More information on USS Indianapolis discovered
The Naval History and Heritage Command sends us word that they have uncovered more information that may help them find the wreckage of USS Indianapolis. The ship had just finished a secret mission to deliver parts of the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima to an island in the Marianas chain and it was on it’s way to the Philippine Island of Leyte when it was struck by a Japanese torpedo and sunk. Robert Shaw tells the tale of what happened after that in the movie Jaws;
Of the 1,196 Sailors and Marines on the ship, only 316 survived. The new information comes from a blog post;
While reviewing the Navy’s holdings and other information related to Indianapolis, NHHC historian Richard Hulver, Ph.D., found a blog post and photo online that recounted the story of a World War II Sailor whose ship passed Indianapolis less than a day before the ship was sunk. This corroborated an account by Indianapolis Captain Charles McVay, III that his ship passed an unspecified LST approximately 11 hours prior to the sinking. Hulver located the Sailor’s service record from the National Personnel Records Center which identified the Sailor as a passenger on tank landing ship USS LST-779 during the period in which Indianapolis sank. That sent Hulver to the National Archives where LST-779’s deck logs confirmed the story.
The meeting between Indianapolis and LST-779 has been seemingly overlooked in previous studies of Indianapolis.
“It’s obviously gratifying to find a part of the story that hasn’t been told—to discover a new part of an important episode in U.S. naval history,” said Hulver. “But more importantly, the Navy has an obligation to honor the sacrifice of those who serve. NHHC does this by expanding the body of knowledge about our Navy’s history.”
Hulver continued, “The LST-779 data sheds new light on where Indianapolis was attacked and sunk.” This brings us closer to discovering the final resting place of the ship and many of her crew. It has been humbling and an honor to learn more about the crew of Indianapolis and do my small part to ensure that their story lives on. I’m honored to a part of that effort.”
Category: Historical
Good news.
I am mystified that this is only now being learned. I am quite incredulous. It seems to me that another ship that had passed the Indianapolis on a specific date, at a specific time, would have previously been known, especially in view of Captain McVay’s fate and the Jap sub commander’s testimony. “The LST-779 data sheds new light on where Indianapolis was attacked and sunk.” Is it new light or is it that no one gave a shit? I don’t know.
Sort of makes you wonder if the latter is the accurate response, because any other discussion that exonerated the Captain wasn’t part of the plan at the time. Someone had to be the fall guy so they used the Captain.
Fog of war type stuff, too.
Frankly, McVay got screwed over nine ways from Sunday over the loss of his ship, despite the Japanese submarine commander’s testimony altering his course would have made no difference.
Couple that with an almost criminal lack of accountability, and it still amazes me a whole slew of officers didn’t go down with him.
Agreed. His orders specified zigzagging “at his discretion”. And reportedly Naval Intel knew via codebreaking operations that there were 2 submarines along his route – but neglected to inform him of that fact or provide the destroyer escort McVay requested. (The intercepts weren’t made public until sometime in the 1990s.)
McVay committed suicide in 1968. He’s been called the final casualty of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.
As I understand it, McVay decided, based on the incomplete information he had, that a high-speed straight run on that particularly-dark night was the safest course of action. He was keenly aware of his ship’s vulnerability and hoped to take advantage of the poor visibility to cover as much distance as possible.
All because McVay’s old man had once been a hardass to a young Ensign Ernest King, and the future CNO was nothing if not a vindictive bastard.
https://youtu.be/eSTC6nnbaRo
Might even be good.
“The LST-779 data sheds new light on where Indianapolis was attacked and sunk.”
Am I missing something here? Wouldn’t the resting place of the Indianapolis be fairly close to where the surviving sailors were taken from the water? I doubt any information that benefited the captain would have been acknowledged. Maybe group punishment should have taken place, what with his not being notified of the presence of the jap subs.
They would and probably drifted quite a ways in 5 days, Chief.
Oy. The probably could have and did drift.
I cannot brain today. I haz teh dum.
