This Day In History - World War II July 29, 1945 Japanese sink the USS Indianapolis

http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6534 ^

[mainepatsfan]

1945 : Japanese sink the USS Indianapolis

On this day in 1945, Japanese warships sink the American cruiser Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen in the worst loss in the history of the U.S. navy.

As a prelude to a proposed invasion of the Japanese mainland, scheduled for November 1, U.S. forces bombed the Japanese home islands from sea and air, as well as blowing Japanese warships out of the water. The end was near for Imperial Japan, but it was determined to go down fighting. Just before midnight of the 29th, the Indianapolis, an American cruiser that was the flagship of the Fifth Fleet, was on its way, unescorted, to Guam, then Okinawa. It never made it. It was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Interestingly, the sub was commanded by a lieutenant who had also participated in the Pearl Harbor invasion.

There were 1,196 crewmen onboard the Indianapolis; over 350 died upon impact of the torpedo or went down with the ship. More than 800 fell into the Pacific. Of those, approximately 50 died that first night in the water from injuries suffered in the torpedo explosion; the remaining seamen were left to flounder in the Pacific, fend off sharks, drink sea water (which drove some insane), and wait to be rescued. Because there was no time for a distress signal before the Indianapolis went down, it was 84 hours before help arrived. This was despite the fact that American naval headquarters had intercepted a message on July 30 from the Japanese sub commander responsible for sinking the Indianapolis, describing the type of ship sunk and its location. (The Americans assumed it was an exaggerated boast and didn't bother to follow up.) Only 318 survived; the rest were eaten by sharks or drowned. The Indianapolis's commander, Captain Charles McVay, was the only officer ever to be court-martialed for the loss of a ship during wartime in the history of the U.S. Navy.

Had the attack happened only three days earlier, the Indianapolis would have been sunk carrying special cargo-the atom bomb, which it delivered to Tinian Island, northeast of Guam, for scientists to assemble.

[FReepapalooza]

May God continue to bless the souls of these brave Americans.

[DogByte6RER]

JAWS - U.S.S. Indianapolis Speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USnM-ee06pg

Note : The only error Robert Shaw made in this scene was saying the date June 29, 1945. The actual date of the Indianapolis disaster was July 29-30, 1945.

[DogByte6RER]

Two good books about the USS Indianapolis...

http://www.ussindianapolisinharmsway.com/home.htm

http://www.submarinebooks.com/AbandonShip.htm

I’ve read them both and they are great reads. I did like Stanton’s book better though...

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Displacement hull ships are bow wave limited, the rule of thumb is that maximum speed is 1.34 kt x sqrt(hull length( ft));

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_making_resistance

U-Boots could make about 14 kts on the surface only 3-4 submerged. Until the wide spread introduction of marine radar towards the middle of the war, U-Boot captains generally attacked (even convoys) on the surface because “gun laying” was more accurate. They would only submerge to escape destroyer attacks.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

An interesting sidelight. Although MacArthur was the C-in-
C of all Allied forces in the Pacific, there was one unit that did not report to him: the 509th Bombardment Group. MacArthur was not informed about the A-Bomb or the Hiroshima attack in advance. The War Department was sure he would have prepared and delivered some grandiose and embarrassing speech, probably preempting President Truman.

Another interesting sidelight: Truman drafted a letter to Churchill (though Atlee succeeded Churchill by the time of the Hiroshima attack) explaining that the United States had decided to use atomic weapons against Tokyo despite British objections. The Japs, excuse me, Nips, saved themselves a world of hurt by surrendering when they did.

[dfwgator]

Thank God for Fat Man and Little Boy.

In the end, they probably saved even more Japanese lives than American lives.

[muddytadpole]

I encourage every American man, woman, and child to read Doug Stanton’s In Harm’s Way. It is a riveting account of sacrifice that you will not be able to put down.

God bless those men.

[SunkenCiv]

On this day in 1945, Japanese warships sink the American cruiser Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen in the worst loss in the history of the U.S. navy.

Navy lost 2,008 on December 7, 1941, but not on just one ship.

[Tallguy]

Aircraft carriers are probably the fastest surface ships (in our Navy) because of their hull length. When the aircraft carrier is launching/recovering they want as much air over the deck as possible. A friend of mine served on Knox-class frigates as a boiler tech. When they were pulling “lifeguard duty” they would trail behind the aircraft carrier by a mile or 2 to recover any pilots who went into the drink during launch or recovery. My buddy said that his frigate would have to ‘tag-team’ with another frigate because they couldn’t keep station for more than a short period (they had it firewalled). Very rough ride except in the smoothest seas.

[Harrius Magnus]

Bump.

From: Recollections of the sinking of USS Indianapolis (CA-35) by CAPT Lewis L. Haynes, MC (Medical Corps) (Ret.), the senior medical officer on board the ship.

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq30-5.htm

“There were also mass hallucinations. It was amazing how everyone would see the same thing. One would see something, then someone else would see it. One day everyone got in a long line. I said, “What are you doing?” Someone answered, “Doctor, there’s an island up here just ahead of us. One of us can go ashore at a time and you can get 15 minutes sleep.” They all saw the island. You couldn’t convince them otherwise. Even I fought hallucinations off and on, but something always brought me back.

I saw only one shark. I remember reaching out trying to grab hold of him. I thought maybe it would be food. However, when night came, things would bump against you in the dark or brush against your leg and you would wonder what it was. But honestly, in the entire 110 hours I was in the water I did not see a man attacked by a shark. However, the destroyers that picked up the bodies afterwards found a large number of those bodies.”

[colorado tanker]

Ping. Do you have the link to the Foxhole thread on this? Had lots of good info as I recall.

[snippy_about_it]

I'm late but here it is.

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis (Jul-1945) - July 30th, 2003

Working out of state on what was supposed to be two weeks and now seven. Grrr. Not FReeping much at all.

Miss you all.