Nicknamed by her crew as the Lucky Indy Maru for her charmed streak in surviving some of the most hard-fought battles in the Pacific, the USS Indianapolis lingers outside the naval shipyard on Mare Island in Northern California, in this photo that was produced on the 10th of July in 1945.
Having docked in for repairs after having being mauled by a Kamakai during the invasion of Okinawa, a naval battle that had lasted from the 23rd of March to the 21st of June in 1945, and was the last major encounter of World War II (see Farbound.Net snippet: The storm before the atomic bomb), the Indianapolis at the time was just days away from embarking on a mission that would immortalize her in history, disgrace her captain and put her on the list of the worst naval disasters of the war.
Then with the passage of time and the declassification of confidential military documents, reveal the gross injustice and dereliction of duty that had worsened her death at sea and led her commanding officer to commit suicide at the age of 70.
USS Indianapolis, a new generation warship of her time.
Built in the intermediate period that divided the two great World Wars, this large yet fast vessel was a new-generation warship of her time and a product of the 10,000-ton cruiser limit act.
An act which had come into existence with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930. Signed and implemented by the nations of the U.S., U.K., France, Italy and Japan to prevent an arms race between these victorious allies of World War I.
The ship’s kneel was forged at New York’s Camden Naval Shipyard on the 7th of March in 1930 while the rest of her construction had taken up slightly over a year. Her sponsor was Lucy Taggart, daughter of U.S. senator Thomas Taggart, and who had once served as the mayor of Indianapolis.
The ship was launched on the 15th of November in 1931, and was commissioned by the U.S. navy, exactly a year later on the 15th of November in 1932.
Her first commanding officer was Captain John M. Smeallie. While her first wartime commander was Captain E.W Hanson. Author Thomas Helms, who once served onboard the Indianapolis, tells us Hanson was one of the most admired and respected officers to ever commandeer the ship.
Size and Speed.
The Indianapolis had measured some 610 feet in length and a slim 62 feet at the beams. Her ability to generate a top speed of 32 knots per hour had made her one of the fastest warships of the U.S. navy – and later a handpicked choice to transport the uranium and the core components of the atom bomb ‘Little Boy’ to the Tinian Island.
At the North Field airbase on Tinian, the bomb was assembled by technicians and later released by the Enola Gay over Hiroshima on the 6th of August in 1945 (see Farbound.Net story: Little boy, the world’s first atom bomb.)
The Indianapolis had successfully accomplished the mission by having sailed the odd 5,692 miles to her destination in a span of ten days without escort – after having picked up her consignment at the Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco.
A favourite of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, the ship had participated in almost all major encounters to have occurred in the Pacific theatre, including the taking of the Aleutian Islands, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The gallantry displayed by her crew during these engagements had gained her the reputation of a combat veteran, as well as ten Battle Star honours.
Under Admiral Raymond Spruance of the U.S. navy, the Indianapolis was the flagship of the 5th Pacific fleet.
She was also a favourite of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had her elevated in status be a ship of state and sailed on her on recreational trips – not to mention entertained high-ranking dignitaries and prominent political figures on her polished teak decks during his Good Neighbor tour in 1936.
The structural flaw in the ship’s design.
Although this heavy cruiser was heavily armed with thirty-two machine guns, twenty 40mm Bofors guns and nine 8-inch bombardment cannons that could pulverize enemy positions and ships from a distance of 18 miles, she was nonetheless, a top-heavy ship that could capsize easily – especially when making sharp turns.
Furthermore, the ship had very little body armour and which had left her vulnerable to enemy sea mines and torpedoes. A structural flaw that had ultimately hastened her demise when she was targeted by Japanese submarine I-58 and hit with two torpedoes, two weeks before the surrender of Japan on the 14th of August in 1945.
The Indianapolis had departed on her mission on the 16th of July in 1945, the very day the Trinity Gadget was successfully detonated in a remote location of the White Sands Missile Base in New Mexico at 5:29 am (mountain UST). On the 26th of July in 1945 she had delivered the core components of the bomb at Tinian island.
On the 30th of July in 1945, as she was making her way across the Philippines Sea for the island of Leyte in the Visayas archipelago for a training program, the I-58 had by chance alone spotted her in the dark.
Sinking of the USS Indianapolis.
