The USS Indianapolis was a heavy cruiser of the Portland class, 190 meters long and with a displacement of about 10,000 tons. Just before the sinking, it transferred to the island of Tinian the enriched uranium needed to assemble the nuclear bomb for Hiroshima.
On July 30, 1945, the worst naval catastrophe in U.S. history occurred. Namely, the Japanese submarine I-58 sank the ship USS Indianapolis, which had as many as 1,196 people on board. Shortly before that, the ship had delivered parts for a nuclear bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian from which bombers later took off for Hiroshima.
The USS Indianapolis was a heavy cruiser of the Portland class, 190 meters long and with a displacement of about 10,000 tons. It transferred to the island of Tinian the enriched uranium needed to assemble the nuclear bomb for Hiroshima. After leaving Tiniana, a Japanese I-58 submarine under the command of Mochitsure Hashimoto hit the USS Indianapolis with two torpedoes. About 300 people were killed immediately when the ship sank, and the rest of the crew remained floating at sea. Only three and a half days later, rescuers came to them, but most of the shipwrecked had already died by then. The total death toll reached 883.
