New details: Sharks, secrets and the sinking of the USS Indianapolis

When the 1975 blockbuster "Jaws" first terrified moviegoers, not all of the fear came from the special effects or haunting soundtrack. One of the more chilling scenes was fisherman Quint's quiet recounting of bobbing in Pacific waters for days while sharks circled him and his fellow sailors, waiting to see who would be the next victim. Quint described the sharks' black, lifeless eyes, the blood-curdling screams, the ocean turning red.

That grim story, painted from the real-life sinking of the USS Indianapolis near the end of World War II, is part of an upcoming Nicolas Cage movie and a Navy Web page produced ahead of Saturday's 71st anniversary of the tragedy.

The unescorted Indianapolis carried almost 1,200 sailors and had just delivered to Tinian Island components of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Its secret mission over, the cruiser departed Guam and steamed for Leyte, an island in the Philippines, for training.

But torpedoes from a Japanese submarine sent the ship, and up to 300 of its men, to the bottom of the ocean in just 12 minutes in the first hour of July 30, 1945. The frantic crew was unable to get off a successful distress signal.

Of an estimated 800 sailors who went into the water, only 316 survived the nearly five-day ordeal -- the rest succumbing to burns, dehydration, exhaustion, shark attacks and drowning.

While some Americans are familiar with the demise of the Indianapolis -- the highest loss of Navy personnel at sea -- a recent nugget of information sheds new light on where the ship was attacked.

Here are six questions about the USS Indianapolis and lessons learned:

What's the new clue on where the ship went down?

Richard Hulver, a historian for the Naval History and Heritage Command, knew that an LST -- an acronym for a cargo and troop carrier -- came across the USS Indianapolis 11 to 12 hours before the sinking.

Wanting to know more about the location of the encounter, Hulver did a Google search on "USS Indianapolis" and "LST."

Bingo.

In May 2015, the son of a U.S. sailor who was on the LST wrote a blog post on the website of a fudge shop his family operates in Mackinaw City, Michigan. While the post did not give the number of the LST, Hulver found through records that Seaman 1st Class Francis G. Murdick was catching a ride on LST-779.

USS Indianapolis: Research, photos, documents and more

Hulver perused Murdick's personnel records and the LST's deck logs, gleaning new information that shows the Indianapolis was likely farther west than the Navy had thought to be at the time of the attack. "This brings us closer to discovering the final resting place of the ship and many of her crew," Hulver said in a Navy statement about the discovery

There have been attempts over the years to find the Indianapolis, and another reportedly is planned for 2017, likely to readjust the search zone because of the finding. Navy officials said there are no current plans for the military to launch a new one. The vessel is believed to be in water more than 3 miles deep and possibly on a side of a steep undersea mountain range, providing a small target for sonar.

What do survivors remember about the horror?

Vic Buckett recalled seeing the Indianapolis "standing straight up" before it slipped below the waves during the first hour of July 30, 1945. He was among former Indianapolis crew members who spoke with National Geographic in 2015.

Many of those who spilled into the water were injured from the torpedo explosions. Survivors thought surely help must be on the way.