Indianapolis

Finished reading this today and all I can say is Wow! What those sailors went through ... Then how the navy railroaded the Captain with that court martial? The book is well written and goes in my read again collection on my kindle.

The story opens on March 18, 1945 when the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) is battling attacks by a Japanese dive bomber. The ship is in a convoy with sixteen aircraft carriers. The Indianapolis had recently supported the Marines’ invasion of Iwo Jima and would soon participate in the battle to capture Okinawa. Only thirteen days later, while supporting that battle, the ship would be severely damaged during a kamikaze attack. The damage was so great that it would require extensive repairs back at Mare Island, California. On July 16, 1945, with the Indianapolis now deemed fit for sea duty she heads back into the Pacific at flank speed. This time the ship is carrying a mysterious package, a large box that is guarded continually by Marines. On July 26, Indianapolis made Tinian Island and the contents of the mysterious cargo box, two large metal canisters, were unloaded and taken ashore. One of the ship’s crew, a sailor who had read Time magazine, knew the canisters contained radioactive material. Indeeed, they held components for the atomic bombs to be later dropped on Japan. Indianapolis had been ordered to return to Leyte in the Philippines. The next chapters describing the ship’s passage, without an escort, are filled with tension and fear. The authors switch us back and forth as she is tracked by the Japanese submarine I58 commanded by Captain Hashimoto. At midnight on July 30, Hashimoto found the Indianapolis and fired six torpedoes, the first striking the bow. The scenes which follow are painful to read as men are burned or drowned while fighting to save the ship. Captain McVay finally gives the order to abandon ship. Members of the Annapolis are struggling to stay alive in a dark and dangerous ocean. Reading this is an emotional, agonizing and inspirational experience. There are many instances of heroism as stricken individuals help each other try to survive. An aircraft spots the resulting oil slick and several bobbing live rafts so the search continues. Many rescue ships are quickly dispatched to the scene along with several aircraft. Of the twelve hundred on the ship, some 900 would make it into the water while about 300 went down with the ship. Only 316 would finally survive, including the skipper Captain McVay. But that’s not the end of the story by any means. Navy brass would want to know what the hell happened out there. The entire matter was eventually referred to a general court-martial, the most serious of judicial procedures in the armed forces. Even Captain Hashimoto was brought to the U. S. to testify at Captain McVay’s trial but his remarks seemed to have little effect. McVay was found guilty of failing to zig zag, and lost two hundred numbers in the lineal list of seniority. He eventually retired from the Navy and received a “tombstone promotion” to Rear Admiral. But this is not the end of the story. A teen age school boy, Hunter Scott, began a project to investigate the sinking of the Indianapolis and it soon took on a life of its own. Commander Bill Toti, who had been the skipper of the nuclear submarine by the same name, helped the growing surge to exonerate Captain McVay and managed to get the attention of Senator John Warner. Thanks to the combined efforts of these three individuals along with many others, fighting the Navy’s top brass all the way, Captain McVay was fully exonerated. Sadly, McVay did not live to see this happen. The authors have done an excellent job in researching extensive historical records. Many diagrams and photographs are provided along with a lot of other relevant supporting material.

A detailed history of a gallant ship with a noble history. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time ended it's illustrious career with the loss on nearly 75 percent of it's crew. The gut wrenching events of abandoning the ship is followed by the horrific challenge of attempting to survive while floating in the ocean. A must read for those wanting to experience the bravery and heroism in World War II. It will make you proud of your country and more appreciative of our freedoms!Only negative is that occasionally there was TMI (too much information) that slowed down the flow of reading. My opinion and certainly not a show stopper.

I'm about half way through the book. Having a hard time putting it down. The authors have made what could have been a boring narrative report into a heroic, story of people, ships, politics and history. They include a build up to the epic conclusion from both sides...American and Japanese. A must read for those interested in our history. While there are many books written on the USS Indianapolis this one truly shines.

