USS Indianapolis tragedy (WWII, war, bomb, 1930's)

[Bansidhbabe]

I am interested in frank, honest comments about the USS Indianapolis tragedy. I have just finished reading "In Harm's Way: The true story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis" by Doug Stanton and I am interested in hearing what other people have to say about this incident.

Because the cargo was kept secret from the Captain and the crew then it wasn't God's punishment for what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I hope this thread will keep away from thoughtless statements to that affect.

This was a tragedy, plain and simple, compounded by errors and omissions by Naval Staff and the ultimate victim seems to be Captain McVay who paid the price.

I am not criticizing the US Navy - there was a lot going on at the time and I am no expert in Naval matters, but it does appear that there was a lot of people willing to pass the buck until it stopped at Captain McVay.

Hopefully there are Naval History Buffs who can offer frank comments and insight into what went wrong that night.

Bansidhbabe

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Bansidhbabe

Because the cargo was kept secret from the Captain and the crew then it wasn't God's punishment for what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I hope this thread will keep away from thoughtless statements to that affect.

You mean like the one you have already presented above?

It implies that had the crew known about the nature of the cargo, then some divine hand would have visited terrible retribution upon them, such as arranging for a Japanese submarine to torpedo them, and then arranging for swarms of sharks to treat them as supper.

Did you mean to imply that?

[Bansidhbabe]

I did not mean that at all. I don't believe in God but there are people who do believe that suffering is God's punishment for their bad behavior. Trust me I heard that a lot growing up with a religious zealot for a step-mom. To this day she thinks I am worthless and evil.

I'm not interested in bringing religion into it at all. I thought my first statement was clear about what I was interested in.

Would it perhaps be more acceptable to verbally attack the navy of the time which allowed a ship to be four days overdue, it's berth vacant, and still not question where it was. Or those who knew there were Japanese subs in the area? Or those who refused him a destroyer escort despite that being his right? Or an eleven-year-old boy who was more interested than the United States Navy in absolving the Captain of the USS Indianapolis from any blame assigned to him for his ship's sinking?

What other United States ship or ships that were lost in World War 2 had their Captain's court-martialed for losing his ship? The only one I know of is Captain McVay.

I have researched Naval History for four years. I find it fascinating and often tragic. My bedroom wall is covered with pictures of battleships, armored cruisers, dreadnoughts, submarines and aircraft carriers. I just wanted to hear other opinions.

I haven't been on here for two years. I left because of the verbal jabs and attacks and people picking apart what you wrote and/or how you wrote it. Obviously nothing's changed.

By the way - who gives you the right to tell me how I should or shouldn't word something?

Don't worry - I'm gone. This forum has not changed and I have better things to spend my time on.

GVG

[Escort Rider]

To the OP (who may no longer be reading her own thread):
1) Since you have read the book-length treatment of the sinking of the Indianapolis and its aftermath, there is not much about the facts that most of us can add. But you asked for opinions. Mine is that Capt. McVey was scapegoated, and that someone (or several people) in the Navy should have been brought up for dereliction of duty for not following up on the over-due arrival. The Navy had probably become over-confident because the Japanese Imperial Navy had ceased to exist as an effective fighting force by that time; I forget how many combat ready submarines they still had, but the one that sunk the Indianapolis was one of the very few.
2) Grandstander made a good objective analysis of your huffy response. Why go away mad? Something you wrote was not completely clear, which happens to the best of us. All you had to do was clear it up.

[Terryj]

My father served on the USS Indianapolis and was one of the 317 men who surived the sinking and the shark attacks, he never talked much about his ordeal but I know it haunted him all of his life. The only thing he did say was that he was very lucky. It wasn't until I watched the documentry on this that I got an idea of what my dad went throught, my dad died in 1979 and I'm glad that he never saw this documentry.

[Dd714]

I would recommend "Abandon Ship" by Richard Newcomb. It's been a few years since I've read it but it focuses alot on the courtmarshall of it's commander, which by all accounts was a scapegoat trial.

God's punishement? WTF? Why even mention that. I'm reading "The Rape of Nanking" right now. trust me if God's punishment was directed anywhere it's to that savage imperial nation that killed more innocent people in one city, in the most brutal way possible or imaginable, then two atomic bombs did. Not to turn the topic here, but enough with the "Japan was a victim" nonsense. Let's not even go there.

[Terryj]

Originally Posted by Dd714

I would recommend "Abandon Ship" by Richard Newcomb. It's been a few years since I've read it but it focuses alot on the courtmarshall of it's commander, which by all accounts was a scapegoat trial.

God's punishement? WTF? Why even mention that. I'm reading "The Rape of Nanking" right now. trust me if God's punishment was directed anywhere it's to that savage imperial nation that killed more innocent people in one city, in the most brutal way possible or imaginable, then two atomic bombs did. Not to turn the topic here, but enough with the "Japan was a victim" nonsense. Let's not even go there.

I agree with you, what Japan received they brought on themselves from their actions they did from the late 1930's to the end of WWII. I've read the book "Rape of Nanking" I would suggest more people read it. FYI, The Empire of Japan during these times were responsible for the deaths of millions of people and make Hitler like small in compairson. The killing of almost a million Chinese in one city alone. Yes, Japan was a victim, but they were a victim of their own choosing, what happened to Japan was small compaired to what Japan infilcted in the Indo-China area during WWII.

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by Terryj

I agree with you, what Japan received they brought on themselves from their actions they did from the late 1930's to the end of WWII. I've read the book "Rape of Nanking" I would suggest more people read it. FYI, The Empire of Japan during these times were responsible for the deaths of millions of people and make Hitler like small in compairson. The killing of almost a million Chinese in one city alone. Yes, Japan was a victim, but they were a victim of their own choosing, what happened to Japan was small compaired to what Japan infilcted in the Indo-China area during WWII.

Terry check out the movie "City of Life and Death", a very well made Chinese movie on the Nanking Massacres, if you have a chance (it's available on netflix). Since this is offtopic to the story of the Indianapolis, I see a post on the Japanese war crimes where I can continue this subject line.

[383man]

The Captian asked for a Destroyer escort and was turned down ! Cruisers did not have anti submarine radar and thats why he asked for Destroyer escort. No way would I blame it on the Captain as I blame it on the person who refused to give them Destoyer escort. Ron