From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

In the 1975 blockbuster “Jaws,” Robert Shaw delivers one of the most memorable monologues in movie history as he details the story of the USS Indianapolis, a heavy cruiser built in Camden, New Jersey, which delivered components for the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

Afterwards it was torpedoed and sank, spilling several hundred crew members into shark-infested waters.

“Eleven hundred men went into the water, 316 men come out, and the sharks took the rest,” growled Shaw as Captain Quint. “But we delivered the bomb.”

The true maritime incident was the worst shark attack in recorded history.

You cannot visit the USS Indianapolis — it’s at the bottom of the Philippine Sea — but you can visit a 13-foot scale model at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. “Small But Mighty!: Models, Toys and Miniature Ships” is an exhibition of more than 50 pint-sized boats representing more than 400 years of maritime history.

Most of the models represent ships that were built or docked in the Philadelphia region, including a 1937 model of the Kalmar Nyckel, a 17th century Swedish tall ship that still sails out of Wilmington, Delaware; a replica of a 1920s tanker that a welder built based on blueprints he gleaned from his job at the historic Sun Shipbuilding company in Chester, Pennsylvania; and a diorama of the NS Savannah (1957), the first merchant ship powered by a nuclear reactor.

The largest by far is the infamous Indianapolis, built by an obsessive fan a decade before the ship acquired its bloody infamy.

Walter H. Gerber, a German immigrant living in Philadelphia, studied and photographed the ship as it was being built in Camden in 1931. From 1934-38, he fabricated each component by hand, carving wood and casting metal parts to exacting scale proportions. Once completed, it was put on display at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

But as the United States was approaching its entrance into World War II, Gerber’s intense focus on the ship attracted the attention of the U.S. Navy. And not in a good way.

“The Navy was, like, ‘Um, why are you so interested in one of our ships? And your wife is German and sending letters back home,’” said Seaport Museum president and CEO Peter Seibert. “So they were investigated. All his photographs were taken. His cameras were taken.”

Seibert intends “Small But Mighty” to be a permanent exhibition at the Seaport Museum. Beforehand he had experimented with a smaller, temporary show to see how a display of miniature ships would play with the public.

“We did a quick little test in this room that we’re standing right now, putting out maybe a half-dozen models,” he said in the exhibition space, formerly the gift shop. “I was amazed. People were in here all the time.”

Some models have incredibly fine details: webs of rigging criss-crossing the masts, lifeboats dangling from davits and the more than a dozen sails on a three-masted schooner puff out on imagined winds.

Several pieces were made as display pieces for people and companies who owned the full-sized ships they are modeled after, such as tankers, freighters and a yacht. One piece, a tugboat named Lizzie, is made entirely out of gleaming brass and copper, a shiny display piece for a company headquarters.

Others are made more coarsely, without as fine a craft but with an intimate knowledge of ships. One model of a dredging ship could be considered a work of whimsical folk art, made by an unknown artist with wild proportions, creepy hand-carved figures fastened with wire and up in the crow’s nest something identified as a giant monkey.

“They’ve got more of the Damien, ‘Exorcist’ thing going on,” Seibert said. “But you can really see how the guy who built it probably was on one of these and made it with just the elements that he thought were important.”

Several models were made by prisoners, likely to trade with guards and wardens for special privileges. Two were made in Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. A third is an early 19th century British frigate carved from cattle bone, one of the few craft materials available to prisoners, now prized by collectors.

Though likely carved from memory by someone held in an English prison circa 1812, the frigate’s intricate detailing suggests the artist had a refined understanding of ship architecture.

The Independence Seaport Museum has actual, full-sized boats on view. There are three historic dinghy’s in the next room, and outside in the marina the cruiser Olympia and submarine Becuna are ready for visitors.

But Seibert says miniatures hold a unique appeal. Being toy-sized, these expressions of an individual, or the pride of a corporation, can give visitors a more intuitive view on how ships work.

“You could go outside and see Olympia, and you’ll see it eye-to-eye, but you won’t be able to have a view of looking down on it and seeing how it all works together,” Seibert said. “I think that’s part of the intrigue of it all.”

The new “Small But Mighty!: Models, Toys and Miniature Ships” exhibition is now open. It’s intended to be permanent at Independence Seaport Museum.