Silent all those years (USS Indianapolis)

North Jersey Newspapers ^ | 05.08.05 | ROD ALLEE

[satchmodog9]

for later

[nuconvert]

Bump

[Riley]

I was just thinking about the Indy today, what with all of the annual Hiroshima hubbub.

Bad scene. Captain McVay was crucified, even after the Japanese submarine captain was hauled into court and testified that it wouldn't have made much difference if the Indianapolis had been zig-zagging.

[Marine_Uncle]

Thanks. Quite a story to say the least.

[F16Fighter]

Many were, in fact, missing body parts because they had been bitten off by sharks. Of the Indianapolis' 1,196 crewmen, almost 900 survived the torpedo attack. Out of those men, however, only 317 remained after four days adrift at sea; most of those who didn't were eaten.

One of the most gruesome and heartbreaking stories of WWII.

[stevem]

The reasons behind what happened to the Indianapolis were covered up by top Navy officials intent on finding a scapegoat. The ship's captain, Charles Butler McVay III, was eventually court-martialed and convicted for failing to zigzag his ship, a standard anti-submarine defense tactic.

The fact that this court marshall even took place always seemed to me to show contempt for decency on the part of Admiral King and James Forestall. Both could have put an end to it. I think it is a blot on Nimitz record who also should have found a way to intervene and stop it.

I was a tiny cog in the Navy machine and have always been a supporter of the Navy. My son in an Ensign JG today and quite likes it. I still have friends that made the Navy a career choice. So, I am a fan.

In the Indianapolis fiasco, which only became a fiasco after the war ended, the Navy clothed itself in dishonor.

[blu]

Read the book "In Harm's Way" by Doug Stanton. It is excellent.

[Eastbound]

Bump!

Snippy and Sam, FYI.

[gobucks]

I met a veteran of this ship in an airport once ... he was wearing a ball cap w/ the logo. I sat down and chatted with him, and he was quite surprised I knew anything about the story.

This story has ALWAYS astounded me, b/c somehow, the Navy so fantastically screwed up. I would love to know just why they felt they had to scapegoat the captain...

Thanks for the story...

[Citizen Tom Paine]

As I recall from by readings, the Navy didn't have a movrep system then so they could not tell that the ship was over due. So the search started too late to save the people in the water when the sharks were eating them.

The USS Indianapolis sinking was the most gruesome event that I ever read about concerning WW II. It was truly horrible.

[Samwise]

The USS Indianapolis Survivors org has several fundraisers. Whenever I see them, I buy an autographed something or other for hubby. I read "Only 317 Survived," the book I bought him. The survivors tell their stories in their own words. The stories are horrific. God bless him for helping rescue those poor souls.

http://www.ussindianapolis.org/

[sine_nomine]

I read that King had a grudge against McVey because of McVey's father disciplining him. I may have that wrong. It is from memory (many Navy books). The Navy was disgraceful in letting the captain be humiliated, in fact, letting the enemy sub commander testify!

The battleship accident of recent memory was another disgrace.

Then there was Pearl Harbor, with two scapegoats.

Our Navy is great, but I wonder about those incidents.

[sine_nomine]

Bull Halsey had a number of blunders to his name, real disasters based on his rash judgment or no judgment. He was not court martialed.

One was chasing Jap battleships when he was in charge of defending the landing. Leyte Gulf.

Another one was the loss of life during a huge storm. I think the Navy held that against him although I am not aware of all the details. I believe we lost as many during that storm as we did with the Indianapolis.

[stevem]

The USS Indianapolis sinking was the most gruesome event that I ever read about concerning WW II. It was truly horrible.

WWII was a pretty horrendous naval war. It was Salamis and Jutlands and Trafalgar and Mobile and a dozen other catastrophic events rolled into a cataclysm except exponentially larger and in an area unimaginably vast. I suspect there were a good many events just as gruesome but without the notoriety.

The real travesty of the Indianapolis sinking was the Navy holding attempting to crucify McVay for it.

[stevem]

I read that King had a grudge against McVey because of McVey's father disciplining him.

I read the same somewhere. I have never been an Ernest King fan. I thought he was a petty man. I don't think this incident was the only example.

Our Navy is great, but I wonder about those incidents.

I believe the Navy is similar to any bureaucracy with a similar mission. On the one hand it provides an opportunity for human beings to assume a greatness, sort of a blending of meanness and greatness as Bruce Catton said about the Civil War.

On the other hand it allows some particularly small men who have a penchant for politics to ascend to positions that their talent and temperament simply don't justify.

[sine_nomine]

All too true.

[sine_nomine]

King was called The Blowtorch. His daughter said he had only one mood - furious.

[Shqipo]

First heard about this tragic story watching JAWS all those years ago. The description of events by Quinn was one of the most engrossing and captivating moments of an overall great movie.

[Coleus]

Yea, me too, good ol' captain quint.