Upload video Video is not available The video will play automatically soon8Cancel Play now USS Indianapolis: The story of the shark attack in 1945 When the USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine in 1945, it was unbelievably just the beginning of the horror faced by the soldiers on board. Those who managed to escape from the brown boat soon had something bad to worry about. The blue waters of the Pacific that at first seemed to be a safe haven as their torpedo boat turned into a fireball were about to take on a frightening shade of red. The submarine attack detonated a tank containing 3,500 gallons of aviation fuel and the cold ocean was the only place to leave. They soon discovered that it was not the temperature that was causing the problem, as the jaws of some scary beasts lurk. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis had frightening and devastating effects ( Picture: Getty Images) Tiger sharks and ocean sharks have sunk their teeth into the crew that survived the largest attack on humans ever recorded by predators. To make matters worse, the ongoing attacks lasted about four days, as the weakened troops began to rise as the sharks refused to stop circling. It is estimated that more than 150 were lost, but some survived to tell the story. Sergeant Edgar Harel survived the worst shark attack of all time ( Picture: Ohio Valley Military Company / You) Sergeant Edgar Harel said he could still hear the screams of friends clinging to each other as the creatures began to tear pieces from their legs. “You heard a blood clot and you looked and you saw someone going down – all we heard was live men eating, every day, every night,” Harel said in 2019. The map shows the location of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis by a Japanese submarine while the ship was en route from Guam, July 1945 ( Picture: Getty Images) Capt. Charles B. McVay of the US Navy was commander of the USS Indianapolis during World War II ( Picture: Bettmann Archive) “You would find your friend and you would check him and you would find that he has disemboweled, otherwise the bottom was gone. He added: “I swam away from the ship and to a group of marines who had already left the boat – one was seriously injured and died in my arms within the next hour.” Harel, the last survivor of the attack, died in May 2021. The USS Indianapolis World War II cruiser appears off Mare Island Navy Yard, California, on July 10, 1945 ( Picture: X80001) He explained what he and his colleagues had gone through as they were kept alive for days in the open water as sharks watched. The troops gathered together in the ocean in the hope that they could scare the predators, but many could not avoid the food frenzy. Of the 80 men who gathered in the water with Mr. Harel, only 17 were alive three days later. The Japanese Zeke explodes near the USS Essex after being shot down by the USS Indianapolis, near southern Honshu, Japan, March 19, 1945 ( Picture: Getty Images) He and a friend escaped only because a group of sailors urged them to join them on a makeshift raft and paddle ashore. Those who did not go did not survive, he said. The small group was spotted the next day by an American bomber patrolling anti-submarine. Mr Harel later said: “We were lucky – when you take out about 900 boys out there who are rotting out of misery, the sharks will swim out of there and attack whatever is in their way.” Hungry sharks killed most of the crew that survived the largest human attack ever recorded (stock image) ( Picture: Getty Images / Culture RF) Of the 1,195 crew members when the ship was torpedoed, only 316 survived. In August 2017, the wreckage of the ship was found 18,000 feet below the surface. read more 13-Legged Monster “Jumbo Jaws” Great White Shark Spotted on Radar in Shallow Water read more Visitors to the beach say “alien creature from the depths” with strange teeth and lips washed in the storm
