>>> 2004, MARINE CORPORAL NAMED JASON DUNHAM WAS ON PATROL WITH
HIS UNIT IN IRAQ, THEY CAME UNDER ATTACK.
CORPDUNHAM WAS KILLED. THE REST OF HIS PLATOON WAS
SAVED BECAUSE OF HIS ACTIONS. IN 2007, JASON DUNHAM BECAME THE
SECOND U.S. SERVICE MEMBER AND FIRST U.S. MARINE TO BE AWARDED
THE MEDAL OF HONOR IN HIS CASE POSTHUMOUSLY FOR THE IRAQ WAR.
MARCH 2007, THE U.S. NAVY ANNOUNCED A NEW GUIDED MISSILE
TEE DESTROYER WOULD BE NAMED U.S.S.
JASON DUNHAM. IT IS IN SERVICE NOW AND IT
LIKELY WILL BE FOR A VERY LONG TIME TO COME.
U.S.S. JASON DUNHAM HAS THAT VERY MEANINGFUL NAME FOR A VERY
MEANINGFUL REASON BUT IT'S KNOWN IN THE NAVY AS DDG-109.
SEE THE 109 THERE? ALL NAVY SHIPS HAVE UNIQUE
IDENTIFYING NUMBERS LIKE THAT. THIS, FOR EXAMPLE, IS THE
AIRCRAFT CARRIER, THE GEORGE H.W. BUSH.
I ALWAYS LIKED THIS PHOTO OF FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH SEEING
THEM LOWER THE TOP PART OF THAT AIRCRAFT CARRIER DOWN ONTO THE
DECK. SEE THE GIGANTIC 77 IN LIGHTS
COME DOWN FROM ABOVE HIM. THE U.S.S. GEORGE H.W. BUSH IS
THE CVN-77 IN THE NAVY, THE 77 IS SEVERAL STORIES TALL ON THE
AIRCRAFT CARRIER, AS YOU CAN SEE IT FROM THE DECK.
ALSO IF YOU LOOK IN THE LOWER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF THIS
PICTURE, SEE THERE'S PAINTED RI FLIGHT DECK.
THE NAVY DOES THIS FOR ALL THEIR SHIPS.
HERE'S THE U.S.S. ALBANY COMMISSIONED AS AN ATTACK
SUBMARINE. AGAIN, SEE THE UNIQUE
IDENTIFYING NUMBERS ON IT THERE. THE SSN-753 IN THIS CASE.
NAVY STARTED ASSIGNING UNIQUE NUMBERS TO ITS SHIPS IN THE
1800s. EVERY ONE OF THEM STILL GETS A
NAME, OFTENTIMES A MOVING AND MEANINGFUL NAME, BUT THE IDEA
WAS TO SIMPLIFY AND SHORTEN THE UNIQUE IDENTIFIERS FOR SHIPS AT
SEA TO MINIMIZE CONFUSION. THE LETTERS BEFORE THE NUMBERS
SIGNIFY WHAT KIND OF SHIP THE SHIP IS AND THEN THE NUMBER
FOLLOWS. FOR THE CLASS OF SHIP THAT'S
CALLED A CRUISER, FOR EXAMPLE, MODERN TYPE OF CRUISER IS CALLED
A GUIDED MISSILE CRUISER. ALL THE SHIPS IN THAT CLASS HAVE
UNIQUE IDENTIFYING NUMBERS THAT START WITH CG.
BEFORE WE HAD GUIDED MISSILE CRUISERS, THOUGH, WE HAD ARMORED
CRUISERS OR HEAVY CRUISERS. AND THEIR UNIQUE NUMBER STARTED
WITH CA. ARMORED CRUISERS.
THEY'RE A CRUCIAL PART OF THE NAVY'S FLEET IN WORLD WAR II.
AND IN 1945, O ONE OBVIOUS THES ARMORED CRUISERS, CA-35, SEE IT
HERE, STEAMING AT SEA, IT GOT ORDERS TO MAKE ITS WAY TO AN
ISLAND IN THE MARE MARIANAAS. DUE TO MAKE A VERY IMPORTANT
DELIVERY. ONE THAT WAS SO SECRET THE
CAPTAIN AND HIS CREW DID NOT KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DELIVERING.
UNBEKNOWNST TO THE CAPTAIN AND HIS CREW, THEY HAD ENRICHED
URANIUM FOR THE ATOMIC BOMB THAT WOULD BE DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA.
THE CARGO WAS SECRETS, THE ROUTE WAS SECRET, THE EXISTENCE OF THE
WHOLE MISSION WAS SECRET. NOT MANY PEOPLE KNEW WHERE THE
CA-35 WAS GOING ON WHERE IT WAS ON ANY PARTICULAR DAY BECAUSE OF
THE SECRECY OF ITS MISSION. ARRIVED IN THE MARIANAS JULY
26th, 1945. THEY UNLOADED THEIR SECRET CARGO
AND TURNED AND AND STARTED TO MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE
PHILIPPINES. CRUISER HAD 1,200 MEN ONBOARD.
