Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS IndianapolisShortly after midnight on July 30, 1945, the Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea. The ship had just left the island of Tinian, delivering components of the atomic bomb destined for Hiroshima. As the torpedoes hit, the Indianapolis erupted into a fiery coffin, sinking in less than fifteen minutes and leaving nine hundred crewmen fighting for life in shark-infested waters. They expected a swift, routine rescue, unaware that the Navy high command didn’t even realize that the Indianapolis was missing. Help would not arrive for another five days. Drawn from definitive interviews with key figures, Fatal Voyage recounts the horrific events endured as the number of water-treading survivors dwindled to just 316. Each gruesome day brought more madness and slow death, from explosion-related injuries, dehydration, and, most terrifying of all, shark attacks. But the pain did not end when the men finally returned home: The Indianapolis’s commander, Captain Charles B. McVay III, was court-martialed for causing the clearly unavoidable disaster. With a new afterword chronicling the fifty-five-year campaign by Indianapolis survivors and their supporters to win public vindication for Captain McVay, this classic is restored, along with memories of the Indianapolis crew. |
Contents
The Heavenly Mission | |
Toward the Dawn | |
The Merchants of Tranquility | |
An Ordinary Cruise | |
Revenge of the Samurai | |
A Way of Life | |
Back from the Brink | |
The Price of Salvation | |
For the Good of the Navy | |
Toy of Treachery | |
EPILOGUE | |
AFTERWORD | |
CREW OF THE USS INDIANAPOLIS | |
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abandon ship aboard Admiral American Annapolis apparently asked Blum bomb Brophy CADY Captain McVay Celaya Charles Chief of Naval CINCPAC Claytor couldn’t court court-martial crew cried deck didn’t Donald Edward enemy engine room Ensign escort Eugene father felt finally Fleet Forrestal Gibson Giles McCoy Granum Guam Gwinn Hashimoto Havins Haynes Inspector General’s investigation jacket James Japan John Joseph kaitens Kimo Kinau King knew Kurzman Letter to author Leyte Lieutenant Commander Louise Marks McKissick McVay III McVay’s Memorandum Mochitsura Hashimoto Naquin Naval Inspector General’s never night Nimitz officer Okinawa orders Pearl Harbor Peleliu periscope Pfc Marine Philippine Sea Frontier plane radio raft Redmayne replied reprimand rescue Robert route Ryan sailors Secretary seemed sharks ship’s sinking skipper someone suddenly sunk survive survivors testimony thought Tinian told torpedoes Twible U.S. Navy U.S. Pacific Fleet USS Indianapolis vessel wanted William zigzagging