Ah, crap, that’s right … days in the water (with NO ONE looking for them for a time). I forgot all about that motion of the ocean thing. Thanks for the feedback. Well, they probably can narrow it down somewhat. Knowing the movement of the other ship would help, also. Anyone know if the Jap sub’s logbook noted location of the sinking? Did the Jap skipper, when interviewed, know the fairly accurate location of the sinking? Would like to know. (He asks, while smiling, hoping others will supply information so that he, being old, fat and lazy, is not required to do his own research. Bwhaaa)
(Oh, Mrs. HMC says to include in the above that I am ugly. So, there’s that, too.)
Actually you have a good point. We do have decades of ships logs that have recorded the wind and ocean currents in the Phillipine Sea as well as a good guess of the general location based on the deck logs of the LST and Capt. McVay’s recollection of their track. There have been a couple expeditions in the 2003 and 2005 that failed to find it, but I don’t know if they applied all of the knowledge that we possess. I don’t know if anyone has attempted a Bayesian search method for Indy, but with this latest piece of information, it couldn’t hurt.
But the average depth there is about 20,000 feet, so no amount of information is going to make it easy to find.
Indianapolis was running at 20+ knots when she was torpedoed and maintained forward momentum as she sank. Additionally, ships almost never sink straight down, as their overall hydrodynamic shape imparts some horizontal motion, they are affected by currents on the way down, can slide or roll down a slope when they do hit bottom, etc. The deeper the water, the farther a sinking ship can drift underwater before coming to rest. Bismarck, for example, sank at a position meticulously documented and triple-checked by a dozen Royal Navy navigators, and still required a 5000-plus-square-mile search area. Indianapolis sank in deeper water, so the search area is even wider, trying to locate a smaller wreck. She may never be found, though I hope she will be.
The final resting places of many great men-o-war remain known only to God. These include USS Lexington, USS Hornet, USS Hammann, USS Johnston, and USS Samuel B. Roberts.
Oh, yes, the Sammy B., a legend within the Navy. Leyte Gulf, I recall. A Captain and crew with stones took on a much larger Japanese naval force. The Sammy B. … the ship of legend. A Chihuahua with the personality of a Rottweiler.
Samuel B Roberts had moved so close to heavy cruiser Chikuma that the latters 8″ guns could not declinate far enough to hit the destroyer. She raked Chikuma with torpedoes and 5″ round until she had expended all ammunition and set Chikuma ablaze and sinking. Not until Sammy B was hit with three 16″ rounds from battleship Kongo, that ripped a 40 foot hole in Sammy B’s after engine room, did she give up the fight. The battle of Letye Gulf and the DD’s and DDE’s of TAFFY III, truly the US Navy’s finest hour. Tin can sailors be the best kind of sailors. Bubble heads and carrier pogues be damned.
Plus, you gotta figure that there’s probably a LOT of WWII iron laying at the bottom of that particular sea, so the “Indy” is going to be well “camouflaged”.
Maybe she should just be left alone. After all; she is a tomb for a lot of very brave men.
The ship may also have broken up on the way to the bottom.
Davy Jones’s locker does not give up its secrets easily.
My Grandfather told me an interesting story about a near collision at sea between his ship and a very large warship at night.
My GF was in the Coast Guard, and assigned to an attack transport (either the Cambria or Cor Caroli- He served on both, but I will have to check dates on his records to see which he was on in 45). From what I recall of his story, they were steaming alone at night with ammunition towards one of the Marianas in preparation for the invasion of Japan when they passed very close to the much larger warship.
Later that night, there was a large explosion behind them. He said that they did not investigate the explosion because doing so would have given a sub another target backlit by the explosion.
As I recall, he said that the Captain reported the contact and no US ships were reported in the area of that size.
I guess it could have been a different event, or foggy memories, but he said when he heard about the Indianapolis (in the 60s, I think), he immediately thought of that incident and wondered if that was who they passed.
Based on some research I did, the Cor Caroli was operating in the Philippine Sea for several weeks up through August 4, 1945. The Cambria was in San Francisco for an overhaul as of May 1945, and finished the war there. It would be interesting to see if the events he talked about were reviewed by any of the authors who have studied the Indianapolis disaster.
One of the survivors, Mr. Harold Bray is a member of our American Legion Post. He is fascinating to talk to and one lucky dude.