More than 150 were killed in the rage, but some survived to tell the story, including veteran Edgar Harel, who was just 20 when the USS Indianapolis was sunk in 1945 and a deadly attack ensued.
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USS Indianapolis: The History of the Shark Attack in 1945
When the USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine in 1945, it was unbelievably just the beginning of the horrors facing soldiers on board.
Those who managed to escape from the old ship soon had something sinister to worry about.
The blue waters of the Pacific, which at first seemed like a safe haven when their torpedoed ship turned into a ball of fire, would take on a terrifying shade of red.
The submarine attack set fire to a tank containing 3,500 gallons of aviation fuel and the cold ocean was their only place to escape.
They soon discovered that temperature was not the cause of the problem, as the jaws of some fearsome beasts were waiting.
The sinking of the USS Indianapolis had appalling and devastating results (
Image:
Getty Images)
Tiger sharks and ocean white-winged sharks gritted their teeth on the surviving crew in the largest human attack ever recorded by predators.
To make matters worse, the prolonged attacks lasted about four days as the weakening troops began to leave, as the sharks refused to stop circling.
More than 150 people are thought to have died, but some have survived to tell the story.
Sergeant Edgar Harel survived the worst shark attack of all time (
Image:
Ohio Valley Military Society / You)
Sergeant Edgar Harel said he could still hear the screams of friends clinging to each other as the creatures began to tear pieces from their legs.
“You will hear a blood-curdling scream and you will look and see someone coming down – all we heard was that men are being eaten alive every day, every night,” Harel said in 2019.
The map shows the location of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis by a Japanese submarine while the ship was on its way from Guam in July 1945 (
Image:
Getty Images) Captain Charles B. McVeigh of the United States Navy was captain of the USS Indianapolis during World War II.
Image:
Bettmann Archive)
“You’ll find your friend and check him out and find out he’s gutted or the bottom is gone.
He added: “I sailed away from the ship and to a group of Marines who had already escaped from the boat – one was badly wounded and died in my arms within the next hour.”
Mr. Harel, the last survivor of the attack, died in May 2021.
World War II cruiser USS Indianapolis was seen near the Navy on Mare Island, California, on July 10, 1945.
Image:
X80001)
He explained what he and his colleagues went through while staying alive for days in the open water while the sharks watched them.
Troops huddled in the ocean, hoping to scare away predators, but many could not escape the madness of eating.
Of the 80 men who gathered in the water with Mr Harel, only 17 were alive three days later.
The Japanese Zeke exploded near USS Essex after being shot down by USS Indianapolis, near South Honshu, Japan, on March 19, 1945 (
Image:
Getty Images)
He and his friend managed to escape only because a group of sailors made them join them on a makeshift raft and row to land.
Those who did not go did not survive, he said.
The small group was spotted the next day by an American anti-submarine bomber.
Mr Harel later said: “We were the lucky ones – when you make about 900 boys fall into misery, sharks will swim out of there and attack what’s in their way.
Hungry sharks killed most of the survivors of the crew in the largest human attack ever recorded (image) (
Image:
Getty Images / Culture RF)
Of the ship’s 1,195 crews when it was torpedoed, only 316 survived.
In August 2017, the ship’s ruins were discovered 18,000 feet below the surface.
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