The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
Imagine being a sailor on The USS Indianapolis. You had just finished dropping off the atomic bomb at Tinian. It is late at night and you decide to go to bed. A couple minutes later, the ship jolts to the left. You’ve been hit by a torpedo. You jump out of your bed and rush out of the room. You hear your captain screaming, “Abandon ship!Abandon ship!”. You rush down the narrow hall and find a life jacket. You put it on and run to the stern of the ship. You swing yourself overboard. The ship sinks in a matter minutes. You and hundreds of your acquaintances are in the water around you. You lose sight of your team. You are stranded at sea. Luckily, this isn’t something that happened to you, but only 316 people …show more content…
On July 30,1945, the USS Indianapolis was struck down by two torpedoes. The same source concurs, “What he and the others on the ship did not know was that they were being watched. Down below, the Japanese submarine I-58 was about to fire six torpedoes.Two struck the ship. The first one hit just a few minutes after Harrell fell asleep. The second hit the middle of the ship, near the fuel tank and a powder magazine, Harrell said”(www.washingtonpost.com.After a few minutes, the sailors were in the water. The survivors were stuck swimming in the ocean for 4 ½ days. The same source notes, “For four days, the men, some of whom had life jackets, floated aimlessly and helplessly in shark-infested waters”(www.washingtonpost.com). These men were stuck in the ocean without any food or good water.It was a while before help found the men.They were rescued by a navy plane who stumbled upon them by accident.The Washington Post also states, “ Only 317 were alive by the time a pilot on patrol spotted them by accident”(www.washingtonpost.com).The terror wasn’t over for Captain Charles McVay quite …show more content…
One of the survivors names is Edgar Harrell,and he’s still alive.Edgar Harrell is living in Clarksville, Tennessee. He is also 92 years old. He wrote a book called Out of the Depths. Harrell isn’t the only survivor still alive. Another survivor who’s still alive is Arthur Leenerman.He is 93 years old. Arthur is living in Mahomet,Illinois. Richard Stephens is a third survivor. He is 88 years old. Stephens now lives near Birmingham, Alabama. One final survivor is John Woolston. Woolston lives in Honolulu,Hawaii. He is 93 years old.These are only four of thirteen survivors still
Imagine being a sailor on The USS Indianapolis. You had just finished dropping off the atomic bomb at Tinian. It is late at night and you decide to go to bed. A couple minutes later, the ship jolts to the left. You’ve been hit by a torpedo. You jump out of your bed and rush out of the room. You hear your captain screaming, “Abandon ship!Abandon ship!”. You rush down the narrow hall and find a life jacket. You put it on and run to the stern of the ship. You swing yourself overboard. The ship sinks in a matter minutes. You and hundreds of your acquaintances are in the water around you. You lose sight of your team. You are stranded at sea. Luckily, this isn’t something that happened to you, but only 316 people …show more content…
On July 30,1945, the USS Indianapolis was struck down by two torpedoes. The same source concurs, “What he and the others on the ship did not know was that they were being watched. Down below, the Japanese submarine I-58 was about to fire six torpedoes.Two struck the ship. The first one hit just a few minutes after Harrell fell asleep. The second hit the middle of the ship, near the fuel tank and a powder magazine, Harrell said”(www.washingtonpost.com.After a few minutes, the sailors were in the water. The survivors were stuck swimming in the ocean for 4 ½ days. The same source notes, “For four days, the men, some of whom had life jackets, floated aimlessly and helplessly in shark-infested waters”(www.washingtonpost.com). These men were stuck in the ocean without any food or good water.It was a while before help found the men.They were rescued by a navy plane who stumbled upon them by accident.The Washington Post also states, “ Only 317 were alive by the time a pilot on patrol spotted them by accident”(www.washingtonpost.com).The terror wasn’t over for Captain Charles McVay quite …show more content…
One of the survivors names is Edgar Harrell,and he’s still alive.Edgar Harrell is living in Clarksville, Tennessee. He is also 92 years old. He wrote a book called Out of the Depths. Harrell isn’t the only survivor still alive. Another survivor who’s still alive is Arthur Leenerman.He is 93 years old. Arthur is living in Mahomet,Illinois. Richard Stephens is a third survivor. He is 88 years old. Stephens now lives near Birmingham, Alabama. One final survivor is John Woolston. Woolston lives in Honolulu,Hawaii. He is 93 years old.These are only four of thirteen survivors still