The Sinking

   The Indianapolis sunk on July 20th, 1945 by a Japanese submarine called the I-58. The captain of the I-58 was Mochitsura Hashimoto. Hashimoto had not seen any action while he was patrolling the "Peddie" route and had not sunken any ships so far. He saw a ship drifting along in the distance and thought it was a prime opportunity to prove to his country that he was doing a good job as captain. Hashimoto shot his torpedoes at the USS Indianapolis. Two torpedoes hit the ship, causing it to sink. I thought that it was horrifying to read the stories the survivors had to tell. I don't blame Hashimoto, though. He was just doing his duty as captain and staying loyal to his country. What happened was fate. A horrifying, life-changing fate that took hundreds of lives. It took only twelve minutes, twelve minutes to kill about 300 men and send roughly 880 men into the shark-infested ocean water. The same water that posed as a grave for many of the men who died in its briny waves. A total of 880 men died and 317 men had survived, but had their lives changed forever. I thought that it was daunting how long the men suffered in the water, their last breaths weighing them down further into the deathly water. These men were some of the bravest men I have ever heard of. The last of the survivors were lifted out of the water 113 hours after the ship sank. These survivors used perseverance and will-power to keep themselves alive. These survivors are some of the toughest men out there.