In 1945 the Americans dropped the world's first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Components and uranium for the bomb were delivered to Tinian, the island airfield where the bombers were based by the USS Indianapolis. The Indianapolis - a Portland class heavy cruiser - usually travelled with an escort of destroyers in order to protect against enemy submarines. But due to the secret nature of the mission it was decided that this journey should be completed unescorted. The journey to Tinian was completed in record time, after making their delivery they headed for Leyte. At 00:14 hours on 30th July Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine, she sank in twelve minutes. Approximately three hundred men went down with the ship, the rest faced dehydration, starvation, exposure and shark attacks as they awaited rescue. USS Indianapolis If you've seen Jaws this story may sound familiar, Quint (Robert Shaw) describes the incident in detail ha...