of the most horrific chapters of US Naval history, hundreds of sailors were eaten alive in a prolonged shark feeding frenzy after their warship was sunk at the end of the Second World War. From an initial group of around 900 men who escaped the vessel, only 316 would ultimately survive the ordeal in the open ocean.
The Fateful Mission and a Sudden Attack
On July 26, 1945, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, often called "Indy," completed a top-secret delivery. Unbeknownst to most of its crew, it had transported crucial components for the world's first operational atomic bomb to the island of Tinian. The ship, with 23-year-old officer Harlan Twible aboard, was then dispatched to Guam.
Just after midnight on July 30, as the Indy sailed at 17 knots, its fate was sealed. A Japanese submarine, I-58, fired two torpedoes that struck with devastating effect. One hit the bow, while the second detonated near the ship's ammunition magazine, causing the massive vessel to split in two and sink in a mere 12 minutes. Approximately 300 men went down with the ship.
Abandoned in a Shark-Infested Sea
Around 900 sailors made it into the water, but their nightmare was just beginning. As recounted by survivors to institutions like the National WW2 Museum, the men found themselves adrift in the Pacific, surrounded by oceanic whitetip sharks drawn by the commotion and casualties.
Harlan Twible took immediate command of his group. "I took command and I told them to hang on to anything they could hang on to," he later recalled. When the ship's tilt became too severe, he gave the order: "'Follow me!' And the bodies came in so fast it was unbelievable." The initial terror was palpable. "Everybody was scared to death," Twible said. "These were all 18 and 19-year-old kids."
A Desperate Fight for Survival
The survivors quickly realised they were in a protracted battle against the elements and predators. The exact number claimed by sharks remains unknown, but attacks were relentless. Men resorted to fighting the sharks with their bare hands.
Twible organised "shark watches" to spot approaching dangers and devised a grim strategy to maintain morale. In a brutal act of desperation, he cut the bodies of the deceased from floating wreckage and pushed them out to sea. This was a deliberate attempt to motivate the living to keep fighting, removing a grim reminder of their potential fate.
It became a stark lesson in safety in numbers; stragglers or isolated individuals were swiftly taken by the sharks in what became a sustained feeding frenzy. By the first morning, Twible's headcount had already fallen to about 325.
Rescue and a Lasting Legacy
After four days and five nights of unimaginable horror, the remaining survivors were finally spotted by a US Navy aircraft on a routine patrol. The rescue operation that followed pulled just 316 men from the water. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis stands as the US Navy's single greatest loss of life at sea.
Harlan Twible, who stayed in the navy, felt a lifelong duty to share the story. Reflecting on his order to abandon ship, he considered it one of the most significant decisions of his life: "I was gambling everybody’s life that we were gonna win." His leadership and the sheer will of those 316 men turned the tide against impossible odds, securing their place in history not just as victims of a tragedy, but as enduring symbols of human resilience.
