USS Indianapolis spare parts box found on floor of the Philipines Sea

USS Indianapolis wreckage found after 72 years

72 years after its 1945 sinking by the Japanese, USS Indianapolis wreckage has been found in more than 16,000 feet of water in the Philipines Sea.

The 879 deaths was the worst loss of life in U.S. Navy history. Only 317 survived the explosions and four days in the water with sharks attacking crew members. There were 1,196 aboard when the heavy cruiser rolled over and sank in 12 minutes.

No one knew where the Indianapolis was because it was on a secret mission delivering components for the atomic bomb, including about half of the world’s supply of uranium, that later was dropped on Hiroshima. A military pilot on a routine patrol flight spotted the hundreds of men floating in the Pacific Ocean.

Today there are 19 USS Indianapolis crew members still alive, including Sam Lopez, Sr., father of Linda Lopez Gandy, Class of 1965, president of the Monongah High Alumni Association.

Microsoft co-founder, billionaire Paul Allen, said that the research team from his company, Vulcan, searched 600 square miles of ocean using information discovered by a Navy historian who found records of the last recorded sighting of the Indianapolis. The Petrel, a 250-foot research ship, found the wreckage.

An image shot from a remotely operated underwater vehicle shows a spare parts box from USS Indianapolis on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

The 16-person team on Allen's ship will continue to survey the full site and will conduct a live tour of the wreckage in a few weeks. 

 

Sam Lopez, Sr., father of Linda Lopez Gandy, Monongah High Alumni Association president, may be part of the most unique Last Man Club in America.

He’s one of only 27 USS Indianapolis survivors who still are alive. They are in their 80s and 90s.

Victor Buckett, who attended the USS Indianapolis reunion to mark the 70th anniversary of the disaster this summer, passed away this month. Buckett grew up in Mamaroneck, New York.

Sam Lopez, Sr.

The USS Indianapolis was returning from delivering components for the atomic bomb that later struck Hiroshima when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945. The ship sank in 12 minutes. In America’s worst naval tragedy of World War II, 880 died.

A month later, Japan surrendered after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Because no one else knew about it, 900 men floated in the ocean for four days until they were discovered by accident when a Navy PBY search and rescue plane piloted by Hoosier Adrian Marks discovered them floating in the ocean.  

By then, only 317 men still were alive.

Sharks feasted on the dead and attacked and killed some of the living.

Captain Charles Butler McVay, who had led the Indianapolis through the invasion of Iwo Jima and the bombardment of Okinawa, was court-martialed, the only one in charge of a ship given that punishment in World War II.

He was returned to duty in 1946 and committed suicide in 1968.

Sam Lopez has a bridge on U.S 19 south of Shinnston at Gypsy named for him.

Sam didn't graduate from Monongah High but had the good sense to marry a Monongah girl, Joanne, in 1946 and has lived in Monongah for 63 years, about the length of a football field from where I spent my childhood on Thomas and Church streets.

Those still alive may see a movie about their traumatic experiences if they can hang on a little longer.

Nicolas Cage, last month began filming “USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage.” I’m guessing that those still alive from the Indianapolis will be invited to the premiere, probably in Indianapolis and planned, appropriately, for Memorial Day.

Wonder who will play Sam?