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USS INDIANAPOLIS model ship
Launched in 1931, the USS Indianapolis served as the
flagship for the commander of Scouting Force 1 for eight
years, then as flagship for Admiral Raymond Spruance in
1943 and 1944 while he commanded the Fifth Fleet in
battles across the Central Pacific during World War II.
In July
1945, the USS Indianapolis ship completed a top-secret high-speed
trip from San Francisco to deliver parts of the first
nuclear weapon to the United States Army Air Force Base
on the island of Tinian, and subsequently departed for
the Philippines. Indianapolis was not equipped with
sonar or hydrophones, or provided with an escort.
On 30
July, at 23:26, Japanese submarine I-58 fired a spread
of six torpedoes at 2-second intervals at USS
Indianapolis. At 23:35, Lt. Cdr Hashimoto observed two
equally spaced hits on the cruiser's starboard side. The
ship stopped, listed to starboard, and was down by the
bow, but Hashimoto decided to attack again and dived to
100 feet to open the range and reload torpedo tubes.
While the submarine was submerged, at 00:27 on 30 July,
Indianapolis capsized and sank. When I-58 made a
periscope check, the target was gone.
Of 1,195
crewmen aboard, 300 went down with the ship Indianapolis. The
remaining 890 faced dehydration, saltwater
poisoning, and shark attacks while stranded in the open
ocean with few lifeboats and no food or water.
The Navy
only learned of the sinking four days later, when
survivors were spotted by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on
routine patrol. Only 316 survived.
On 19
August 2017, a search team financed by Microsoft
co-founder Paul
Allen located the wreckage of the sunken cruiser in
the Philippine Sea lying at a depth of approximately
18,000 ft. On 20 December 2018, the crew of the USS
Indianapolis was collectively awarded a Congressional
Gold Medal.
We build this primarily
wood USS Indianapolis
ship model in 2 sizes: 21" (1/350 scale) and 36" (1/200 scale).
Model is built per commission only. We require only
a small deposit to start the process. Please click here for
more details.
Click here to
learn about authentic
warship
models.
Learn more about the
USS Indianapolis here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)
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