All hands on deck.

Man your battle stations.

The tragedy of the USS Indianapolis

is considered one of the greatest

disasters in the history of the United States Navy.

If you've seen Steven Spielberg's 1975 mega hit,

Jaws, one of the most riveting moments in the movie

is a speech by the character Quint,

recounting the slaughter of the crew of the USS Indianapolis

by a school of sharks.

I'll never put on a life jacket again.

If you thought some clever screenwriter just made it up

for the film, well, allow us to fill you

in on all the gory details.

Today we're going to take a look at the deadliest shark

attack in human history.

But before we get started, be sure to subscribe

to the Weird History channel.

And let us know what other survival stories you would

like to hear about.

OK, who's up for a swim in the most shark

infested waters in history?

Time to get your toes wet.

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On July 26, 1945 the USS Indianapolis

completed a mission that would change world history.

When it delivered the components for the first operational

atomic device to the island of Tinian,

the parts would be assembled into the notorious atomic bomb

known as Little Boy.

And just a few days later it would

be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima,

wiping out an estimated 80,000 people.

After completing the delivery, the Indianapolis

was sent to join the USS Idaho in the Philippines.

There they would assist in preparations for an invasion

of the Japanese mainland.

The ship set out alone for its new destination

at a clip of 17 knots.

It was smooth sailing at first, but the USS Indianapolis

would soon find its journey coming to a sudden and violent

halt. It was just after midnight on July 30, 1945

when a Japanese submarine launched two torpedoes

into the side of the Indianapolis.

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It was a direct hit that split the ship into two.

The order to abandon ship came quickly but not quickly

enough for some.

It took just 12 minutes for the giant vessel to sink,

and many didn't make it out.

In fact about 300 men were still trapped

inside when the ship went down.

They were never heard from again.

Another 900 or so went into the water.

They didn't know it yet, but their fate

would be arguably worse than the ones who

went down with the ship.

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The Indianapolis went down fast and the resulting chaos

led to numerous injuries and a lack of proper equipment

for those who got off.

Approximately 879 servicemen survived the initial sinking,

but many didn't have the time to get life preservers.

So they had to constantly fight to stay afloat.

The ones who did manage to get life vests

only had it slightly better as they

found themselves unable to do much but helplessly bob

in the water.

Many of the sailors were hurt, having

suffered gashes or broken bones when the torpedo struck.

In the water without even a life raft,

they had no way to treat their injuries.

As if all that wasn't bad enough, almost all of them

were covered in fuel that was leaking out

of the wreckage of the ship.

It was so overwhelming men were already

beginning to die in each other's arms floating in the ocean.

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The Indianapolis sank fast, but in those 12 minutes

the heroic crewmen sent out SOS signals

until they were absolutely unable to do so any longer.

Those SOS's were received by the Navy.

But for reasons that remain unknown to this very day,

they weren't taken seriously.

Even when the ship failed to arrive

on time at its destination, no one got suspicious.

No search parties were sent to look

for the ship or its survivors.

In fact, no action was taken at all.

By sunrise there was blood in the water, literally.

And sharks came to investigate.

Aware of their presence, the survivors

attempted to stay together in groups

as they bobbed in the water.

But regardless of how hard they tried,

eventually someone would break away.

And the currents would carry them off.

Once a survivor was isolated from the group,

the sharks would move in and quickly pounce.

Survivors report that everyone could hear the screams

before a body was pulled under.

And afterwards only the life vest

would pop back up to the surface.

This continued for days.

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While the shark attacks remained a constant danger to the men

in the water, there was one thing that gave some of them

a stay of execution.

Some of the bodies that were trapped in the Indianapolis

when it sank would occasionally float up towards the surface.

The sharks were just as happy to feed on these corpses

as they were a lot less trouble.

Unfortunately, while the floaters in the ship

slowed the decimation of the survivors, in the long run

it wouldn't be enough to save many.

By that point, the sharks were in a feeding frenzy.

And there were only so many who survived.

So despite the reprieve, the survivors

continued to endure more days of shark attacks.

So every time the sharks were coming

in we would kick and scream and do things that we thought

were driving the sharks away.

And they did drive them away.

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On the surface the survivors of the Indianapolis

could see dozens of fins circling them

at any given time.

Beneath the water, the sharks kept up their attacks.

However, they didn't always pounce immediately.

In fact, sometimes they took the time to psych out their prey.

Apparently, the sharks would occasionally

bump against the sailors in the water

but not necessarily attack them.

This tactic was apparently meant to lull the sailors

into a false sense of security because shortly

after the shark would attack.

The sharks dragged their victims down into the depths.

With each attack, the water grew more bloody,

which in turn just led to greater blood

lust in the sharks.

The sharks were certainly the most immediate problem.

But they were far from being the only danger the survivors had

to contend with.

As they were drifting in saltwater,

the men had nothing to drink.

And since they were out there for several days,

many died of thirst.

Any who attempted to drink the saltwater

soon became delirious with hallucinations.

The life vests were also becoming

increasingly waterlogged, which made

it much harder to stay afloat.

Consequently, several of the men died in the water

before the sharks could even get near them.

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On the third day, several of the survivors

found some crates floating in the water

and lashed them together.

While the crates weren't sturdy enough to use as a raft,

they could be used for another important purpose,

drying out the life preservers.

The men would ring the life vests out by hand,

throw them on top of the crate raft,

and then put them back on when they were dry.

This system allowed more of the survivors

to stay afloat for longer.

As a bonus, one of the crates contained some partially rotten

potatoes, which the survivors carefully

rationed to sustain themselves as long as possible.

It was 11:00 AM on the fourth day

when the survivors were accidentally

spotted by Lieutenant Wilbur C. Gwinn, who was flying

a bomber on a routine patrol.

He immediately radioed for help