On July 30, 1945, not far past midnight, the USS Indianapolis was spotted by a Japanese submarine and hit by two torpedoes. The ship had just delivered the components of the atomic bomb in a highly classified mission. It takes around 12 minutes for the ship to sink, during which time there are intense fires and gallons of diesel are dumped into the sea. Nearly 900 men survive the explosions and make it into the water, some with only life jackets, others finding shelter on rafts or floater nets. They will drift, awaiting rescue, for five nights and four days. They will battle their injuries, the oil, dehydration and hunger, sharks, madness, and each other. Only 316 will survive.
But that’s not the whole story. After their rescue the captain, Charles McVay III, is court-martialed and ultimately the only one held responsible for the sinking. The book chronicles the attempts made to right this wrong, with survivors, lawyers, the captain of the modern-day Indianapolis submarine, and even a teenage boy, banding together to clear his name. Even the commander of the sub that sank the Indianapolis, Mochitsura Hashimoto, joins the fight.
It is a thorough and yet respectful telling of a saga I only really knew of as a sinking and shark attack story. My first contact with the tale is likely from watching Jaws as a kid, and listening to Quint tell the others about his time on Indianapolis in a chilling monologue. I don’t imagine child-me understood that he was telling a true story.
This is one of those books where the undertaking of writing it kind of blows my mind. The research and dedication to getting it right, the files that must have been read, the people interviewed, it’s staggering. And yet it never reads in any kind of leaden or bogged-down way. There are times when it’s hard to keep the men straight, as there are so many of them and with little distinguishing them, and some of the finer details of navy life were a little lost on me, but it’s not a difficult or technical read. It also isn’t a survivor’s tale really, and while it covers what they endured it doesn’t go into gory detail, and I imagine there is lots left unsaid. It’s more a definitive history of the ship, its men, their last mission, the sinking, and the legal battles that followed to undo an injustice. And it’s one of those that made me angry that it happened in the first place.
It’s hard to go into detail of what McVay was charged with, but the responsibility with the sinking stopped with him. Even though he had not been warned that enemy subs had been spotted in the area; even though he didn’t have an escort in those waters; even though after the sinking no one noticed or seemingly cared that the Indianapolis had not arrived at its destination; even though a rescue mission could have begun less than 24 hours later and saved many more men; even though they were rescued by sheer damn chance when they were spotted by a plane and not because the Navy had been galvanised into action; even though the enemy sub commander testified there was nothing McVay could have done to avoid the torpedoes. And on.
I cannot imagine living through anything like that, how terrifying it must have been, and the horror and guilt you must carry with you the rest of your life. I hope those men found at least some measure of peace afterwards.