USS Indianapolis (CA-35)

USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was a Portland-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. She holds a place in history due to the notorious circumstances of her demise, which was the worst single loss of life in the history of the United States Navy. After delivering the first atomic bomb to be used in combat to the United States air base at Tinian Island on 26 July 1945, she was in the Philippine Sea when attacked at 00:14 on 30 July 1945, by a Japanese submarine. Most of the crew was lost to shark attacks, as they floated helplessly for several days, waiting for assistance.

Loss of the Indianapolis

A secret mission, and destruction

After repairs and overhaul, Indianapolis received orders to proceed at high speed to Tinian, carrying parts and nuclear material to be used in the atomic bombs which were soon to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Due to the urgency of her mission, Indianapolis departed San Francisco on 16 July, foregoing her postrepair shakedown period. Touching at Pearl Harbor 19 July, she raced on unescorted and arrived Tinian 26 July, having set a record in covering some 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from San Francisco in only 10 days.

Related Topics:
Atomic bomb - Hiroshima - Nagasaki

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After delivering her top secret cargo at Tinian, Indianapolis was dispatched to Guam where she disembarked men and reported for onward routine to Leyte. From there she was to report to Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf for further duty off Okinawa. Departing Guam on 28 July, Indianapolis proceeded by a direct route, unescorted. Early in the morning, at 00:15 on 30 July 1945, two heavy explosions occurred against her starboard side forward, and she capsized and sank in twelve minutes, at 12°2? N, 134°48? E. Indianapolis had been hit by two torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-58, Commander Machitsura Hashimoto in command.

Related Topics:
Top secret - Leyte - Jesse B. Oldendorf - 30 July - 1945 - Torpedo - ''I-58'' - Machitsura Hashimoto

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Delayed rescue: Five days of horror in the water

About 300 of the 1,196 men on board died in the attack. The rest of the crew, nearly 900 men, floated in the water without lifeboats until the rescue was completed five days later. For reasons which have never been explained, the ship was not reported "overdue" and the rescue only came after survivors were spotted by pilot Lieutenant Wilber (Chuck) Gwinn and copilot Lieutenant Warren Colwell on a routine patrol flight. They suffered from lack of food and water, but the worst hazard came from constant shark attacks. Only 316 men survived. The horrific tale was made famous by Quint's monologue in the movie Jaws.

Related Topics:
Wilber (Chuck) Gwinn - Warren Colwell - Shark - Jaws

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The seas had been moderate; the visibility, good; Indianapolis had been steaming at 17 knots (31 km/h). When the ship did not reach Leyte on the 31st, as scheduled, no report was made that she was overdue. This omission was due to a misunderstanding of the Movement Report System. Thus it was not until 10:25 on 2 August that the survivors were sighted, mostly held afloat by life jackets, although there were a few rafts which had been cut loose before the ship went down. They were sighted by a plane on routine patrol; the pilot immediately dropped a life raft and a radio transmitter. All air and surface units capable of rescue operations were dispatched to the scene at once.

Related Topics:
Leyte - Movement Report System

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Future U.S. Secretary of the Navy W. Graham Claytor Jr. was commander of the destroyer escort Cecil J. Doyle. After receiving the location from the seaplane, Captain Claytor sped without orders to check the reports of men floating in the water. As he approached at night, he turned searchlights on the water and straight up on low clouds, lighting up the night and exposing his ship to possible attack by Japanese submarines but rescuing almost 100 survivors of the sunken cruiser. Destroyers Madison and Ralph Talbot were ordered from Ulithi, and the destroyer escort Dufilho with attack transports Bassett and Ringness from the Philippine Frontier to the rescue scene, searching thoroughly for any survivors.

Related Topics:
Secretary of the Navy - W. Graham Claytor Jr. - Destroyer escort - ''Cecil J. Doyle'' - ''Madison'' - ''Ralph Talbot'' - ''Dufilho'' - ''Bassett'' - ''Ringness''

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Upon completion of rescue operations, 8 August, a radius of 100 miles (160 km) had been combed by day and by night, saving 316 of the crew of 1,199 men.

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Captain Charles Butler McVay III

Captain Charles Butler McVay III, commander of Indianapolis since November 1944, was wounded, but survived the sinking, and was among those rescued days later. In November 1945, he was court-martialed and convicted of "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag." Several circumstances of the court-martial were controversial: there was overwhelming evidence that the United States Navy itself had placed the ship in harm's way; the commander of I-58, Mochitsura Hashimoto, testified that zigzagging would have made no difference http://www.ussindianapolis.org/hashimoto.htm; and although 700 ships of the U.S. Navy were lost in combat in World War II, McVay was the only captain to be court-martialed. The conviction ended McVay's career in the Navy, and he was hounded and blamed the rest of his life by grief-stricken relatives of the dead crewmen and he committed suicide in 1968. http://www.ussindianapolis.org/main.htm

Related Topics:
Charles Butler McVay III - Court-martial - United States Navy - Mochitsura Hashimoto - World War II

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Just over fifty years after the tragedy, Hunter Scott (12 years old at the time). a school boy from Pensacola, Florida, was instrumental in raising awareness of the miscarriage of justice carried out at the captain's court-martial. Source: Detroit News, April 23, 1998

Related Topics:
Hunter Scott - Pensacola, Florida - April 23 - 1998

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In October of 2000 the United States Congress passed a resolution that Captain McVay's record should reflect that "he is exonerated for the loss of the USS Indianapolis." President Clinton also signed the resolution. http://www.ussindianapolis.org/resolution.htm

Related Topics:
2000 - United States Congress - President Clinton

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The story in Hollywood

Dramatizations of the Indianapolis tragedy have been adapted to film, stage, and television.

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Jaws

Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws made the fate of the Indianapolis's crew infamous all over again. The backstory of the hardbitten captain Quint included his service on the doomed ship. His terrifying narrative was as follows:

Related Topics:
Steven Spielberg - 1975 - Jaws - Backstory

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:Hooper: "You were on the Indianapolis?"

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:Brody: "What happened?"

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:Quint: "Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief. It was comin' back, from the island of Tinian to Leyte, just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen-footer. You know, you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. Well, we didn't know, 'cause our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Huh-huh. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief. The sharks come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know it's...kinda like 'ol squares in a battle like a, you see on a calendar, like the Battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark would go for nearest man and then he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark would go away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high-pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and in spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to pieces. Y'know by the end of that first dawn, lost 100 men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe 1,000. I don't know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin', Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player, bo'sun's mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water, just like a kinda top. Up ended. Well...he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. He's a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a life jacket again. So, 1,100 men went in the water, 316 men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb."

Related Topics:
Japan - Submarine - Torpedo - Tinian - Leyte - Hiroshima bomb - Tiger - Dorsal - Battle of Waterloo - Bo'sun's mate - Lockheed Ventura - PBY

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Note Quint's misplacement of the date of the incident, which was either an error by the filmmakers or an intoxicated blunder by his character.

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Other renditions

In 1978, the events surrounding McVay's court-martial were dramatized in The Failure to ZigZag by playwright John B. Ferzacca. Actor Stacey Keach portrayed McVay in the 1991 made-for-television movie Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, which depicted the ordeal of the men of the Indianapolis during her last, fateful voyage.

Related Topics:
1978 - Stacey Keach - 1991

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