OT: The USS Indianapolis

[Footslogger]

Why did the USS Indianapolis leave port without escorts? After all, her cargo had parts for the first nuclear bomb.

[jeffk3510]

A larger escort could draw attention to the situation?

No idea..curious to see what the community says..

[wdolson]

The Indianapolis was sunk after delivering the bomb parts.  I don't know if she had any escorts on the way to Tinian.  I don't know why she didn't have any after delivering the bomb parts.

Bill

[sdevault]

They wanted a fast, non-advertised run from San Fan to deliver the bomb. The trip to the Philippines was thought to be a back-water cruise and escorts were not always used in areas considered back-water, non-combat areas.

[SuluSea]

Charles McVay deserved better than the Navy gave him. The sinking cost him his good name, his career and eventually his life.
 
 There are some really good books on the subject out there, I'd recommend In Harm's Way and Fatal Voyage . From the USS Indianapolis page.
 
 
Controversial Facts

• Captain McVay's request for a destroyer escort was denied despite the fact that no capital ship lacking anti-submarine detection equipment, such as the Indianapolis, had made this transit across the Philippine Sea without an escort during the entire war.
• Captain McVay was not told that shortly before his departure from Guam a Japanese submarine within range of his path had sunk a destroyer escort, the USS Underhill.
• Shortly after the Indianapolis was sunk, naval intelligence decoded a message from the I-58 to its headquarters in Japan that it had sunk an American battleship along the route of the Indianapolis. The message was ignored.
• Naval authorities then and now have maintained that the Indianapolis sank too quickly to send out a distress signal. A radioman aboard the Indianapolis testified at the September 1999 Senate hearing, however, that he watched the "needle jump" on the ship's transmitter, indicating that a distress signal was transmitted minutes before the ship sank, and sources at three separate locations have indicated that they were aware of a distress signal being received from the sinking ship. Its very likely that these distress signals were received but ignored as a Japanese trick to lure rescue vessels to the area.
• Confusion on the part of Navy communications and a faulty directive caused the failure of the Indianapolis to arrive on schedule to go unnoticed, leaving as many as 900 men at the mercy of a shark-infested sea. (The faulty directive - which required only reporting the arrival of non-combatant ships - was corrected days after the Indianapolis survivors were discovered to require reporting the arrival of combatant ships as well.)

 

[Empire101]

Another excellent book to read on this subject is 'All the Drowned Sailors' by Raymond B. Lech, a book that inspired true horror and fear within me. A must read for anyone interested in the subject and elaborates on the points made by SuluSea.

A film under the title 'Mission of the Shark' has also been made, with a great performance by Stacey Keach as Captain McVay

A good Documentary style DVD on the subject is 'Ocean of Fear'

And who can forget Robert Shaws fantastic portrayal as Quint in Jaws, when he explains the origin of one of his scars to Schneider and Dreyfuss.[X(]