Hi everyone,
I am interested in the sinking of the USS Indianapolis…wasn’t there only about 300 or 400 men that survived? I know that they were on their 4th day in the water when they were finally discovered. I think their was over 700 men that died either in the initual sinking or afterwards, in the sea water… I have seen a couple of documentaries about this battleship…It is heartbreaking to hear the stories from some of the survivors…One of the ship’s doctors said that he never has been able to say The Lord’s Prayer after that…in his group…he would check for signs of life…remove life jacket and they would say that prayer…Any information would be greatly appreciated…
And thank you everyone in this forum for being so nice and welcoming…I am an amateur WWII buff so I am not always sure of my facts…so I will try to check them before I post.
Regards,
Robbielynne
sorry i didn’t see this sooner. the Indy was a cruiser. it transported the components of the hiroshima Abomb to the island of Tinian in Jul of 45. then on its way to the Philippines the I-58 slammed 2 torpedos into it. over 800 made it off and became victums of one of the biggest shark attacks on record. a little over 300 survived. Ill give you the story to read
that film may have been what made the public aware of this disaster. at least i never heard of it before this.
That is the first time I heard of it…Then watching some documentaries years later on military channel, discovery etc…and then in October 2001, it went worldwide when the Department of the Navy absolved Captain McVay of all wrong doing… they finally cleared him after so many years…Thanks for the information and links…
Regards,
Robbielynne
the Q on most forums is why was he singled out for destruction???
The same reason Adm. Kimmel and Gen. Short were. Because they needed a scapegoat to CYA…
scapegoat is right Nick. but still 100’s of CO’s lost their ships and crews without being court-martialed. I read some 700 Navy ships were lost. so why was McVay singled out???
…the story I heard was a TV documentary many years ago. its seems one of the officers who died in the disaster was the son of a wealthy business industrialists who had a lot of pull and strings with the senate and congress. and he wanted someone to pay for the loss of his son. so, he pulled the strings. the politicans had no idea what to do so they dumped it on the Navy. the Navy said there’s only one responsible. the first by law. McVay. so they ordered the court-martial. pass the buck. that’s the story I heard.
…of course without proof its just hear say on my part. but that’s the story I heard.
The Navy needed someone to blame…the families were outraged at how it took 4 days for the survivors to be rescued…1200 men aboard the USS Indie and only 317 survivors…it has been estimated that about 800 went into the water on that first day…Sadly, Captain McVay committed suicide in 1968…His one question to the Navy was why they never looked for his men…The Navy doesn’t like to admitting if they make mistakes…Could you even imagine being in the ocean for 4 days…battling the elements, some injured,sharks,no food or water…It gives me chills to even imagine what they went through…Forgive me,but the more I learn about this tradegy the more passionate I become about it…they are all heroes and shall not be forgotten…
back then the Navy had a policy of NOT reporting departures and arrivals of warships. the Indy was handed from 1 command to another on its last trip. the change over in command was never forwarded to the new command. thus they had no idea she was coming. so she was lost in a vacuum. hence the delay in picking up the survivors. they were found by accident. a lockheed ventura flying boat spoted the oil slick on routine patrol.
…because of this disaster the Navy changed its policy. when I was in the USN in Nam I sent many a departue and arrival messages.
The Indie was also on a top secret mission…delivering the bomb components…It is just something they learned from…They did get off a SOS before the Indie sunk…but it was dismissed as a Japanese trick and diregarded…It is a good thing they changed the policy…
regards,
Robbielynne
well I heard a little different story about the SOS. ref the documentary i saw. the 2nd fish hit the engine room killing all power including the radio. none could be sent.
still. maybe maybe not. conflicting stories are no surprise with just minutes to live.
At 14 minutes past midnight, on 30 July 1945, midway between Guam and Leyte Gulf, she was hit by two torpedoes out of six fired by the I-58, a Japanese submarine. The first blew away the bow, the second struck near midship on the starboard side adjacent to a fuel tank and a powder magazine. The resulting explosion split the ship to the keel, knocking out all electric power. Within minutes she went down rapidly by the bow, rolling to starboard.
conflict
Naval authorities then and now have maintained that the Indianapolis sank too quickly to send out a distress signal. A radioman aboard the Indianapolis testified at the September 1999 Senate hearing, however, that he watched the “needle jump” on the ship’s transmitter, indicating that a distress signal was transmitted minutes before the ship sank, and sources at three separate locations have indicated that they were aware of a distress signal being received from the sinking ship. Its very likely that these distress signals were received but ignored as a Japanese trick to lure rescue vessels to the area.
http://www.ussindianapolis.org/story.htm
“Its very likely that these distress signals were received but ignored as a Japanese trick to lure rescue vessels to the area.”
