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posted by takyon on Monday August 21 2017, @06:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the depths dept.

Seventy-two years after two torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine sank cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the ship's wreckage was found resting on the seafloor on Saturday – more than 18,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean's surface.

Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, led a search team, assisted by historians from the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) in Washington, D.C., to accomplish what past searches had failed to do – find Indianapolis, considered the last great naval tragedy of World War II.

[...] On July 30, 1945, what turned out to be the final days of World War II, Indianapolis had just completed a secret mission to the island Tinian, delivering components of the atomic bomb "Little Boy" dropped on Hiroshima which would ultimately help end the war. The ship sunk in 12 minutes, before a distress signal could be sent or much of the life-saving equipment was deployed, according to a statement from the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, D.C. Because of the secrecy surrounding the mission, the ship wasn't listed as overdue

Around 800 of the ship's 1,196 sailors and Marines survived the sinking, but after four to five days in the water, suffering exposure, dehydration, drowning, and shark attacks, only 316 survived.

"I'm very happy that they found it. It's been a long 72 years coming," said a statement released by Indianapolis survivor Arthur Leenerman, 93 years-old from Mahomet, Ill. "I have wished for years that they would find it. The lost at sea families will feel pretty sad but I think finding the ship will also give them some closure. I'm glad that the search was successful. It will be interesting to see where it was found and how deep it was resting. "

The ship's story has become part folklore, thanks in large part to the chilling monologue in the 1975 film "Jaws" when fisherman Quint tells about being aboard Indianapolis when it was sunk.

Source: USNI News


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:23AM (#557355)

    1. An invasion of the homeland islands was expected to be incredibly costly

    In the summer of 1945, Japan's home islands were completely isolated.
    Nothing was allowed in or out: no men or materiel.
    The Allies had things all bottled up.
    The Japanese people were on starvation rations.
    The civilians of the islands were told to do ridiculous things like sharpen bamboo poles.
    If there was to be a slaughter, it would have been untrained civilians who got slaughtered.

    Everybody knew that the war was over.
    ...except for the detail of USA.gov agreeing not to imprison or execute the emperor--the Japs' sole condition.
    The USA dragged its feet on that so that it could demonstrate its monstrous weapons on cities (civilians in towns with no military value).

    Any story you've heard other than that is propaganda.
    I provided a link to a long list of top military men who knew the truth and have said so.

    .
    2. You omitted the word "hegemony".

    You also failed to mention that until September 2, 1945, when the surrender was signed in Tokyo Bay, USSR was USA's ally.

    Having built up an immense arms industry, and having that as a major part of its economy now, USA needed an excuse to continue building weapons and munitions.
    USA.gov's aggression got cranked to 11 and it found a new enemy which, days before, had been an ally.

    ...and, again: "hegemony".

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]