Ares Games
Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Seventy Years Ago....

  1. #1

    Default Seventy Years Ago....

    Seventy Years Ago....

    "Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into her side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte. We'd just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half-hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that in the water, Chief? You can tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail.

    "What we didn't know, was that our bomb mission was so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin' by, so we formed ourselves into tight groups. It was sorta like you see in the calendars, you know the infantry squares in the old calendars like the Battle of Waterloo and the idea was the shark come to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and sometimes that shark, he go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away.

    "Sometimes that shark looks right at ya. Right into your eyes. And the thing about a shark is he's got lifeless eyes... black eyes... like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn't even seem to be livin'... 'til he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah, then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all your poundin' and your hollerin' those sharks come in and... they rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks there were, maybe a thousand. I do know how many men... they averaged six an hour.

    "Thursday mornin', Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Bosun's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water, he was like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. At noon on the fifth day, a Lockheed Ventura swung in low and he spotted us, a young pilot, lot younger than Mr. Hooper here, anyway he spotted us, and a few hours later a big ol' fat PBY come down and started to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened. Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went into the water. 316 men come out, the sharks took the rest, July the 30th, 1945.

    "Anyway, we delivered the bomb."

    http://www.ussindianapolis.org/

  2. #2

    Default

    Thanks for the post on 70 years ago. I was checking movies this weekend and on one channel was a movie about the sinking. I can't remember the whole name but it was ... of the shark.

  3. #3

    Post

    So tragic! Surviving the torpedoing & then getting got by sharks. R.I.P.

  4. #4

    Default

    Checked on the movie and it was Mission of the Shark.

  5. #5

    Default

    Such an unlucky chain of events.
    To have so many men in the water without ships boats or life rafts, and no way of getting help.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  6. #6

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    Such an unlucky chain of events.
    To have so many men in the water without ships boats or life rafts, and no way of getting help.
    Rob.
    Yeah -- I figure for something that important, put it on a battleship in the middle of a BBBG....

  7. #7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by csadn View Post
    Yeah -- I figure for something that important, put it on a battleship in the middle of a BBBG....
    Stealth over firepower was the watchword of the day; but a few DDs would have been a good idea
    Karl
    It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus

  8. #8

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Jager View Post
    Stealth over firepower was the watchword of the day; but a few DDs would have been a good idea :erk:
    Karl
    Yes -- and the result was a triumph of Stealth (the sub) Over Firepower (the CA).... :P



Similar Missions

  1. 4 years
    By Boney10 in forum Officer's Club
    Replies: 26
    Last Post: 10-15-2014, 02:04
  2. When I was 10 Years old...
    By Blackronin in forum Officer's Club
    Replies: 48
    Last Post: 09-17-2014, 12:25
  3. On this Day 99 Years Ago.
    By gully_raker in forum Officer's Club
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 04-26-2014, 11:24
  4. Two years
    By grumpybear in forum Officer's Club
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 01-13-2013, 08:53
  5. 40 Years ago ....
    By Canuck in forum Officer's Club
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 01-27-2012, 15:18

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •