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Silver Ospreys' guest recalls sea, sharks and survival

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By PAUL CATALA THE SUN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2009

For four days, he floated in the shark-infested waters of the Philippine Sea after the U.S. Navy cruiser he was on was sunk by a Japanese submarine.

Out of a crew of 1,196, only 317 men who got off the sinking ship survived. Many of those men owed their lives to Harlan Twible.

Twible was the guest speaker at the Oct. 6 meeting of the Sun City Center Silver Osprey Squadron meeting in Freedom Plaza's Plaza Club. The Silver Ospreys are one of 67 squadrons around the United States that are part of the Association of Naval Aviation, dedicated to educate and encourage interest in naval aviation and help establish a fraternal bond between Navy, Marine and Coast Guard aviators.

During the Osprey's lunch meeting, Twible, 87, discussed the circumstances and results of the single, largest loss of life from a single vessel in U.S. Naval history.

On that day in July 1945, Twible was a 23-year-old ensign on the USS Indianapolis. It was returning after delivering the atomic bomb that ultimately was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, thus effectively ending U.S. involvement in World War II.

Twible was on an 8 p.m. to midnight watch when the ship was hit by two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. In 12 minutes, the Indianapolis began to sink, taking about 300 men down with it and leaving 900 swimming perilously in the water with no lifeboats, food or water.

After determining he was the senior officer, Twible helped organize and manage the survival of the men until they were spotted four days later by a U.S. Navy plane on anti-submarine patrol. A rescue seaplane began dropping life rafts and supplies until a plane and boats could pick the emaciated sailors up.

"I had a fellow ask, 'Will we be ok, sir?' I replied, 'God willing,'" said Twible. He said as the ship began to sink, he instinctively knew what to say next.

"I yelled, 'Swim away, swim away!' so they didn't get sucked under," he said. "I looked back and there was my home, going down. To say there was fear in every man's heart would be an understatement."

Twible, who lives in Sarasota with his wife, Alice, went on to say he did what he could to keep morale up among men who were dying of dehydration, hunger and fatigue, as well as sharks.

"I told them help was coming, though I knew it wasn't," he said. "We had to let bodies drift out to sea, watched others die of their wounds and wonder if they'd be next."

Four days and five nights later, the ordeal was over after rescue boats arrived.

Twible, who has a son and three daughters, eventually put the Navy and the Indianapolis' captain's subsequent court martial behind him when he returned to civilian life in 1948. He retired in 1976 from a job as a medical electronics business executive and now spends time working with computers, gardening and making furniture.

Silver Osprey George Gross, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1954 to 1958 with time on the USS Intrepid, said Twible's story is and always would be awe inspiring.

"This gentleman is a legend. He'll be remembered for eternity," said Gross, 72, a Sun City Center resident. "It was inspirational. It's what drew me here."

For information on the Silver Ospreys, call (813) 634-3194.

Reporter Paul Catala can be reached at (813) 731-1970 or pcatala@mediageneral.com.

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