Lost WW2 warship USS Indianapolis found after 72 years

[webfact]

Lost WW2 warship USS Indianapolis found after 72 years

 

The World War Two heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis has been found in the Pacific Ocean, 72 years after its sinking by a Japanese submarine.

 

The warship was discovered 18,000 feet (5.5km) beneath the surface.

 

The Indianapolis was destroyed returning from its secret mission to deliver parts for the atomic bomb which was later used on Hiroshima.

 

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40991326

 

-- © Copyright BBC 2017-08-21

[Jeffrey346]

The movie was good...

[webfact]

U.S. warship Indianapolis found 18,000 feet deep in Pacific Ocean

 

The World War II cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA 35), which was lost July 30, 1945 is seen at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, U.S. circa 1937. Courtesy U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command/U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS

 

(Reuters) - Researchers have found the wreckage of the U.S. warship Indianapolis, which was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in the final days of World War Two, more than 18,000 feet (5.5 kilometres) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, the Navy said on Saturday.

 

The cruiser was returning from its mission to deliver components for the atomic bomb that would soon be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima when it was fired upon in the North Pacific Ocean by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945.

 

It sunk in 12 minutes, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington. No distress signal was sent. About 800 of the 1,196 crew members aboard survived the sinking, but only 316 were rescued alive five days later, with the rest lost to exposure, dehydration, drowning and sharks.

 

After a Navy historian unearthed new information in 2016 about the warship's last movements that pointed to a new search area, a team of civilian researchers led by Paul Allen, a Microsoft Corp co-founder, spent months searching in a 600-square-mile (1,500-square-kilometer) patch of ocean.

 

With a vessel rigged with equipment that can reach some of the deepest ocean floors, members of Allen's team found the wreckage somewhere in the Philippine Sea on Friday, Allen said in a statement on his website. The statement said the Navy had asked Allen to keep the precise location confidential.

 

Allen said that the discovery was a humbling experience and a means of honouring sailors he saw as playing a vital role in ending World War Two. "While our search for the rest of the wreckage will continue, I hope everyone connected to this historic ship will feel some measure of closure at this discovery so long in coming," he said.

 

Identification was easier than in some deep-sea expeditions: some of the exposed wreck was clearly marked with Indianapolis signage, according to photographs shared by Allen and the Navy.

 

"It is exceedingly rare you find the name of the ship on a piece of the wreckage," Paul Taylor, a spokesman for the Naval History and Heritage Command, said in a telephone interview. "If that's not Indianapolis then I don't know what is."

 

The Navy said it had plans to honour the 22 survivors from the Indianapolis still alive along with the families of the ship's crew.

 

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Paul Simao)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-21

 

[toofarnorth]

All those lives lost and so near the end of the war , how sad for the families at that time.

[Mosha]

Was it that mission when they were ordered to maintain radio silence, no matter what?

 

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[canopus1969]

The way the present US Navy is carrying on there will be many more ships sunk if they cannot stop hitting other ships  !

[Basil B]

took them 4 day to realise one of their ships was missing... and then only by accident.

Quote

 The Navy learned of the sinking when survivors were spotted four days later by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. Only 317 survived.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)

 

[tandor]

..they're not that far away from the updated zone where MH370 is alleged to be...hmm!

[IAMHERE]

Wow, what an accomplishment. Good show searchers.

[Thailand]

7 hours ago, Jeffrey346 said:

The movie was good...

It was and not a story I was very  familiar with before watching it.

[Mosha]

The captain was the only USN captain charged with losing a ship in WWII, despite the requirements of the mission.

Sent from my iris 505 using Tapatalk

[electric]

1 hour ago, tandor said:

..they're not that far away from the updated zone where MH370 is alleged to be...hmm!

hmmm ... perhaps got your oceans mixed up ? I humbly suggest that you may be incorrect.

 

The last update for possible MH370 location was released 5 days ago by Oz authorities. They even attached a map.

 

"MH370 is in the middle of the Indian Ocean,  south west of Perth (Western Australia)"

 

USS Indianapolis went down in the Philippine Sea.

 

The two locations are approx 7500 km apart.

[Lokie]

This is where I first heard of it;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9S41Kplsbs

 

[tandor]

37 minutes ago, electric said:

hmmm ... perhaps got your oceans mixed up ? I humbly suggest that you may be incorrect.

 

The last update for possible MH370 location was released 5 days ago by Oz authorities. They even attached a map.

 

"MH370 is in the middle of the Indian Ocean,  south west of Perth (Western Australia)"

 

USS Indianapolis went down in the Philippine Sea.

 

The two locations are approx 7500 km apart.

''their search boat is not that far from the new announced area of interest...i was just joining the two sunken objects and suggesting they head there as they have just had a great luck in finding the battleship..nothing to do with oceans apart and distances ..it would be cheaper to just redirect their vessel to the MH370 area..i realise too that it would all be too hard..so just my brain at work...sad for all the families of the presumed deceased..i bet they're thinking similar thoughts.