A JAPANESE SUB FOUND THEM AND HIT THE SHIP WITH TWO TORPEDOS.
INSTANTLY CRIPPLED THE SHIP, INSTANTLY KNOCKED OUT THE SHIP'S
COMMUNICATIONS. THE ORDER TO ABANDON SHIP
COULDN'T BE ANNOUNCED IN AN AMPLIFIED WAY.
IT WAS SPREAD BY WORD OF MOUTH. THEY HAD ALMOST NO TIME.
THAT CRUISER WITH 1,200 AMERICAN SAILORS AND MARINES ONBOARD SANK
IN 12 MINUTES AND OFONBOARD, 40 INITIAL ATTACK.
THAT LEFT 800 MEN IN THE WATER WITH ONLY A DOZEN SMALL RAFTS
BETWEEN THEM. VERY DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES.
DRINKING WATER, EXHAUSTION, EXPOSURE, SHARK ATTACKS.
THE MEN WHO SURVIVED FLOATED OUT THERE FOR FIVE DAYS.
WITH NOTHING. AND NO ONE C ONE CAME TO RESCUE
BECAUSE WHEN THE CA-35 WENT DOWN, NOBODY HAD ANY IDEA THAT
IT HAD SUNK. THERE WERE NO COMMUNICATIONS
FROM THE SHIP. THEY'D BEEN ON A SECRET MISSION
WHERE NOBODY KNEW WHERE THEY WERE OR WHERE THEY WERE SUPPOSED
TO BE WHEN. IT WAS ONLY ALMOST FIVE DAYS
LATER WHEN A BOMBER PILOT HAPPENED TO SPOT AN OIL SLICK IN
THE WATER, HE BUZZED LOWER TO INVESTIGATE.
HE CALLED IN THE RESCUE. BY THE TIME THE RESCUE CAME,
ONLY 316 MEN WERE LEFT ALIVE. OUT OF THE 1,200 WHO'D BEEN
ONBOARD THAT SHIP AND OUT OF THE 800 WHO WENT INTO THE WATER.
IT WAS THE NAVY'S WORST DISASTER AT SEA.
AND NOW WITH 72 YEARS GONE BY SINCE THEN, OF THE 316 SURVIVORS
THAT DAY, ONLY 19 OF THEM ARE STILL WITH US.
THE WRECKAGE OF THE CA-35 WAS NEVER FOUND.
UNTIL THIS WEEK. FINALLY.
THE PROOF THEY FINALLY FOUND IT AFTER ALL THESE YEARS WAS WHEN
THEY SAW THE NUMBER ON THE HULL. YEP.
THEY SAW THAT 35. THAT'S IT.
THIS IS THE U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS. CA-35.
MORE THAN THREE MILES DOWN IN THE PHILIPPINE SEA.
AND IT'S RECOGNIZABLY, S, SEE AN BARREL, IT WAS APPARENTLY A
SPARE FLOAT IN THIS NEXT IMAGE FROM ONE OF THE PLANES THAT WAS
ONBOARD. THERE'S A DUAL .40 MILLIMETER
AIRCRAFT GUN WITH SHELLS STILL LOADED INTO THE GUN.
THE WAY THEY FOUND THIS WAS WITH A RESEARCH VESSEL OWNED BY
CO-FOUNDER OF MICROSOFT. TO FIND THIS THREE MILES DOWN,
MORE THAN 70 YEARS LATER. WHAT A SOLEMN THING GIVEN THE
NUMBER OF MEN WHO DIED ONBOARD, GIVEN WHAT THEIR LAST MISSION
WAS BEFORE THEY WERE HIT. THIS NEWS THIS WEEK COMES AT AN
EMOTIONAL L TIME, ANYWAY, FOR THE U.S. NAVY.
TODAY THE NAVY SUSPENDED THE SEARCH AT SEA FOR THE SAILORS
MISSING FROM THE U.S.S. JOHN McCAIN.
THEY'RE NO LONGER TREATING THAT MISSION AS A RESCUE MISSION.
INSTEAD, IT'S A RECOVER ARY
MISSION TO TRY TO FIND THE SAILORS' REMAINS.
THE NAVY RELEASED THE NAME OF ONE SAILOR WHOSE BODY WAS
RECOVERED AND THE NINE OTHERS MISSING.
THEY REMOVED THE COMMANDER OF THE 7th FLEET, INNOCENTINNOCENT
REMOVED HIM. THE U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS IS FOUND
ALL THOSE YEARS LATER. IT'S INTERESTING THE SHIP'S
EXACT LOCATION REMAINS CLASSIFIED.
THEY'RE CONTINUING TO SURVEY THE SITE.
THERE ARE NO PLANS TO EXCAVATE IT OR DISTURB WHAT'S THERE.
IT'S BEING TREATED AS A WAR GRAVE.
AS A FINAL RESTING PLACE.