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| A Day in Indiana History - July |
The Memorial pays tribute to the last US Navy ship to sink
in World War II. The USS Indianapolis had delivered the components to the first
operational atomic bomb to the island
of Tinian Guam .
Headquarters ordered McVay to join the USS Idaho in the Leyte
Gulf . The Navy was assembling a fleet to invade Japan .
Sub Infested Waters
The USS Indianapolis' orders directed the ship to proceed
without an escort, an unprecedented event during the war. Unknown to McVay, two
Japanese submarines lay in his path. As the ship proceeded through the sea, one
of the submarines sighted the unescorted, defenseless ship and fired two
torpedoes. The first torpedo struck the bow of the ship, obliterating it. The
second struck the hull near a fuel tank and powder magazine. The ship sank
quickly. About 900 of the 1116 crewmen made it into the water. The radioman
sent three distress calls before sinking. However, no one reacted. One receiving
station commander had gotten drunk and was inebriated, so did not answer the
call. Another had ordered his radio operator not to disturb him. The third
suspected a Japanese trap and sent no help.
Shark Infested Waters
The men remained in the water for almost five days, held
aloft by their life vests. Sharks found the helpless survivors and began to
feed. The horror lasted until a PV-1 Ventura Bomber on submarine patrol
discovered the flotsam from the wreckage and survivors still clinging to life
in the water. He radioed for help. A PBY seaplane was dispatched to aid the
stricken survivors. Lieutenant R. Adrian Marks first over flew the target and
alerted the USS Cecil Doyle, who whose captain overlooked his orders and sailed
to the scene. meanwhile, Marks arrived and started deploying life rafts. He
could see that sharks were devouring many of the men and, against Navy
procedure, landed his plane and taxied about the water's surface trying to pull
as many as he could from the waters. He soon filled the plane and tied many
others to the wings. Marks managed to save fifty-six of the men. The Doyle
arrived at dark, and, seeing the PBY, stopped his ship to avoid harming any
survivors. he pulled Mark's survivors onto the ship. Knowing more ships were on
the way, the captain of the Doyle shone his beacon light into the night sky,
knowing this would alert any Japanese in the area to his presence. Only 317 men
would survive the horror of hunger, thirst, shark attacks and exposure to the
elements. It would go down as one of the greatest Navy disasters.
USS Indianapolis Memorial
Walnut St. & Senate
Ave. , Central
Canal
317-232-7615
Excerpted from the author’s book:
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