Having assumed her to an Idaho class battleship, the I-58 had fired a volley of six Type 95 conventional torpedoes and two out of which had slammed into her side at five minutes past midnight. The top heavy and lightly armoured cruiser had toppled within twelve minutes as her penetrated hull had flooded with seawater, ignited fires and left her crew fumbling about in the dark to get clear of her sinking wreckage.
Out of the 1,229 seamen on board, three hundred had drowned with the ship. While out of some nine hundred seamen left afloat in the freezing waters, dehydration, hypothermia, consumption of seawater and depression-induced suicide were later discovered to be the cause of death.
In what was perhaps the most frightening episode, many of the stranded were repeatedly attacked and dismembered by sharks over a four-day period.
On the 3rd of August in 1945, a U.S. reconnaissance plane out on routine patrol had spotted the remaining crew in the sea. Three hundred and nineteen seamen were eventually rescued.
Court Martial of the ship’s last captain, Charles Butler McVay III.
Among the seamen who made it back to shore, the ship’s last commanding officer and captain suffered the worst of fate. A second-generation naval officer with a retired and decorated admiral for a father, Captain Charles Butler McVay III was court-martialed for negligence of duty by a U.S. military court.
Charges levied against him included his failure to evacuate the ship in an orderly manner, and in particular, for not engaging the zigzag manoeuvre. During World War II, the zigzag manoeuvre was used by U.S. warships to evade targeting by enemy submarines.
Despite the testimony of the I-58’s captain, Mochitsura Hashimoto and statements made by U.S. naval experts, Captain Charles Butler McVay III was found guilty. However, on account of his gallantry and almost impeccable service record, he was let off and promoted to rear admiral.
During the trial both Hashimoto and U.S. naval experts had clearly stated the zigzag manoeuvre was a non-deterrent factor for targeting submarines.
The Indianapolis on that fateful morning had also lacked sonar to detect submarines. Additionally she had been denied a destroyer escort and inspite of U.S. code breakers having intercepted communication from I-58, Captain Mcvay had remained ill-informed about enemy activity in the area.
McVay’s suicide.
Although McVay was not incarcerated, the ordeal, nonetheless, left him mentally depressed. He was also tormented by hate letters from families of his deceased crew. Unable to cope he had ended his life with his service service revolver, in 1968.
McVay was the 10th captain of the Indianapolis, and the only U.S. commander to be court-martialed for the loss of a U.S. naval ship during World War II.
Exoneration of McVay.
According to modern day historians, McVay’s troubles with the navy had begun shortly after he had inquired about the delayed rescue.
These modern day historians view the court-martial as a coverup by the U.S. Navy to hide its own blunders. Their criticism stems from declassified information, which, among other clues has revealed that the distress signal send out by the Indianapolis was picked up but ignored by three U.S. stations in the area.
Based on this new evidence and backed by a major campaign organized by the surviving crew members to exonerate their captain’s name, Charles Mcvay was absolved of all charges by President Bill Clinton in the year 2000.
Mention of the sinking of the Indianapolis in the media, 1945.
On the 14th of August in 1945, as the news of the surrender of Japan had greeted the public, the sinking of the Indianapolis had occupied a small section of the newspaper. The column mentioned the tragedy, as loss of U.S. Warship CA-35 and her crew.
On the 16th of July in 1945 as the Indianapolis had set sail for the Tinian Island, her crew had thought the crates, with plutonium and core components, were actually perfumed toilet paper for Field Marshal Douglas MacArthur.
Memorialized in books, films and documentaries, the ship continues to surface in popular media to remind new generations of her story, her captain and her crew. Like through the character of Quint in the 1975 blockbuster, Jaws.
Created in collaboration with playwright Howard Oliver Sackler, Steven Spielberg and British actor Robert Shaw, who also starred in the movie, Quint, while a fictional character, reflects the trauma and stress that many of the actual survivors of the Indianapolis experienced while adrift in the shark-infested waters. His revelation on the Orca, an insightful reminder of the sinking of the Indianapolis.
The photo.
This photo of the USS Indianapolis is archived by the U.S. Navy. It may likely have been produced by an officer, sailor or an employed photographer. Maru is a Nihongo word and means a ship. Indy, an abbreviation of Indianapolis, was the original nickname of the ship.
I F I This is an Independent story produced to highlight this featured Vintage photo of the USS Indianapolis, the ship that delivered the core components of the atom bomb to Tinian Island in 1945 and was later the worst naval disaster of World War II. The story also sheds a bit of light on the construction of the ship, its history during the war, and the court martial of its captain. It has been created from facts curated out of literary and historical sources. I
