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Lost Military · War grave

USS Indianapolis

1945 · Lost ship, Philippine Sea
PROTECTED
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

USS Indianapolis: still unexplained.

The law of this ground: Protected Navy war grave (SMCA); exact coordinates kept confidential.
The subject
developing the photograph…
The account

Torpedoed after delivering atomic-bomb components; sank in 12 minutes. Only 316 of ~1,195 survived days of shark attacks. Found 2017.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • The cruiser was torpedoed in 1945 days after delivering the Hiroshima bomb components, and the shark attacks on its survivors are infamous.
  • The wreck was found in 2017 by Paul Allen's team at about 5,500 meters in the Philippine Sea; it is a war grave and off limits to disturbance.
  • This is a memorial and documentary site, not a treasure hunt.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • The cruiser was torpedoed in 1945 days after delivering the Hiroshima bomb components, and the shark attacks on its survivors are infamous.
  • The wreck was found in 2017 by Paul Allen's team at about 5,500 meters in the Philippine Sea; it is a war grave and off limits to disturbance.
  • This is a memorial and documentary site, not a treasure hunt.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 12.000°, 134.800° (approx.) View on the Map