On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea, and sank in 72 minutes. The cruiser was returning from a top-secret mission to deliver an atomic bomb to Tinian Island, the same bomb that was called 'Little Boy' and dropped on Hiroshima.
Many of us know this story from Robert Shaw's haunting monologue in the role of Quint in Jaws.
Just this week, a civilian research vessel funded by Microsoft founder Paul Allen finally located the Indianapolis in 5,500 meters of water in the North Pacific, 72 years after it was lost. Allen's Research Vessel Petrel deployed a submersible capable of descending 6,000 meters, and leveraged research by Naval historian Dr. Richard Hulver to narrow the search range, which led to the discovery.
In fact, 1,196 men really did go in the water, and only 317 came out. Nineteen of those men are still living - what incredible emotions those old sailors must be feeling today.
Sunday, August 20, 2017
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23 comments:
Right you are Rob. Though the editors at GTB would like to make a correction. The boat was found 18,000 feet below - perhaps you meant 5500 "meters" which would get you pretty close to that number. That my friends...is deep.
And I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Eclipse post. Question: are the schools in your respective area, elementary schools anyway, doing everything but requiring you to take your child out tomorrow? Ours are. They have not cancelled school, but for all intents they have, strongly encouraging to pick your child up prior to noon. How does the collective group here feel about those traveling to the path of totality? Taking the family on a weekend getaway, buying expensive yet disposable "glasses", and probably spending the trip home on what could very well be a parking lot - I-95 to view a full eclipse that will only be a sliver less apparently from their front yards? My wife and I think it's a little much. But that's just us. I'm speaking more really to young children. If we had teenagers that were science & astronomy geeks, I'd probably get behind it a bit more. But that's just me.
excellent edit, danimal. the metric system has long confounded me.
my 13 year-old is traveling to north carolina with some friends to the path of totality. so we get the best of both worlds - she gets the experience, and we don't have to deal with the inevitable headaches danimal describes.
the pirates and the cardinals are playing a regular-season game tonight in williamsport at the site of the little league world series. they're spending much of the day interacting with the kids playing in the series. that's a really cool idea - kinda surprised it's never been done before.
That Jaws scene is one of my favorites from any film. Robert Shaw was a legendary boozer, and the stories from the set of Jaws were wild. He was also the same age when the clip above was filmed is that Rob is now. It doesn't always preserve you like formaldehyde.
they say that dreyfuss wasn't really acting in that scene; he was so mesmerized by shaw's performance that he just looked on, awestruck.
they also say that shaw originally thought he should get hammered to do the scene to lend it authenticity, but that he blacked out before he could complete it. so what you see on screen was actually performed sober.
RIP Jerry Lewis.
Imagining Jerry Lewis delivering the Quint soliloquy is amusing.
A high school friend named his kid Quinn partially in honor of Quint.
First thing I thought of when I saw the news about the Indianapolis was Quint. And this brings us back to my entry in the "worst way to die" debate from a few weeks ago.
I remember that conversation, against many odds. And I remember Zman referencing Quint in the collision of categories Drowning and Eaten By An Animal. Winner. (Loser.)
Wife tells me that - surprise - the builder can start demo on our first floor renovation in five days. So I spent all day preparing to live w/ no kitchen, dining room or family room for 3 months. We will survive out of our garage beer fridge, with a microwave above.
So yes, I just made a big booze run. The stress has escalated already. The good news is that home reno projects never run late or go over budget.
I will be blacked out by the time shit goes down on GoT tonight.
Nothing better than match play golf. US AM not disappointing.
I cannot envision any stress between TR and Tiara while a crew of random guys demolish their first floor. Scratch that, I want to set up cameras throughout their house and record the whole thing Jersey Shore style.
Another naval ship runs into merchant ship. Something amiss.
'closer i am to fine' live at lilith fair on cnn's 'the nineties'. that could've been us, rootsy.
Daminal, we're a little slow up here, in more ways than one. No school for the kids until the 30th. The camp my son is going to this week bought eclipse glasses for all the campers. I'm sure a bunch 11 to 5 year old's will listen to the camp counselors and wear the glasses.
I know they have to wear them but worried my continual nagging "you have to wear them or you'll go blind" will later ruin the impact my repetition of those similar instructions when my son gets to puberty.
i see what you did there, squeak
Game of Thrones was...eventful.
Final episode will be 85 minutes. I will be watching it via iPad from Hilton Head. Suboptimal.
Holy shit. There is something called "Cornhole: Championship of Bags" on ESPN2. There are two less-than-fetching women chucking bags while announcers talk about the pros/cons of "slick bags."
Slick's bags get around.
I did not know my big brother was a legend. Brice Mccain and Ben Puckett must be proud.
Link would help:
http://www.cleanlink.com/sm/article/Freetime-Matt-Guy-Stigler-Supply-Company-Is-The-King-Of-Cornhole--19775
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