initial attack t. 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 came to rescue them 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