Indianapolis went down in a mere 12 minutes, bringing nearly 300 of her crew down with her. Nobody abandoned, then I yelled, 'Follow me!' And the bodies came in so fast it was unbelievable.” Twible jumped into the sea and immediately swam away from the ship. “So I took command and I told them to hang on to anything they could hang on to. The resulting explosion literally split the ship to the keel, knocking out all power and causing her to sink by the bow rapidly.Īboard the stricken vessel, young Ensign Twible looked around to find no officers taking charge of the chaotic situation. ![]() The first torpedo blew the bow off of the ship while the second struck nearly amidships near the powder magazine. At 0015 on July 30, the heavy cruiser was struck by two Japanese torpedoes fired from the submarine I-58. On July 29, 1945, “Indy” was sailing toward her rendezvous with the fleet at a speed of 17 knots, unescorted and alone. everything that was of importance on the island of Tinian was there to greet what we later found out was the bomb,” he said.įollowing the delivery of her cargo, the “Indy” was sent to Guam and ordered to join with other surface forces in the area of Leyte Gulf, Philippines, for further training before the invasion of Japan. The ship’s mission was top secret, so the officers and men alike had no idea of their cargo’s importance or why there were so many high-ranking officers watching the crew unload its vital cargo. What Twible did not know at the time was that his ship had transported vital parts for the world’s first nuclear weapon to be used in warfare to scientists on Tinian. Twible, serving as officer of the deck that day, looked out across the pier and noticed an abnormally large contingent of “brass”-high ranking military officers-clustered in large groups on the pier. On July 26, 1945, Twible and “Indy” were sitting dockside on the island of Tinian. Fate would prove him wrong on that assumption. Like any young, confident Academy graduate, Twible wanted to carve a place for himself in history, and he assumed that a cruiser like the Indianapolis, affectionately known as the “Indy” to her crew, would not be that ship. He had wanted to be assigned to a newer, more glamorous ship, desiring to be either a naval aviator or a submariner. ![]() A native of Massachusetts, Harlan Twible was a fresh graduate of the US Naval Academy when he was assigned to the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) in late June 1945.
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