Cruiser "Indianapolis": description, history and tragedy

At the end of July 1945, there was the largest maritime disaster in the history of the US Navy. Shortly before the end of the war, the American cruiser Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. Two torpedoes, produced by a submarine, killed more than nine hundred sailors.

Volunteers in the Navy

After the nightmare that Japanese aviation arranged on December 7, 1941 at the US naval base Pearl Harbor, the United States was dragged into the bloodbath of World War II. Among the allied countries, they were given an important role in the conduct of military operations at sea, and thousands of American boys, inspired by the flow of patriotic speeches that poured into them from radio receivers and from the pages of newspapers, were volunteered for the fleet.

A special occasion for pride was those whose place of service was the cruiser USS Indianapolis, and it is no coincidence. The battle ship, launched on November 15, 1932, managed to become one of the most famous and prestigious courts. He was invariably given preference in his naval voyages by President Theodore Roosevelt. Crossing the ocean on board, he made good-will visits. The deck of the cruiser also remembered many members of the royal families and leaders of world politics.

The ship and its captain

The cruiser, even in size, corresponded to such an exceptional position. Suffice it to say that on the deck you could easily place two football fields. The total length was 186 m, and the displacement was 12775 tons. On this giant, 1,269 people were serving. The main striking force consisted of three nasal guns caliber of 203 mm. In addition, its arsenal included a large number of airborne guns and several anti-aircraft guns.

He also had worthy captains, who were able to fulfill exactly and in time the orders of the supreme command, than they managed to create a good reputation for the ship. The last of them was appointed on December 18, 1944, Charles Butler McVay - a young and brilliantly proven officer. It was hard to imagine that he was destined to lead the cruiser Indianapolis on his last trip.

On the eve of the end of the war

As a result of active hostilities in the spring of 1944, the ships of the American fleet were only a few miles from the coast of Japan. For a decisive offensive, they needed to master the ideal bridgehead - the island of Okinawa. Consciousness of the close end of the war and quick victory raised the fighting spirit of the sailors and doubled the strength.

At the same time, their opponents were in a very difficult situation. The Japanese not only destroyed most of the fleet and consumed ammunition, but the entire available reserve of manpower was coming to an end. In this critical situation, their command decided to put into battle kamikaze - suicide bombers, fanatics ready to give their lives for the emperor.

A year earlier, a detachment of Japanese airplanes stuffed with explosives and piloted by voluntary suicides attacked American warships during the battle for the Philippines. Then in the next few months, more than two thousand projectile aircraft made combat sorties, causing a considerable damage to the US fleet. In view of the prevailing situation, the emperor gave the order to re-use these weapons.

Suicide attack

As documents show, the cruiser Indianapolis was attacked by suicide bombers on the early morning of March 31. It was extremely difficult to repel it, because it was possible to stop the kamikaze, only by shooting an airplane in the air, and this was not always possible.

A few minutes after the start of the battle, one of the aircraft, diving from the clouds hanging over the sea, crashed into the bow of the cruiser. The ensuing explosion took the lives of nine sailors, and the damage caused by them forced the command to take off the ship from combat duty and send it for repair to the docks of San Francisco. But, despite everything, the mood of all was upbeat, because the last year of the war was 1945.

The cruiser "Indianapolis" carries out a secret order

As the surviving participants of those events later told, most of the ship's crew were confident that the war was over for them and the surrender of Japan would be signed before the repair was completed. But fate decreed otherwise. In early July, when the fighting was still going on, the captain received an order on the basis of which the cruiser of the US Navy, Indianapolis, had to take on board a particularly secret cargo and deliver it to the specified destination.

Soon two containers were brought to the ship, to which the armed guard was immediately assigned. In those days, none of the sailors knew what contained this mysterious cargo, and most of them were never destined to find out. But who managed to complete the repair, the cruiser, according to the order, went to sea and headed for Hawaii. He went with a maximum speed of thirty-four knots, covered the entire path in three days.

