Wreck of USS Indianapolis (CA-35)

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, cruiser, United States Navy

Laid down in March 1930 as the second and final member of the Portland Class of Heavy Cruisers for the US Navy, USS Indianapolis commissioned into service in November 1932 as a member of the US Atlantic Fleet. Following her shakedown and training cruise, the Indianapolis became the Flagship of her Cruiser Division, a role she would hold for her entire peacetime service career as she participated in numerous exercises and goodwill cruises, often carrying President Franklin Roosevelt to foreign nations.

Transferred to the US Pacific Fleet in 1940 as tensions between the United States and Japan grew steadily higher, Indianapolis and her crew were conducting a simulated shore bombardment of Johnston Atoll when word came of the Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor. After conducting an unsuccessful hunt for the retiring Japanese Naval Force through the 13th of December, Indianapolis put into Pearl Harbor where she provisioned for war. Assigned to escort US Carrier Forces, Indianapolis sailed for waters South of New Guinea in February 1942 as Allied forces moved to check Japan's Southward advance towards Australia. Returning stateside for an overhaul and upgrade to her armaments, Indianapolis returned to the fray in August 1942 as she conducted offensive operations against Japanese positions in the Aleutian Islands which would occupy her for the following year until she was ordered back to Hawaii.

Assuming the role of Flagship for the US 5th Fleet, the Indianapolis began operations in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, conducting fire support for ground forces on Tarawa, Makin, Kwajalein and several other atolls before moving Westward to support Carrier forces striking the Caroline Islands in April 1944. Finding little respite from her combat duty, Indianapolis and her crew were back in action off the Marianas Islands in June 1944, with the Cruisers' guns once again pounding Japanese positions on Saipan, Tinian and Guam before shifting to the waters off Palau where she lent her firepower to landings taking place on Peleliu in September.

The war-weary ship and crew returned stateside for a much-needed overhaul lasting through January 1945 after which they were once again called upon to support amphibious operations at both Iwo Jima and Okinawa, invasions which exposed the Veteran Cruiser and her crews to Japan's extensive use of the Kamikaze. Despite the new Japanese tactic, Indianapolis continued her mission through both invasions, her AA gunners accounting for several enemy aircraft while her main battery poured accurate fire on deeply entrenched Japanese shore positions until her luck ran out on the morning of March 31st. Struck by a single bomb squarely on her Stern by a Japanese Kamikaze's bombload, Indianapolis suffered nine of her crew killed, dozens of injuries and hull and propulsion damage severe enough to warrant her return to the United States for full repairs, meaning she would be fatefully located pierside at Mare Island Naval Shipyard when a top-secret shipment from the Manhattan Project would arrive for immediate transport to Tinian.

Loading her large and top-secret cargo onto her aft deck, Indianapolis stood out of US waters and made for North Field on Tinian on a top-secret mission to deliver the components for the first Atomic Bomb to the specially-trained B-29 Wing located there. Successfully completing her delivery on July 26th, Indianapolis called briefly at Guam before receiving orders to Leyte Island in the Philippines where she would join Task Force 95. Departing Guam on July 28th and heading Westward through spotty foul weather, Indianapolis was steaming at 17 knots in moderate seas when she was spotted by the patrolling Japanese Submarine HIJMS I-58 shortly after midnight on July 30th. Seeing that the Indianapolis was unaware of her presence, the I-58's Skipper quickly lined up his shot and sent a pair of Type 95 torpedoes churning towards the American Cruiser, which was struck by both on her Starboard bow at 0014hrs.

Aboard Indianapolis, there was no warning that either ship or crew were in any danger until the detonation of the first torpedo and its 1,200lb warhead blew an enormous hole in the Cruiser's bow. The impact and detonation of the second torpedo caused further extensive damage to the ship, which immediately began to settle by the bow and assume a Starboard list as tons of seawater began to fill her hull. As the Cruiser continued to settle and list, Indianapolis' Captain ordered distress messages dispatched and the ship abandoned as it became increasingly clear that the damage she had incurred was fatal. Continuing to roll onto her Starboard side as her bow slid beneath the waves, Indianapolis fought to stay afloat for ten minutes before fully capsizing, but as water began to enter her funnels and flood her boiler rooms the Veteran Cruiser quickly sank bow-first at this location at 0026hrs on July 30th, 1945, taking approximately 300 of her crew with her to the bottom.

For the 800 or so men who survived the loss of Indianapolis, many of whom were not wearing lifejackets due to the ship's rapid sinking, the loss of their ship was just the beginning of their ordeal. Despite dispatching three separate SOS messages and being overdue at Leyte by nightfall on July 31st, the US Navy remained completely unaware and unconcerned that the Indianapolis was overdue and not reporting its position. Left adrift in the open ocean and subject to shark attack, lack of supplies and exposure, Indianpolis' surviving crew were finally discovered on August 2nd by a chance overflight of a US aircraft which vectored in aircraft and ships to assist. Rescue operations continued through the 8th of August before being called off, by which time only 321 of the 800 men who went into the water were recovered alive, the rest having succumbed to injury, exposure, drowning or shark attack.

The loss of Indianapolis marked the final capital vessel lost by the United States Navy during the Second World War, which ended less than two weeks later. Proving to be a major scandal due to the high loss of life resulting from the botched rescue efforts, the US Navy eventually court-martialed Indianapolis' Captain Charles B. McVay III due to his "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag". Seen by many, including the ships own crew, as a baseless accusation and attempt to shift blame for the loss of the Cruiser and so many crew, McVay was nonetheless convicted and lived under a cloud until his suicide in 1968. Following public pressure and efforts by surviving crew of the Indianapolis, McVay's name and record were cleared of any wrongdoing in 2000.

On August 19th, 2017 the wreck of USS Indianapolis was located at a depth of approximately 18,000ft in a position roughly 25 miles east of its previously reported sinking coordinates. Her exact location remains undisclosed and will be declared a war grave for the 300 men still aboard ship.

www.ussindianapolis.org/
www.navsource.org/archives/04/035/04035.htm
edition.cnn.com/2017/08/19/us/uss-indianapolis-wreckage...