In May 1945, the Second World War came to a close in Europe, and all eyes turned towards Japan as American bombers relentlessly bombed the island nation as a prelude to an invasion that would be costly in terms of men and equipment. The death of President Roosevelt and his replacement by Harry Truman continued the country's atomic policy of building a bomb and using it to shorten the war.
The battle cruiser Indianapolis, which had entered service in 1939, was entrusted to carry the bomb from San Francisco to the small island of Tinian, where it would then be flown by a B-29 bomber to Hiroshima. After this secret delivery, the ship sailed towards the Philippines, where it was scheduled to arrive on July 31. On the night of July 30, however, Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, and sank within 12 minutes. Over a quarter of the men went down with the ship, but those who escaped found themselves in an unforgiving Pacific ocean.
Due to US Navy negligence, no one noticed that the ship had gone missing until five days after its sinking. During this time, men drowned, were eaten by sharks, or went crazy. The sailors in the waters for these five fateful days and nights endured horrors no one can even imagine. In all, only 316 men out of nearly 1,200 survived the sinking and were rescued in early August.
Captain Charles McVay III was subsequently court-martialed, and the Navy hid evidence that would have exonerated him from the charges of not following a ziz-zag pattern, which led to the destruction of the ship. Over the next 50 years, survivors of the crew attempted to salvage the captain's reputation, but it wasn't until a sixth grader completed a project on the USS Indianapolis that renewed energy took place to conduct Senate hearings and clearing McVay of any wrong doing.
Fans of history will appreciate this story of survival against the odds and will appreciate the dedication it took to right a wrong all these years later.
No comments:
Post a Comment