Imagine this — you are a war weary sailor in the waning days of World War II. You’re awakened in the middle of the night by Japanese torpedoes ripping through your ship, the closest thing you’ve got to a home. Your ship is carrying a top secret cargo, the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy”, destined for Hiroshima.

Twelve minutes later, the ship has sunk, 300 of your 1,195 crewmates have been killed, and you are adrift, your wounds stinging from the salt waters. For four days and five nights, you float alongside dying men, some of the almost 600 who will perish from vicious shark attacks, dementia, and hypothermia.

The men who actually survived this hellish disaster were sailors aboard the USS Indianapolis, a cruiser headed for Leyte in preparation for the invasion of Japan, sunk by a Japanese submarine 63 years ago today on July 30, 1945, in the worst naval disaster at sea in U.S. history.

Tonight, we’re talking with one of the survivors, U.S. Navy Ensign Harlan Twible (Ret), who was standing watch that fateful night and sounded the alarm. Also joining us are former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) and Hunter Scott, a young man from Pensacola FL, who both played key roles in the 2000 legislation exonerating the ship’s captain Charles B. McVay III from culpability in the tragic loss of 800 men and the USS Indianapolis.

Please join us for this extraordinary program of the story of the USS Indianapolis and the man who survived the nightmare at sea.

We get underway at 9 p.m. Eastern.

*****