Zigzagging, warning failures, and I-58’s attack

Captain Charles McVay had orders to zigzag at his discretion while maintaining high speed, and he had not been warned that submarines might be nearby. A more suspicious commander might have used a zigzag or the gentler S-pattern employed by some British ships. Even so, neither manoeuvre was likely to defeat I-58's close-range torpedo spread. Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto initially thought he was attacking the battleship Idaho, which shows how target identification shaped the approach. Two Type 95 torpedoes struck the lightly protected, top-heavy cruiser, which rolled and sank in about twelve minutes. About 300 crewmen went down with the ship, and many survivors entered the water without life jackets after most boats sank with the hull.