USS Indianapolis Sank on This Day in 1945 After Delivering the Internal Components of the Atomic Bomb Dropped on Japan

World War II, without a doubt, is one of the darkest points in history. There are countless stories of tragedies that stem from the war and one of them is the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.

Often regarded as the greatest loss of life at sea from a single ship as far as the history of the US Navy is concerned, only 316 of the ship's crew survived. 1,196 men were onboard and 900 made it to the water alive while the rest went down with the USS Indianapolis.

Let's dive deeper into what happened on the fateful, tragic day of July 30, 1945.

The USS Indianapolis

The USS Indianapolis, as you may have already guessed, was named after the city of Indianapolis in Indiana. According to Britannica, it was launched in 1931 and is a Portland-class heavy cruiser. The ship was commissioned by the US Navy in 1932.

Here are other things to note about the features and specifications of the USS Indianapolis:

• It was 610 feet and three inches long
• It had eight five-inch antiaircraft guns and a main battery of nine eight-inch guns
• It could reach speeds of more than 32 knots

The Secret Cargo

According to the website of the National World War II Museum, the USS Indianapolis and her crew docked in the island of Tinian on July 26, 1945.

What the crew didn't know was that the ship was carrying the crucial components of what would be known as "Little Boy" or the atomic bomb that was eventually going to be dropped on Hiroshima.

"The ship's mission was top secret, so the officers and men alike had no idea of their cargo's importance or why there were so many high-ranking officers watching the crew unload its vital cargo," says the World War II Museum website.

The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis

From Tinian, the USS Indianapolis was meant to head to the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines for more training. However, tragedy struck on July 30, 1945.

"But shortly after midnight, a Japanese torpedo hit the Indianapolis in the starboard bow, blowing almost 65 feet of the ship's bow out of the water and igniting a tank containing 3,500 gallons of aviation fuel into a pillar of fire shooting several hundred feet into the sky," the Smithsonian Mag narrates.

Another torpedo struck the ship soon after, hitting closer to the midship. The USS Indianapolis sank in just 12 minutes, taking almost 300 of her crew with her. 900 made it to the water alive. Of the 900 crew members who made it to the water, only 325 eventually survived. The rest perished due to dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and even shark attacks.

The US Navy did not know about the sinking until four days after the fact.