It was the era of World War II when the USS Indianapolis sank after being hit by torpedoes released by the Japanese submarine. It was on July 30, 1945, when the American war ship sank in the Philippine Sea and was later discovered by Paul Allen’s expedition crew after 72 years.
Wreckage finally reveals itself
The wreckage was discovered on Saturday about 5,500 meters below the sea surface. Microsoft co-founder Allen and his team used a 250-foot research vessel named R/V Petrel which is equipped with the latest breakthrough in subsea equipment. It also includes a remote-controlled vehicle with connected HD cameras which has the ability to dive up to 6,000 meters, Geek Wire reports.
In addition to finding the lost wreckage, a Naval historian, Dr. Richard Hulver studied and acquired new information regarding the USS Indianapolis’ last movement. The details guided Allen’s expedition crew to the location of the ship’s ruins. It was found out as well by the Naval History and Heritage Command that a naval landing craft was able to record the latest position of the sunken war ship hours after being hit by torpedoes.
USS Indianapolis location to remain secret
The torpedo-hit war ship is an official war grave and cannot be disturbed as it is protected by law meaning it cannot be moved from its original position. The exact location of the USS Indianapolis cannot be revealed and will remain off the record.
The USS Indianapolis had 1,196 crew member on board of which only 317 made it out alive. Those people who managed to stay afloat were not as lucky as they have to deal with dehydration, getting poisoned by salt water and need to watch out for white-tip and tiger shark attacks from time to time.
As Allen stated, “To be able to honor the brave men of the USS Indianapolis and their families through the discovery of a ship that played such a significant role during World War II is truly humbling.”
Before the USS Indianapolis sank, it was able to deliver units of one of the two nuclear armaments that were dropped on Japan.
The Navy missed the ship’s next post-call and no search party has been sent off. The crews who are still alive at that time were rescued after a plane flew over the scene where the ship sank.
The USS Indianapolis was named after the city of Indianapolis, Indiana and was US Navy’s Portland-class heavy cruiser. It measures 190 meters and was constructed on March 31, 1930. It was nicknamed “Indy” and was launched on November 7, 1931. Its fate had ended after it was sunken by torpedoes fired by the Japanese submarine I-58.
