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Occurring just twelve days before the end of the war, the loss of the USS Indianapolis to torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-58 represented the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy. The event has been dramatized and eulogized, perhaps most famously in a chilling scene from the 1975 film Jaws. But in the face of mistakes and incompetence came self-sacrifice and heroism that deserves to be remembered.
In 1891, British humorist Jerome K. Jerome wrote that “Whenever five or six English-speaking people meet round a fire on Christmas Eve, they start telling each other ghost stories.”
The plot of the Rue of Saint Nicaise and its use of an infernal machine played a vital role in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte, and transformed the very concept of assassination, resulting in a new definition of a word all too familiar today: terrorist.
Stories of the suffering, and attempts to celebrate Christmas among soldiers at the front during war, including the 1914 “Christmas truce,” remind us of the blessings of Christmas even in the worst of times. But one Christmas stands out for sheer desperation.
On December 19, 1944 the submarine USS Redfish accomplished a rare feat in the second world war, sinking a Japanese fleet aircraft carrier. It was just one event in the service of a submarine that entered the second world war rather late in the game, but found distinguished service during the second world war and beyond. In fact, there is a good chance you’ve seen USS Redfish, even if you didn’t know it at the time.