…this is true. if it was sent it was more than likley by morse code. remember the clock is running with mins to live. the operator who received the call had to vierify if it was the Indy or a fake. how??? probably by the use of an authentication code book. this book would have had challenges and replys. so given time he would send the challenge and the Indy would have replied with the right code. but - times up. no time for a reply.
…in Nam we used encrypted teletype. but we were still required to quailfy on morse code. why??? up till then it was still the most reliable method of communications. we used speed keys. I qualified up to 90 WPM. and the system of IFF worked !!! many a time enemy operators tried to steal our traffic to keep it from being delivered. using the system we nailed em…:mrgreen:
something interesting about the trial. coming up
That puts a whole new light on it then…didn’t think about authentication code and the Indie sunk in about 12 minutes so time was almost out…and so many dead…probably never know for sure…but with this information,I have to go with you about it…Glad you got them in Nam:mrgreen:…
Eager to hear more…especially about the trial…
appreciate the insight and the information…I am not an expert but I am learning alot here from you all…thanks for your patience…
never can say im 100% accurate. but this is what i saw. im pooped and off for the night. C U later
OK. a question has been asked over the years. why did she sink so fast??? in only 11 mins. the massive damage for sure. but. I found out a long time ago the OIC in the engine room was cut off from the bridge. his decesion was to follow the last propulsion command received and keep the ship moving. I think this contributed to sinking the ship faster. he was not aware the Indy had no bow. and now, moving forward she was scooping the Pacific Ocean inside and begain to plow down into the sea. the survivors confirmed this. citing as she sank the screws were still turning. a fateful turn of events. when a torpedo hits its SOP to STOP ENGINES. obviously to slow flooding and buy time for the crew to get off and send a distress call.
…
ok the trial. this was easier to find than I thought. a high ranking officer named Ernest J King (admiral) took charge of this trial. he had a very keen interest here. revenge. lets look at this Kangaroo court:
Admiral Nimitz, the Fleet Admiral, did not agree, and ordered the Judge Advocate to address a Letter of Reprimand To Captain McVay in lieu of a Court Martial.
Now, it is most unusual for an order of a Fleet Commander to be countermanded, but on the 25th. of September, the Chief of Naval Operations, Ernest King, wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, saying he disagreed with Nimitz, and recommended that McVay be brought to trial by Court Martial.
It is interesting to note that the record discloses that King, as a junior officer had served with McVay’s father, who had reprimanded him, plus public pressure for responsibility for this debacle to be placed some where, and the Secretary for the Navy directed McVay would stand trial. The die was cast, and McVay was selected as the bunny!
“It is interesting to note that the record discloses that King, as a junior officer had served with McVay’s father, who had reprimanded him”
the article does not say what year this happened. it was years before the war when King and McVay sr were more junior offices. I heard it was not a reprimanded but a court martial. what was this incident???
McVay sr and King both served on the same ship. one night in the far east King tried to smuggle a prostitute aboard ship. McVay sr caught him and kneaded out the punishment. the grudge set the die cast.
hence the reason King over ruled Nimitz. to get even. it should have been a mis trial. but was this info known ahead of trial??? good question.
the prosecution insulted evenone by bring back from Japan the CO of th I-58 that sank the Indy. 1 Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto. he was put on the stand to tesify about the zig zag maneuver. one of the charges filed. failue to zig zag. but it back fired. when question Hashimoto said the zig zag made no differece at all. mearly a readjust in firing time. the defense also put a USN submarine CO on the stand who agreed. it was useless.
…bringing Hashimoto back to testify against McVay brought a public out cry from congress and the senate and a nation wide outrage by the press. the Indy was now front page news.
Interrogation of Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, former commanding officer of the Japanese submarine I-58 regarding the sinking of USS Indianapolis (CA-35) as well as Japanese Navy tactics and technology
Q and A. some what lenghty
[URL=“http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq30-8.htm”]link
Charles B. McVay III Bio
[URL=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._McVay_III”]link](http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/TheLossofUSSIndianapolisg.html)
memorial
written on the Hiroshima bomb was a message similar to this. to Hirohito from the crew of the USS Indianapolis
In July-August 2001, an expedition sought to find the wreckage. it failed. but hopefully someday…link with great photos
Thanks for all of the links, pics. and information…that trial was a farce…it is tragic all across the board…it is something that can’t ever be forgotten…I had seen the documentary when they were trying to find the Indie and their was 4 survivors on the trip…hopefully, one day it will be discovered…