July 30, 1945: The Fate of the USS Indianapolis

July 30, 1945: The USS Indianapolis is sunk. And that's far from the end of it for its crew.

The Indianapolis was a Portland-class heavy cruiser, launched in 1931. In July 1945, in what turned out to be the closing days of World War II -- of course, nobody knew that at the time, even President Harry Truman didn't know it for sure -- it made a top-secret trip to the Tinian Naval Base, to deliver uranium and other components for "Little Boy," which would become the 1st atomic bomb used in combat.

It then left for the Philippines, for training day. Shortly after midnight on July 30, the Japanese submarine I-58 torpedoed it, and it sank. There were 879 crewmen who died immediately. There were 890 left, in lifeboats in the open ocean. They faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and the threat of another Japanese attack.

None of that happened. But they were attacked, by sharks. Hundreds of them were drawn to the wreck by the noise of the explosions and the scent of blood in the water. After picking off the dead and wounded, they began attacking survivors. The number of deaths attributed to sharks ranges from a few dozen to 150. This would inspire the monologue by Quint, played by Robert Shaw, in the 1975 film Jaws.

Because the Indianapolis' mission was top secret, and they had to maintain radio silence at all costs, it took 4 days for the Navy to find out about them and rescue them. Only 316 men survived. It was the greatest loss of life at sea from a single ship in U.S. Navy history.

I-58, the Japanese submarine that sank Indianapolis, was taken over by U.S. forces, and scuttled in 1946. Her commanding officer, Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, was never charged with war crimes. In fact, he became the 1st former enemy military man ever to testify in the court-martial of an American one. The Indianapolis' commander, Charles B. McVay III, was charged with negligence for his role in the ship's sinking. Hashimoto testified that there was nothing that McVay could have done that would have prevented I-58 from sinking his ship.

It ended up not mattering: McVay was convicted of negligence. To this day, he remains the only commander of a U.S. Navy ship to be subject to a court-martial for losing his ship in an act of war, let alone to be convicted for it. Despite a Silver Star and a Bronze Star to his credit, McVay was stripped of his seniority. This sentence was later overturned, but he never got over it, and took his own life in 1968. Hashimoto became a priest in Japan's Shinto religion, and lived until 2000.

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July 30, 1945 was a Monday. There was only 1 score on this historic day, a game in what would now be called Major League Baseball: The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Dain Clay went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

July 1, 1916: The Jersey Shore Shark Attacks

July 1, 1916: Charles Vansant, a 23-year-old Philadelphia native, is attacked by a shark in the Atlantic Ocean, off Beach Haven, on Long Beach Island on the New Jersey Shore. A lifeguard and a bystander tried to rescue him, but he had lost too much blood, and died.

Over the next few days, 3 other people would be killed and another badly injured in shark attacks on the Jersey Shore. The incidents occurred while there was both a Summer heat wave and a polio epidemic, causing people to flee steaming hot New York City, Philadelphia, and the cities of New Jersey for the Shore. The bigger crowds on the beaches gave the sharks an unexpected food source.

The second major attack occurred on July 6, further north in Spring Lake. Charles Bruder, 27, was a bell captain at the Essex & Sussex Hotel. Lifeguards reached him, but his legs had been severed, and he died before they reached shore. Guests and workers at the Essex & Sussex and neighboring hotels raised money for Bruder's mother, in Switzerland.

Further north still, on July 12, a shark got into Raritan Bay, and then into Matawan Creek near the towns of Matawan and Keyport, attacking 3 boys, killing 2 of them. The water shouldn't have been deep enough for a shark to swim in.

There were no further attacks, but their happening so close to the New York media blew the story out of proportion. By the time Jaws was filmed in 1974, sharks had been the Atlantic's boogeymen for over half a century. As Murray Hamilton, playing Mayor Larry Vaughn, put it, "It's all psychological. You yell, 'Barracuda!' Everybody says, 'Huh? What?' You yell, 'Shark!' We've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July."

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July 1, 1916 was a Saturday. Actress Olivia de Havilland was born on this day. And the Battle of the Somme, the biggest bloodbath of World War I, began. I have a separate entry for this event.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 5-4 at Shibe Park (later renamed Connie Mack Stadium) in Philadelphia. Les Nunamaker doubled home the winning run in the top of the 9th inning.

* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2 at the Polo Grounds. Al Demaree went the distance for the Phils, allowing only 5 hits, 3 of them to Dave Robertson. He appears not to have been related to the later Yankee pitcher David Robertson.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers were swept in a doubleheader by the Boston Braves, 7-4 and 2-0 at Braves Field in Boston. Pat Ragan pitched a 2-hit shutout in the 2n game, outpitching future Hall-of-Famer Rube Marquard. The Dodgers -- or, more accurately, the Brooklyn Robins, as they were known from 1914 to 1931, as Wilbert Robinson was their manager -- won the National League Pennant, anyway.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-2 at American League Park (later renamed Griffith Stadium) in Washington. Walter Johnson pitched the last 2 innings for the Senators, and got the save, not that anyone knew what a "save" was at the time. Babe Ruth started for the Red Sox, pitched 3 1/3rd innings, and got the loss. He had no official at-bats, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. The Red Sox went on to beat the Dodgers/Robins in the World Series.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-4 at League Park in Cleveland. The game went 11 innings, although I can't find how the winning run was scored. Stan Coveleski was the winning pitcher, Eddie Plank the losing pitcher. Neither started the game. Both made the Baseball Hall of Fame. Tris Speaker went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. George Sisler went 1-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Redland Field (later renamed Crosley Field) in Cincinnati. Honus Wagner hit a home run.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Eddie Collins went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Shoeless Joe Jackson went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Ty Cobb went 1-for-4.

* And a doubleheader between arch-rivals was played at Robison Field in St. Louis. The Chicago Cubs won the opener, 9-2. The St. Louis Cardinals won the nightcap, 4-3. This was another game that went 11 innings, without Baseball-Reference or Retrosheet having a record of how the winning run was scored.