New details: Sharks, secrets and the sinking of the USS Indianapolis
Photos: USS Indianapolis: Lives lost and lessons learned
The USS Indianapolis, at Pearl Harbor in 1937, won 10 battle stars during World War II and delivered components of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. It was lost to a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945, and about 800 men went into the sea. Only 316 survived the nearly five-day ordeal in the water.
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Photos: USS Indianapolis: Lives lost and lessons learned
Crew members appear in the well deck of the USS Indianapolis. The Naval History and Heritage Command has a website that consolidates information on the ship's sinking and the investigation into its whereabouts in the Pacific.
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Photos: USS Indianapolis: Lives lost and lessons learned
Torpedo planes pass over the cruiser during a fleet review off New York City in 1934. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was on the Indianapolis during the ceremony.
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Photos: USS Indianapolis: Lives lost and lessons learned
The USS Indianapolis is among the ships photographed at Pearl Harbor's Ford Island less than two months before the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. The cruiser was out at sea on training exercises when the attack took place.
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Photos: USS Indianapolis: Lives lost and lessons learned
The Indianapolis, in the background, played a major role in operations off Saipan, knocking out Japanese fortifications and weapons. Fifth Fleet commander Adm. Raymond A. Spruance often used the cruiser as his flagship.
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Photos: USS Indianapolis: Lives lost and lessons learned
The ship was steaming west from Tinian Island to the Philippines when a Japanese submarine spotted it. A Navy Web page gives accounts from both the Indianapolis and Japanese captains.
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Photos: USS Indianapolis: Lives lost and lessons learned
The USS Tranquillity arrives at Guam, carrying survivors of the USS Indianapolis sinking. Hundreds of men had been in the water for days, battling dehydration, exhaustion, exposure and sharks. A Navy plane spotted them by chance a few days after the sinking.
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