On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was sunk by torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine. Of the nearly 1,200 men on board, as many as 900 initially survived the sinking. However, in the four days it took for the survivors to be rescued, hundreds died. Many succumbed to injuries sustained during the sinking or drowned. Dehydration and exposure also proved deadly, and some of the men were killed by sharks, though the exact numbers are unknown. Only 316 crew members were saved.