WORLD WAR II NON-FICTION

"In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors"
By Doug Stanton

This is a fine tribute to the brave crew of the USS Indianapolis. The book is based on extensive research of historical records and interviews with survivors. The Indy delivered the atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima to Tinian Island on July 26th, 1945. She then sailed to Guam for orders. After reporting to Guam, she was ordered to rejoin the fleet at Leyte. She set sail for Leyte and on Monday 30 July, she was torpedoed and sunk in the Philippine Sea by the Japanese submarine I-58. Of the crew of almost 1200 men, about 300 went down with the ship. Of the remaining 900 who managed to escape, only 317 survived after being picked up 4 days later. Many of the men were injured and had no food, water, or lifejackets. Sharks killed over 200!

The whole episode is still an embarrassment to the Navy. Only this year has the captain, Charles Butler McVay III been exonerated, but the conviction of his courts martial still stands. McVay was tried for failure to zigzag, and to abandon ship in a timelier manner. The prosecution even brought in the commander of the I-58, Hashimoto, to testify at the trial, where he stated that zigzagging would not have made any difference. The Navy, needing a scapegoat, still found McVay guilty but the second charge was dropped. What was not known at the time of the trial was that submarine activity in the area was known through magic decryptions and McVay was not told of possible danger. The Indy was also unaccompanied by a destroyer or destroyer escort with submarine detection capability due to the shortage of ships (partly due to Gen. Macarthur). And

Finally, the Guam routing office failed to notify Leyte of the expected arrival time of the Indy.

What disturbed me most about this incident is that for years Americans were led to believe that the sinking ship sent no distress signal. In fact, two petty officers in radio room two jury-rigged a transmitter and used a light switch as the transmission key to get off an SOS with their position, saying they were torpedoed and going down. The message was received but not acted upon. Two men that should have been held partly responsible for the disaster were Commodores Jacobson and Gillete. Jacobson, who was sleeping at the time he was notified went back to sleep and forgot all about it. The SOS was also received at Tacloban, where the officer on watch dispatched two tugs. Commodore Gillete, who was away playing cards arrived several hours later and ordered the two ships back because they had been dispatched without his authorization. The radio operator Clair B. Young that had notified Jacobson of the SOS, later noticed that the docking berth assigned to the Indy was empty but kept his mouth shut. The whole affair was a tragic example of neglect, incompetence, and stupidity and over 900 men suffered horribly for 4 days before they were discovered accidentally by a PBM-5 flown by Lt. Chuck Gwinn. After the discovery, it was an all-out race to save the survivors but still about 600 of the initial survivors died of shock, wounds, madness and sharks.

Reviewed by Kenneth S. Smith 29 January 2001

Henry Holt and Company, LLC
115 West 18th Street
New York, NY 1001

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