Our classmate Judy Lynn Hines Brister's father perished when this ship was torpedoed and sunk just days before the end of WWII.

The USS Indianapolis

Ship went down in shark-infested waters, days before end of WWII
 

Updated: 07-11-2001

The USS Indianapolis had 1,197 aboard when it went down. Only 317 survived. (Note: Some accounts refer to only 316 men, but this was due to an error in Navy records. A veterans' group of USS Indianapolis survivors lists 317 survivors).

Although it has more recently been the name of an attack submarine, the USS Indianapolis is most associated with the World War II ship that was lost just days before the end of the war, and the harrowing story of those who survived.

Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the Indianapolis, carrying 1,197 sailors and Marines, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The heavy cruiser, on its way back to the Philippines after delivering components for the atomic bomb, went down in about 12 minutes.

About 900 crewmen survived the sinking. Some were in lifeboats, but most bobbed in the water with only lifejackets.

Before the ship went down, radio operators sent distress signals to alert the Navy of its fate and position. But in one of the the many controversies over the incident, the messages were not received or went unnoticed in the days just before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. One soldier later claimed he delivered the message and that Navy brass ignored it.

Whatever the cause, there was no search, and the men floated in the open ocean for nearly five days. Many died of exposure, thirst or were drowned, and others were attacked by sharks.

Finally, on Aug. 2, the men were spotted by accident. On anti-submarine patrol, Lt. Chuck Gwinn spotted the wreckage of the Indianapolis and radioed the military base on Palau, an island in the Pacific Ocean. Three hours later, a Catalina PB-Y flying boat arrived under the command of Lt. Adrian Marks. Marks first had his crew drop life rafts and supplies. Then, disobeying orders, he landed the flying boat to pick up survivors.

Placing some survivors in the flying boat and lashing others to the wings, Marks and his crew managed to get 56 men to safety. He also radioed the exact position of the wreckage to other Navy ships, bringing three destroyers and two other ships to pick up the others. Of about 900 men who initially survived, only 317 were still alive.

Charles B. McVay III

Captain court-martialed, cleared 56 years later

The ship's captain, Charles B. McVay III, was among those rescued, but his ordeal was not over. McVay would become the only Navy captain of WWII court-martialed for losing his ship. The charges accused him of "suffering a vessel to be hazarded through negligence" because his ship was steaming straight instead of performing a defensive zigzag in enemy waters. The commander of the Japanese submarine that sank the Indianapolis, Mochitsura Hashimoto, then a war prisoner, was brought in by prosecutors to testify against McVay in the December 1945 court- martial. McVay was found guilty.

McVay was not removed from the Navy. He lost points in his career ranking, but those were later restored and he retired in 1949 with the rank of rear admiral. But the stigma remained, and family members said he never got over it. McVay shot himself to death with his Navy pistol in 1968 at his home in Litchfield, Conn.

McVay's sons, former crewmen and other supporters worked for years to restore his name. Documents were found indicating McVay had authority not to use the zigzag maneuver. Other evidence showed the Navy knew there was a submarine risk in the area where the Indianapolis was sailing, but did not inform McVay.

On Aug. 2, 1995, the 50th anniversary of the disaster, a memorial to the USS Indianapolis was dedicated in Indianapolis along the Downtown Canal. The ceremony was attended by 107 of the 127 survivors still alive at that time. But their captain's reputation was still under a cloud.

In 1997, McVay's cause received a new boost from an unlikely source. Hunter Scott, then a seventh-grader in Pensacola, Fla., was watching the movie "Jaws" and heard the the fictional shark hunter, Captain Quint, tell the harrowing story of the real-life Indianapolis crew. The boy decided to do a school project on the Indianapolis and began contacting survivors.

Hunter's project was featured on national television and the publicity led to a new look at the case. In 1998, Rep. Julia Carson sponsored legislation in Congress to clear McVay's name. The bill was opposed by the Navy and did not pass, but in 2000 Congress approved a resolution clearing McVay's name as part of the 2001 defense spending bill. Then, in July 2001, the Secretary of the Navy ordered McVay to be exonerated of wrongdoing in the loss of the ship.