If you read the relevant part of the Wikipedia article, that's not actually true: > In the first official statement, the Navy said that distress calls "were ke

If you read the relevant part of the Wikipedia article, that's not actually true: > In the first official statement, the Navy said that distress calls "were keyed by radio operators and possibly were actually transmitted" but that "no evidence has been developed that any distress message from the ship was received by any ship, aircraft or shore station."[22] Declassified records later showed that three stations received the signals; however, none acted upon the call. One commander was drunk, another had ordered his men not to disturb him and a third thought it was a Japanese trap.[23] It looks like nobody noticing the sinking until a plane saw the survivors floating in the water was not due to any secrecy requirements, but rather due to four people screwing up simultaneously (the fourth being Lieutenant Stuart Gibson, who didn't notify anyone when he noticed the ship was overdue).