Like most people, I first heard of the Indy from the movie “Jaws” but didn’t really know what happened or if it was just made up for the movies. But it did happen, and it is one of the worst disasters in naval history. Like most of the times that something like this happens, it is from more than one bad thing that seems to build up. They where alone without escort, no one knew they were leaving or where they were going or when to expect them.
On the 15th of July 1945, the USS Indianapolis had departed Gaum on a top-secret mission to deliver the first atomic bomb (little boy) to a Naval base on the Pacific island of Tinian. It would be used on the 6th of August, 1945, to level Hiroshima. It departed Tinian on the 28th of July and headed towards, Leyte Gulf in the Philippines to meet the Task Force being formed, for the invasion of mainland Japan.
On the 29th of July, the Indianapolis was making about 17 knots, and then just after midnight, a Japanese torpedo hit her starboard bow, blowing almost 65 feet of the ship’s bow out of the water and igniting a tank of 3,500 gallons of aviation fuel. Then another torpedo struck closer to midship, hitting the fuel tanks and the powder magazines. This set off a chain reaction of explosions that effectively ripped the Indianapolis in two. Still traveling at 17 knots, the Indianapolis began taking on massive amounts of water; the ship sank in just 12 minutes. Of the 1,196 men aboard, 900 made it into the water alive.
No one knows what drew the sharks in, but it is thought that the sound of the explosion, the man in the water and yes, the blood in the water. The first night, the sharks focused on the floating dead. But the survivors’ struggles in the water only attracted more and more sharks. As the sun rose on the 30th of July, the survivors bobbed in the water, and a lot of the rafts were no were to be found. The living searched for the dead and appropriated their lifejackets for the survivors that didn’t have one. The survivors began forming into groups, some small, some over 300. Soon the sharks turned their attentions toward the living, especially the injured and the bleeding, sailors tried to quarantine themselves away from anyone with an open wound, and when someone died, they would push the body away, hoping to sacrifice the corpse in return. Many survivors were paralyzed with fear, unable even to eat or drink from the meager rations they had salvaged from their ship. One group of survivors made the mistake of opening a can of Spam—but before they could taste it, the scent of the meat drew a swarm of sharks around them. They got rid of their meat rations rather than risk a second swarming.
The sharks fed for days, and with no sign of rescue for the men. Navy intelligence had intercepted a message from the Japanese submarine that it had torpedoed the Indianapolis. Describing how it had sunk an American battleship along the Indianapolis’ route, but the message was disregarded as a trick to lure American rescue boats into an ambush. The Indianapolis survivors learned that they had the best odds in a group, and ideally in the center of the group. The men on the outsides or, worse, alone, were the most susceptible to the sharks.
As the days passed, many survivors succumbed to heat and thirst or suffered hallucinations that compelled them to drink the seawater around them—causing them to die from salt poisoning. Those who so slaked their thirst would slip into madness, foaming at the mouth as their tongues and lips swelled.
Around 11:00 a.m. on their fourth day, a Navy plane flying overhead spotted the Indianapolis survivors and radioed for help. Within hours, another seaplane, manned by Lieutenant Adrian Marks, returned to the scene and dropped rafts and survival supplies. When LT Marks saw men being attacked by sharks, he disobeyed orders and landed in the infested waters, and then began helping the wounded and stragglers, who were at the greatest risk. Most of the survivors said that one of the scariest times was waiting to get out of the water. A little after midnight, the USS Doyle arrived on the scene and helped to pull the last survivors from the water. Of the original 1,196-man crew, around 900 made it to the water alive, of that only 317 remained. Estimates of the number who died from shark attacks range from a few dozen to almost 150.
In November of 1945, Captain McVay was court-martialed for “hazarded his ship by failing to zigzag and failure to order to abandon ship fast enough” at the time torpedoes struck. The commander Hashimoto ( CO of the sub that sank the Indy) testified at the trial that he would have been able to sink the Indianapolis whether it had been zigzagging or not, testimony which appeared to fall ao deaf ears and had no impact at all on the court-martial board which found McVay guilty anyway. Like always, the military did not take any of this into account.
• The captain was never told that Jap Subs had been seen in the area.
• The Indy was cruiser with no sonar, and it usually had a destroy with it for anti-sub. But they were told they didn’t need one and to go alone.
• The Indy sent out three SOS, and all three were received. One group thought it was fake, one of the admirals on duty was drunk, and the third that was received, the” O” was asleep and had ordered everyone not wake him up.
In 1968 he committed suicide suffering from health issues for years. In 2001 he would be cleared of all charges. But it was too little too late. Like always, the military blamed someone. Of the over 300 ships that were sunk, during WW2 he was the only CO to be court-martialed for it.
Hence why our area code is 317!
Any investigation to determine responsibility for something going really wrong in the military will ground out through the first thing the investigator finds which is even vaguely against established policy or regulation.
Even if said policy or regulation has zero role in what happened.
This is why you need to ensure you and your subordinates are in compliance with things, and why you need to raise hell when the policies and regulations don’t match what you’re actually doing. Shortcuts imposed by outside considerations? Document that crap, establish it as an exception to policy, and when things go south, you’ll have the ability to actually deflect responsibility onto those things and people who are actually responsible.
It’s a sad commentary on military life, but you have to master the ins and outs of bureaucratic hand-to-hand combat just as effectively as you master combatives. One must become a keen observer of how the bureaucracy works, and master its intricacies, or you’re going to become splatter on the walls of a bureaucratic shoot-house when things go wrong around you.
Kirk, That isn’t really what happen in the case of the Indy, because of the media and the sharks. The Navy looked to blame someone. there where a lot more people that should have been blamed for what happened. Of the over 300 ship that when down in ww2 he was the only co court marshaled. This was not a cover your ass, this was lets burn someone an it wound be us. None of the crew blamed him. They bought the CO of the sub that sank the Indy and he even said there was nothing the Indy could have done that would have save it from being sunk.
That is the typical Navy I have grown up in! Find the most junior sailor in position of leadership and throw the book at them. It is a pathetic reality in our Sea service.
Some minor corrections for accuracy needed to this story. Good article, by the way!
Ship departed Hunters Point SF on 16 July, arrived at Tinian in record crossing time on 26 July. Unloaded secret cargo and departed, arriving at Guam after. Departed Guam on 28 July destination Leyte Philippines in 4 days. Torpedoed ~12:10am on 30 July 1945.
Also, crew casualty count has been corrected/confirmed after over 70 years of conflicting reporting. Correct numbers are 1194 crew and 1 Navy passenger, 879 lost at sea, 316 Survivors. See latest book, “Indianapolis” by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic.
I highly recommend the excellent documentary “USS Indianapolis: The Legacy” by Sara Vladic and Melanie Johnson. Steer clear of the poorly done movie, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage” starring Nic Cage…a true embarrassment to this tragedy.
My dad was a retired US Navy CPO Radioman, and Indy was his first ship. He retired in 1969…WW2, Korea, Vietnam. My mother is the only Japanese bride of a USS Indianapolis survivor, and I am the only Japanese born child of a survivor.
– Jim Belcher Jr., Honorary Survivor, Sgt USAF 1976-80, Virginia