<P> In 1945, the Portland - class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, commanded by Captain Charles McVay (Nicolas Cage), delivers parts of the atomic bomb that would later be used to bomb Hiroshima during the ending of World War II . While patrolling in the Philippine Sea, on July 30 in 1945, the ship is torpedoed and sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarine I - 58, taking 300 crewmen with it to the bottom of the Philippine Sea, while the rest climb out of the ship and are left stranded at sea for five days without food and water and left in shark - infested waters . </P> <P> With no hope for five days, most of the remaining crew - members are eaten by sharks or die of salt water poisoning by drinking seawater (which also caused some of those injured to die from infectious wounds). Others swim off from their groups after hallucinating of a non-existent island, never to be seen again . On the 5th day, the surviving crew are rescued by an airplane pilot who spots them by chance and calls for a rescue . Only 317 survive the disaster . Looking for a scapegoat for their own gross negligence, the US Navy court - martials and convicts Captain McVay for "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag", despite overwhelming evidence supporting McVay (such as even having the former captain of the IJN's I - 58 submarine to testify for the trial, which proved McVay to be not at fault). It ends with Captain McVay finally committing suicide years after the tragedy after being harassed and tormented with phone calls and mail from angry and grief - stricken relatives of the deceased crew - members, as well as the media (mostly in the form of newspapers, which placed the blame on him for the ship's sinking). </P> <P> In a subplot, two childhood friends, Indianapolis diver Brian Smithwick and a crew member known as D'Antonio, fall in love with the same woman without the other knowing . D'Antonio purchases an engagement ring before the trip to Tinian to propose to the girl who tells D'Antonio before the trip that she is expecting their first child . During a brawl involving two of the crewmen, D'Antonio loses the ring and one of the crew members, Deuce, steals it . After the ship is destroyed, Smithwick and D'Antonio spend the next few days in the sea with the rest of the crew where D'Antonio succumbs to massive leg injuries received in a shark attack . Smithwick is given the engagement ring by Deuce . Smithwick proposes to D'Antonio's fiancée Clara to help her raise her child and she accepts his proposal . </P> <Ul> <Li> Nicolas Cage as Captain Charles B. McVay III </Li> <Li> Tom Sizemore as Chief Petty Officer McWhorter </Li> <Li> Thomas Jane as Lt. Adrian Marks </Li> <Li> James Remar as Admiral William S. Parnell </Li> <Li> Matt Lanter as Chief Petty Officer Brian "Bama" Smithwick </Li> <Li> Brian Presley as Waxman </Li> <Li> Cody Walker as Lieutenant West </Li> <Li> Emily Tennant as Clara </Li> <Li> Adam Scott Miller as D'Antonio </Li> <Li> Callard Harris as Lieutenant Standish </Li> <Li> Mandela Van Peebles as Theodore </Li> <Li> Weronika Rosati as Louise, McVay's wife </Li> <Li> Yutaka Takeuchi as Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto </Li> <Li> Justin Nesbitt as Lindy </Li> <Li> Matthew Pearson as Duece </Li> <Li> Juan Antonio Chavero Briones as "John Boy" Ramirez </Li> <Li> Sam Velasquez as Boy in ship </Li> <Li> Currie Graham as the prosecutor in McVay's court martial . </Li> <Li> Max Ryan as Wilbur "Chuck" Gwinn </Li> </Ul>

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