AA in the Navy

For anti-aircraft target practice, crewmen were firing the ship's 20 mm guns at a kite that was being towed behind the ship. One of them shot it down, but also accidentally hit the depth charges on the stern—a direct consequence of the lack of guide rails that would normally prohibit the guns from being aimed at the ship. The resulting explosion knocked out all power on the ship and sank her in about three minutes. The survivors of the blast endured four or five days of no food, high temperatures and full exposure to the sun on their makeshift rafts; some, driven mad by these conditions, simply jumped into the water and were devoured by sharks.