War Stories: The sinking of USS Indianapolis and the last Japanese victory

 

The crew of the USS Indianapolis being rescued, Aug 1945

Many of my peers often quiz me of the last Japanese victory of World War 2. One of the contenders I would list is the sinking of USS Indianapolis in July 1945.

A super secret mission
The USS Indianapolis was a heavy cruiser that was tasked with an important mission. It was to transport parts of the atomic bomb (known as Little Boy, which was later dropped on Hiroshima) to the island of Tinian (near Philippines).

At that time, the USS Indianapolis was docked in San Francisco. It had participated in many campaigns, from Papua New Guinea to Aleutian islands to the Philippines. In March 1945, a Japanese plane bombed the ship during the Battle of Okinawa, and it had to retreat to California for repairs.

Only a few officials knew the contents of their transport. To ensure a quick delivery, it left unaccompanied from San Francisco on 16 July. The security risk of being detected by enemy submarines was considered to be low as the United States had dominated the Pacific Ocean. Furthermore, any additional ships would have slowed the journey down as they would need to travel in formation and smaller ships did not that lengthy travel range.

Speed was essential if the Americans wanted to end the war early.

USS Indianapolis arrived in Pearl Harbor on 19 July. At that time, it was a speed record of 74.5 h. After resupplying, the USS Indianapolis left Pearl Harbor and arrived at Tinian without incident on 26 July 1945. The secret cargo was delivered, and the mission was done.

Captain McVay who led the USS Indianapolis requested an escort for future trips, but it was denied.

On the way to Philippines
USS Indianapolis then resupplied at Guam, and was ordered to go towards Leyte, Philippines where they were supposed to receive training before rejoining the fleet at Okinawa. However, disaster struck.

29 July
2300 - The Japanese submarine I-58 spots USS Indianapolis. After wrongly identifying it as a battleship, the crew prepared for engagement.

2326 -  I-58 fires six torpedoes.

30 July
0015 - USS Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes on the starboard. It caused massive explosions, and the ship started to tilt towards the starboard.

0027 - USS Indianapolis capsized and sank. Out of the 1995 men onboard, 300 went down with the ship. Many life jackets and lifeboats were not deployed.

Despite distress signals sent, the naval stations that received them were manned by operators who were either drunk, told not to disturb the commanders, or overly paranoid (and thought it was a trap). Thus, no rescue was dispatched. (Even when the USS Indianapolis did not arrive that its destination by the intented time, no report on its absence was sent.)

 I-58 departed from the area.

2 Aug
1025 - A patrol plane spots the adrift crew. By then, most of the surviving crew had perished from either dehydration, shark attacks, drowning, hypothermia, suicide or hypernatraemia. That plane radioed the location.

Later, another patrol plane arrived to rescue about 56 survivors. However, the plane was overloaded (some of the survivors were lashed to the wings) and was no longer flight worthy. The destroyer escort USS Cecil J. Doyle arrived after that to pick the rest of the survivors.

Of the 316 who were taken out of the waters that day, two died later in August 1945.

Aftermath
Captain McVay (one of the survivors) was court-martialed after the war and was charged with failing to zigzag to avoid submarine attacks. Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto who commanded the I-58 testified to McVay's defence to no avail.

Plagued with guilt, McVay commited suicide in 1968. It was only until 2000 that President Bill Clinton exonerated McVay based on a Hunter Scott's reseach. (Hunter Scott was a student who became interested and interviewed survivors of the incident in 1997.)

The wreck of the ship was found in the Philippine Sea in 2017.

For more reading:
First-hand accounts