Overview
- Japanese submarine I-58 struck the ship with two torpedoes just after midnight on July 30, 1945.
- One hit the bow and another detonated near the powder magazine, splitting the vessel and sending it under in about 12 minutes.
- Ensign Harlan Twible organized men in the water, set “shark watches,” and took desperate steps to keep morale and order.
- Survivors endured dehydration, exposure, and repeated shark attacks for four days and five nights before a US Navy patrol aircraft spotted them.
- Of roughly 1,196 aboard, only 316 were rescued alive, marking one of the deadliest single-ship disasters in US naval history.