During late July 1945, the heavy cruiser USS INDIANAPOLIS delivered components of the first atomic bomb used in combat to the U.S. base at Tinian Island and then departed for Leyte in the Philippines.  On the night of July 30, 1945, as the unescorted ship neared the Philippines, it was unexpectedly struck by two torpedoes fired from the Japanese submarine I-58, sinking the ship in 12 minutes.  Of the 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship.  The remaining 900 men faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks during the four days they were in the water before being discovered and rescued.  Only 317 crewmembers survived the sinking.  The sinking resulted in the greatest single loss of life at sea in the sinking of a U.S. Navy ship and goes down in history as the biggest attack by sharks on human beings ever recorded.

Unfortunately, Steward’s Mate First Class Magellan Williams was not one of the survivors.  Little has been recorded concerning him in addition to having entered the Navy from Louisiana.  The name of STM1 Williams    has been inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Philippines.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)