On 30 July 1945, after delivering parts for the first atomic bomb to the United States air base at Tinian, the [USS Indianapolis] was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58, sinking in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship.
The survivors then died from exposure, etc, and sharks. All the sharks. Because the USN was incompetent. I-58's captain even testified in his defense iirc.
The survivors then died from exposure, etc, and sharks. All the sharks. Because the USN was incompetent. I-58's captain even testified in his defense iirc.
I found it astonishing they still found the Captain of the Indianapolis guilty despite the testimony from the freaking enemy. He didn't get his name cleared until 50+ years after the war.
I grew up in Indiana, and at one point lived in a suburb called Indian Village (decorated with concrete tepees) and went to a summer camp called camp Potawotami, and it never would have occurred to me to use Native American imagery for her.
Nose on your face etc. Still think USS Indiana is a farm girl.
I found it astonishing they still found the Captain of the Indianapolis guilty despite the testimony from the freaking enemy. He didn't get his name cleared until 50+ years after the war.
people with egos and not wanting to man up to being wrong being in charge they refused to admit that sending the Indianapolis alone on the mission was the real thing that endangered the Indianapolis and were looking for a scapegoat for a error that almost cost them the Hiroshima nuke had I-58 found Indianapolis sooner than it did.
I grew up in Indiana, and at one point lived in a suburb called Indian Village (decorated with concrete tepees) and went to a summer camp called camp Potawotami, and it never would have occurred to me to use Native American imagery for her.
Nose on your face etc. Still think USS Indiana is a farm girl.
I blame a certain artist who put too much literalness in the USN shipgirls just because of their name.
...Yeah, as far as I know, nobody in Japan knew that Indianapolis carried the core for the Hiroshima bomb during the war.
This whole incident was pretty galling. The sinking itself was pretty bad- the bow of the ship was severed and she sank in about twelve minutes, resulting in over 300 deaths- but the five-day wait for rescue was twice as deadly as the sinking, and the American admiralty screwed up just about everything, from sending Indy from Guam to the Philippines with no escort to failing to make any note of the fact that Indy hadn't arrived on time. The only reason anybody found the survivors was because a patrol plane chanced across them. And then what did the brass do? They court-martialed Captain McVay because his ship was attacked. They ruined his career and his name- and made him a target for the families of all the dead sailors, who launched a campaign of harassment that only ended when McVay put a bullet through his head.
Mochitsura Hashimoto, the captain of I-58, who testified at McVay's trial that there was nothing he could have done to change the outcome of their encounter and, in his later years, wrote to the US Congress to protest McVay's conviction, somehow treated him better than his own superiors did.
San FranciscoJuly 1945July 30th 1945
Top secret info retrieved?
Successfully sunk US heavy cruiser!August 15th
Unconditional Surrender
End of WarAug 8th
NagasakiCaptain of I-58 deeply regrets!USS IndianapolisLet's hurry backAaaaaaarrrrrrrghTOO LATE!LeyteMission confirmed!I-58CA-35 SunkBoomTop Secret
Nuclear Bomb The core components to the Hiroshima A-bomb ie Little Boy some sources said she had the core for Fat Man (The Nagasaki A-bomb) as well but these are wrong the declassified official documents say she only delivered Little Boy's.To TinianTransport successfulAug 6th
HiroshimaIf I had sunk it a few days earlier!
Regrets! Regrets!!