The book is excellent reading. For anyone that likes the Navy. Plus the historical significance of the USS Indianapolis. I previously knew about the ship. I'm somewhat related. In a more modern way. Since the ship carried the Uranium Rings for Little Boy. The first nuclear weapon. Detonated over Hiroshima. It had an explosive force around 20 KT. Its design was a gun type weapon. Whereas when it hit the ground. An Uranium cylinder.would be forced into the rings. This is called a Fission Atomic Bomb. I'm a retired US Army Nuclear Weapons Technician. I spent 20 years working with the modern versions. Of the US Army Nuclear Weapons Stockpile. All of which. Were taken out of service. By 1993. The Army had 2 types of Nuclear Artillery Shellls. The 8" and the 155 mm artillery shells. The 8" used the similar design. Of the Uranium Rings and Cylinder. This information can be found in any encyclopedia or Wikipedia. Its just basic nuclear science. But there's a lot more to it. Which is the critical design information. Which is still highly classified.Getting back to the book. Its almost a day to day account. Of what transpired. During the later part of WWII. Picking up from transporting FDR. To meet with Churchill. At the first meeting aboard ship. For the Atlantic Charter. Next was the time spent in the Pacific Theater. Shelling Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Then orders were to return to San Francisco. For a Top Secret mission. Which was to deliver the parts of the first Atomic Bomb. To Tinian Island. Then to be assembled to drop on Hiroshima. The USS Indianapolis.then was given orders. To go to Guam. Then on to Leyte. For training. Then on to Okinawa. To resume the battle against the Japanese. But there were still enemy submarines. Still around Leyte Gulf. The ship was sighted. Then torpedoed. It sunk almost immediately. The few that managed to go overboard. Were in the water. For 3 days. Finally a rescue plane seen the sailors. They were then rescued.The book goes on to the frivolous court martial.of the Captain. Plus recounts from the surviving sailors. In typical military problems. The Navy had to have a scapegoat. The Captain was then blamed. For the rest of his life. He was put through serious mental and physical anguish. That's the unending story of the worst naval disaster for US Navy. The book displays some of the good times. But at the end. It is a tear jerker. Especially for anyone who has been in the military. The book is well written. With quite a few exact happenings. I highly recommend this. For your personal library.

Well written. .personal reading

I must admit I had never come across a detailed account of what was the greatest naval disaster in US history before stumbling across this remarkable book. The cruiser Indianapolis had just delivered vital components of the atomic bomb to the island of Tinian and was en route for Leyte when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. What followed next was a tragedy of epic proportions made worse by sharks and the ineptitude of those who should have been alerted when the cruiser failed to arrive. It was only thanks to luck that some of the survivors were finally rescued and then began a blame-game to absolve the shore-based admirals and hold the Indy’s captain to account. The story doesn’t end there and it was a 14-year-old schoolboy who finally helps bring justice for a very brave man. Gripping reading from start the finish.

This is a genuinely well-written and historically researched book, and one which should be among the definitive texts on the subject. Drawing on the usual historical sources it also brings in contemporary survivor stories, the efforts of the Indianapolis captain's modern day counterpart and latter day Congressmen to clear the record of one of the most ignominious events in the Navy's history.It fills out the story of a proud ship with an illustrious history, beloved of President Franklin Roosevelt and Fifth Fleet commanding admiral Raymond Spruance, skips over the atom bomb mission and concentrates instead on the events following the torpedoing of the doomed ship. Bungling by the Navy, compounded by petty, easily misinterpreted orders of the day regarding signals, ensured that when 900 men entered the water when Indy sank, they'd been effectively abandoned. The stories of the nights and days adrift are harrowingly told, as they should be, and pull no punches.The remainder of the book, following the sometimes heroic, sometimes traffic rescue, focuses on the Navy's response and obvious cover-up of the tragedy. The days following VJ-Day were meant to be ones of hubris, not recriminations, so the Navy went all out to squash the Indianapolis story quickly, pinning an easy blame on an already broken Captain McVay.I was surprised on reading the afterword to find the authors are seriously enthusiastic Christians - I would have expected a very different emphasis but they succeed in sticking to the facts and not embellishing or slanting the narrative as I might have expected, so my bad and more respect to them.This is a book I thoroughly recommend to anyone with an interest in the era, the Navy and even the movie Jaws. It won't disappoint!

This is one of the best WW2 books I have ever read! It is long and detailed but never ever boring. It horrifies you with graphic descriptions of the sinking of the ship and the desperate plight of the survivors . It makes you angry that subsequent enquiries and treatment of the captain made him a scapegoat and whitewashed the powers above . The book is thoroughly researched and is clearly a work of passionate dedication. The loyalty of the crew and the immense efforts made by several people , many years after the tragedy , to put the record straight are both moving and uplifting. This is a book I will never forget .

This book was a very long time in the making but it was worth every hour. I was aware of the story of the USS Indianapolis but the background and detail in this work puts the book in a class of its own. A huge number of very good men lost their lives in this disaster just as World War Two was ending, literally, and a number of people were responsible for the scale of the loss. The decision to send a heavy cruiser, which lacked any kind of submarine detection equipment, across a stretch of ocean without a destroyer escort was, in my opinion, the real crime. Most senior US Navy officers in the Pacific were unaware of plans to drop the atom bomb and in July 1945 the invasion of Japan still looked the logical next step. The USS Indianapolis would have been a vital part of that invasion and should never have gone anywhere unescorted. A single destroyer escort would have changed everything and saved a very fine ship's company from a dreadful situation.