The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King

Not that I'm out looking to throw cold water on the reputation of an unquestionably great military man, but I do feel a compulsion to mention that Admiral Ernest King was responsible for scapegoating Captain Charles McVay of the USS Indianapolis, after King's orders regarding the nonreporting of arriving ships was interpreted as also applying to nonarriving ships -- thus leading to the sinking of that ship. Attempting to divert the attention from himself, King ordered the military to court-martial McVay for the sinking, even though no skipper had been court-martialed in the entire course of the war for losing a ship, and even though McVay had not been told that Japanese submarines would be in the area (the Navy knew this information but did not tell him). King ordered the court-martial even though an investigating committee had not yet released its findings. McVay was found guilty by a jury that was chosen by, and depended on promotions from, Admiral King.

Asked about the case many years later, the great Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison responded with a quote from Voltaire: "It is thought good, from time to time, to kill one admiral to encourage the others."

King's performance as an admiral in the Pacific Theater was unusually brilliant -- he is largely responsible for the superior performance of American troops in that area. For that he deserves great credit -- he undoubtedly saved a great number of American lives. But we should not flinch from additionally confronting one of the dishonorable acts of his career -- the court-martial and conviction of Captain Charles McVay, skipper of the doomed USS Indianapolis.

Please allow me to amend an earlier statement -- King's policy did not lead to the sinking of the Indianapolis, but the misinterpretation of it (and the fact that King did not anticipate the misunderstanding and issue a directive clarifying the order) unquestionably did help exacerbate the situation in which the Indianapolis found itself: its men floated in the water for four days and nights (and were continually attacked by sharks) before being accidentally discovered.

Thanks a lot for telling me about that -- I will have to make time in my schedule to comment during the Indianapolis thread. I know quite a bit about the Indianapolis: I wrote a report on it for a college class.

One of the more interesting experiences of writing that paper was having the opportunity to interview Hunter Scott, the young man (now 17) who started researching the subject when he was 11 and eventually got McVay cleared by the Navy -- or at the very least, got the Navy to insert a copy of the Congressional resolution calling for McVay's exoneration into his record; a de facto exoneration in the public eye, at any rate.

After writing the paper, I found out that an Indianapolis survivor happened to live in the small town where I attend college, and I have never known about it! Murphy's law in operation.

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