The USS Indianapolis was a Portland-class heavy cruiser commissioned in 1932. She served in a number of actions throughout the Pacific War, but is most well remembered for the circumstances surrounding her sinking. The story of her sinking is famously recounted in the 1976 film Jaws where the character Quint shows characters Brody and Hooper his Navy Tattoo and goes on to explain the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. She was used on a special mission to deliver components for the atomic bombs which would later be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and after the delivery, she departed the Marianas for Leyte in the Philippines. While in route to Leyte, the Indianapolis was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945. With little food or water, the 880 crew who survived the sinking endured shark attacks, dehydration, and exposure for three and a half days before finally being spotted by patrolling aircraft. Out of a total of 1,196 crew members, only 316 survived, making the sinking of the USS Indianapolis the single greatest loss of life at sea in US Navy history.
I-58 Model Specifications and Features