DAY OF DISCOVERY: With all of the eclipse hubbub yesterday, I held off on posting about the *amazing* recent discovery by Paul Allen and his team. They found the wreckage of the USS Indianapolis. It was lost on 30 July 1945, the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy.
The 35 on the hull was their sure indication it was the long-sought after battleship. The Indianapolis was found 5,500 meters below the surface, resting on the floor of the North Pacific Ocean.
Dude, do the Google! Or at least watch "Jaws"!
Captain Quint talked about his fear of sharks and how it dated back to his experience being on the Indianapolis back in 1945, when it was sunk by being torpedoed by the Japanese.
The Indianapolis had made a high-speed trip to deliver parts for Little Boy, the first atomic bomb used in combat. It was a highest level, super secret mission. During this mission, the Indianapolis was carrying parts and enriched uranium, about half of the world's supply of Uranium-235 at the time, or the atomic bomb Little Boy, which would later be dropped on Hiroshima.[
Here's the Indianapolis in 1939 ...
And here it is a few years later, with a "dazzle camouflage" paint job.
After delivering its super secret cargo, the Indianapolis was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 while on her way to the Philippines.
The ship reportedly sunk rapidly, in 12 minutes. There were 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 900 or so faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks. The ship went down so fast there were few life boats deployed, and almost no food or water.
Crew men bobbed in the Atlantic as the sharks circled. And because the mission was so secret, no one knew. A routine patrol passing overhead four days later spied some of the surviving crew. There were heroic efforts to save the remaining, including strapping soldiers to the wings of the aircraft and flying them to safety.
Of the 1,196 sailors and Marines on board, only 317 survived.
This passage from Wikipedia gives just a glimpse of the situation:
BASEBALL CONNECTION: Wouldn't you know, yesterday's eclipse had a baseball tie in? I was watching NASA-TV and learned that two minor league baseball stadiums, Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Ore., and the Charleston River Dog Stadium, were both in the path of totality.
Each park had a special eclipse ballgame, and halted play during the eclipse. The Salem-Keizer game was the first professional baseball game ever delayed by a solar eclipse, and the ball that will be used for the ceremonial first pitch will be sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
The Indianapolis had made a high-speed trip to deliver parts for Little Boy, the first atomic bomb used in combat. It was a highest level, super secret mission. During this mission, the Indianapolis was carrying parts and enriched uranium, about half of the world's supply of Uranium-235 at the time, or the atomic bomb Little Boy, which would later be dropped on Hiroshima.[
Here's the Indianapolis in 1939 ...
The ship reportedly sunk rapidly, in 12 minutes. There were 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 900 or so faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks. The ship went down so fast there were few life boats deployed, and almost no food or water.
Crew men bobbed in the Atlantic as the sharks circled. And because the mission was so secret, no one knew. A routine patrol passing overhead four days later spied some of the surviving crew. There were heroic efforts to save the remaining, including strapping soldiers to the wings of the aircraft and flying them to safety.
Of the 1,196 sailors and Marines on board, only 317 survived.
This passage from Wikipedia gives just a glimpse of the situation:
Lieutenant R. Adrian Marks was dispatched to lend assistance and report.[16] En route to the scene, Marks overflew USS Cecil J. Doyle and alerted her captain, future U.S. Secretary of the Navy W. Graham Claytor, Jr., of the emergency. On his own authority, Claytor decided to divert to the scene.
Arriving hours ahead of Cecil J. Doyle, Marks' crew began dropping rubber rafts and supplies. Having seen men being attacked by sharks, Marks disobeyed standing orders and landed on the open sea.[17] He began taxiing to pick up the stragglers and lone swimmers who were at the greatest risk of shark attack.[16] Learning the men were the crew of Indianapolis, he radioed the news, requesting immediate assistance. Doyle responded while en route. When Marks' plane was full, survivors were tied to the wings with parachute cord, damaging the wings so that the plane would never fly again and had to be sunk.[16] Marks and his crew rescued 56 men that day, more than one-sixth of the 317 survivors.[16]
Can you imagine? Survivors strapped to the airplane's wings?! Amazing.
Back to the present: Paul Allen and his team recently acquired and retrofitted the 250-foot R/V Petrel with state-of-the-art sub-sea equipment capable of diving to 6,000 meters (or three and a half miles). These are some of the photos they have shared so far.
Read more at https://www.paulallen.com/wreckage-from-uss-indianapolis-located-in-philippine-sea/#tAAJUvQdJIkcXL39.99
BASEBALL CONNECTION: Wouldn't you know, yesterday's eclipse had a baseball tie in? I was watching NASA-TV and learned that two minor league baseball stadiums, Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Ore., and the Charleston River Dog Stadium, were both in the path of totality.
Each park had a special eclipse ballgame, and halted play during the eclipse. The Salem-Keizer game was the first professional baseball game ever delayed by a solar eclipse, and the ball that will be used for the ceremonial first pitch will be sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
I sure wish I had been in Salem for the Volcanoes' game! :/ The team had awesome uniforms for the occasion!
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