USS Indianapolis is found after 72 years on the sea bed: Wreck of ship that delivered Hiroshima A-bomb components before being sunk by the Japanese - with loss of 879 lives - is discovered by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen


  • Paul Allen said Friday that his research vessel located wreckage from the USS Indianapolis
  • The USS Indianapolis was destroyed by a Japanese submarine in July 1945 in the Philippine Sea
  • Of the 1,197 men aboard the Indianapolis, a Portland-Class heavy cruiser, only 317 survived
  • Roughly 300 men went down with the ship; hundreds more died of exposure and shark attacks 
  • Ship had just completed a secret mission delivering components of the nuclear weapons later used on Japan
  • The sinking USS Indianapolis remains to be the most tragic maritime disaster in US naval history




The sinking of the Indianapolis by a Japanese submarine in 1945 remains the single biggest loss of life in US Naval history, and the discovery of the wreckage promises to shed new light on the war-time disaster. 
'To be able to honor the brave men of the USS and their families through the discovery of a ship that played such a significant role during World War II is truly humbling,' Allen said in a statement published to his website. 
'As Americans, we all owe a debt of gratitude to the crew for their courage, persistence and sacrifice in the face of horrendous circumstances.'
'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,' the statement added. 
Of the 1,197 men aboard the Indianapolis, only 317 survived and only 32 are alive to this day
Of the 1,197 men aboard the Indianapolis, only 317 survived and only 32 are alive to this day
The ship was found using the R/V Petrel, which was able to dive 6,000 meters in the Philippine waters to locate the ship
The ship was found using the R/V Petrel, which was able to dive 6,000 meters in the Philippine waters to locate the ship
The vessel was sunk after completing a top secret mission to deliver components  of two nuclear weapons which would later be used on Japan
 The vessel was sunk after completing a top secret mission to deliver components  of two nuclear weapons which would later be used on Japan
On July 30, 1945, as the Second World War was coming to a close, the USS Indianapolis was destroyed by a Japanese submarine, sinking the ship in 12 minutes after it was struck with a torpedo. 

USS Indianapolis

Commissioned: November 15, 1932
Class: Portland-class cruiser
Wartime Complement: Up to 1,269
Awards: Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with ten battle stars; American Defense Service Medal; World War II Victory Medal
Fate: Sunk on July 30, 1945 by Japanese submarine The ship had just completed a secret mission delivering components of two nuclear weapons that would soon be used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. 
Of the 1,197 men aboard the Indianapolis, roughly 300 went down with the ship.
The remaining 900 men went into the shark-infested water, with few life boats and almost no food or water.
For four days, those who didn’t have lifejackets clung to those who did, as whitetip and Tiger sharks circled the wreckage and picked off survivors.
‘There soon were hundreds of fins around us,’ recalled survivor Harold Eck, an 18-year-old seaman at the time. 
‘The first attack I saw was on a sailor who had drifted away from the group. I heard yelling and screaming and saw him thrashing . . . then I just saw red, foamy water.’
Another survivor said: ‘They were upon us every three or four hours.’ Bugler First Class Donald Mack would never forget those screams and the realization: ‘There was one less man to be rescued.’
The feeding frenzy which ensued remains the worst shark attack on humans in recorded history.
Only 317 men, a quarter of the ship's original complement, survived the horror ordeal.   
The USS Indianapolis was destroyed by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945
The USS Indianapolis was destroyed by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945
Paul Allen, 63, announced Friday that his research vessel located wreckage from USS Indianapolis
The USS Indianapolis was a 9,800-ton Portland Class heavy cruiser and earned 10 battle stars during WWII
The USS Indianapolis was a 9,800-ton Portland Class heavy cruiser and earned 10 battle stars during WWII 

Paul Allen

Age: 64  
Known for: Co-founder of Microsoft
Owner: Portland Trailblazers and Seattle Seahawks
Net worth: $20.5 billion It wasn’t until after the war that the crew of the Indy learned the true story of the secret mission that had put them in the crosshairs of Japanese torpedos.
At the time, all they knew was that they were transporting a large wooden crate from a naval yard in San Francisco to the island of Tinian, the busiest US air-base in the Pacific.
The men had joked that it probably contained nothing more than a consignment of luxury toilet paper for the Navy top brass.
In reality it contained about half of the world's supply of enriched uranium at the time, and atomic bomb components.
The mission was successful, and the materials were used in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Indianapolis was steaming onward to the Philippines when two torpedoes from the Japanese sub I-58 struck it.  Underwater Archaeology: The expedition for the USS Indianapolis%
An image shot from a remotely operated vehicle shows wreckage which appears to be one of the two anchor windlass mechanisms from the forecastle of the ship
An image shot from a remotely operated vehicle shows wreckage which appears to be one of the two anchor windlass mechanisms from the forecastle of the ship
Image shows a spare parts box from USS Indianapolis on the floor of the Pacific Ocean in more than 16,000 feet of water
Image shows a spare parts box from USS Indianapolis on the floor of the Pacific Ocean in more than 16,000 feet of water
'Even in the worst defeats and disasters there is valor and sacrifice that deserve to never be forgotten,' said Sam Cox, Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command. 
'They can serve as inspiration to current and future Sailors enduring situations of mortal peril. There are also lessons learned, and in the case of the Indianapolis, lessons re-learned, that need to be preserved and passed on, so the same mistakes can be prevented, and lives saved.' 
Capt. William Toti (Ret), spokesperson for the survivors of the USS Indianapolis, said upon learning of the discovery that every soldier, to a man, 'have longed for the day when their ship would be found, solving their final mystery.'
'They all know this is now a war memorial, and are grateful for the respect and dignity that Paul Allen and his team have paid to one of the most tangible manifestations of the pain and sacrifice of our World War II veterans.'
The ship was found with the R/V Petrel, which Allen had recently purchased, retrofitting the 250-foot vessel with state-of-the-art technology capable of diving to 6,000 meters.
Researchers with Allen's organization were able to locate the ship in part because of a naval landing craft that had recorded a sighting of the USS Indianapolis the night that it was torpedoed, using the coordinates to get a location on the ship.  
The USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was a 9,800-ton Portland Class heavy cruiser that operated in the Atlantic and Pacific, and earned 10 battle stars during WWII. 
The sinking of the USS Indianapolis remains the most tragic maritime disaster in US naval history.
The sinking USS Indianapolis remains to be the most tragic maritime disasters in US naval history
The sinking USS Indianapolis remains to be the most tragic maritime disasters in US naval history