Carriers of Atomic Death

Upon reaching the purpose of the journey, Captain McVey received a radiogram to proceed further to the Mariana Islands, which were two thousand miles to the west. The final destination was the island of Tinian included in their number. There, with maximum precautions, the containers were removed from the deck and brought ashore.

Now it is not a secret for anyone that they had uranium cores for atomic bombs, one of which was dropped on Hiroshima in ten days, and its explosion, which destroyed one hundred and sixty thousand people according to the most conservative calculations, caused the world to shudder, and the Japanese command - Sign an act of surrender on August 15. But then no one knew, and humanity could not imagine all the consequences of the nuclear apocalypse. It was still a military secret.

The death of the Indianapolis cruiser was preceded by an order received by the captain immediately after unloading the containers. He was ordered to follow the western part of the Pacific Ocean to the island of Guam, and then to the Philippines. The war was coming to an end, and another order was received by the Indianapolis crew as an invitation to a sea walk that did not contain any danger.

Captain McVey's mistake

The docks of San Francisco cruiser Indianapolis left July 16, and on the same day from the pier of the Japanese naval base, the submarine, numbered I-58, quietly left. Her captain Mochitsura Hashimoto was an experienced submariner who swam throughout the war and was used to looking into the face of death. This time, he brought his ship to the hunt for Americans, whose anticipation of a quick victory often deprived them of elementary caution.

According to the established rules, in the war zone, surface ships, in order not to be detected by enemy submarines, must move in zigzags. This is exactly the way Captain McVey drove his ships throughout the war, but the reign of victory euphoria played a cruel joke with him. Since there was no information about the presence in the area of enemy submarines, he ignored the usual precaution. This criminal frivolity was subsequently a nightmare that haunted him for the rest of his life.

Submarine chaser

In the meantime, the echo sounders of the Japanese submarine caught the sound produced by the screws of the cruiser, and this was immediately reported to the commander. Mochitsura Hashimoto ordered to prepare torpedoes for battle and follow the ship, choosing the best moment for the attack. For the crew of the cruiser, this campaign was a routine service routine, and no one even suspected that their ship was being pursued by an enemy submarine. This allowed the Japanese to covertly follow the Americans a few more miles.

Finally, when the distance allowed to launch the launch with sufficient confidence in the hit, the Japanese submarine fired two torpedoes along the cruiser. A minute later Hashimoto saw through the oculars of the periscope a water fountain rising to the sky. This indicated that one of them had reached the goal. Having completed the combat mission, the submarine disappeared into the depths of the ocean as imperceptibly as it appeared.

Catastrophe

Yes, indeed, for the misfortune of the sailors it was a direct hit. The explosion that occurred in the area of the engine room, destroyed all the team that was in it. Water was poured into the formed hole, and despite its huge size, the heavy cruiser Indianapolis began to heel to the right side. In this situation, a catastrophe was inevitable, and Captain McVey ordered the crew to leave the ship.

The attack of the submarine, which was completely unexpected for all, the explosion and the fatal team that followed it became the causes of the panic and chaos that swept the dying ship. Thousand two hundred crew members simultaneously searched for salvation, on the run putting on life jackets and rushing into the water. Surprisingly, it turned out that there were not enough emergency meltdowns at all - their number did not correspond to the crew size. For this reason, most of the sailors were doomed to a long stay in the water, waiting for help.

The beginning of a four-day nightmare

Caught among the huge oil slick that blurred around the crashed cruiser, they witnessed the death of a ship that was recently considered to be the beauty and pride of the American fleet. In front of them, the cruiser slowly capsized on one side, the bow part completely went under the water, causing the food to go up, and finally the whole ship, as if exhausting its last forces in the fight against the ocean, fell into the depths.

On this day for the nine hundred sailors who survived the torpedo attack of the Japanese submarine and found themselves in the middle of the ocean without boats, without drinking water and food, a real tragedy began to unfold. Many were in a state of shock. Cries of help came from all sides, but there was no one to give her. To somehow encourage the team, the captain tried to assure everyone that they are on one of the main sea routes and, undoubtedly, will soon be discovered.

However, everything turned out differently. Since the ship's radio station was damaged by the explosion and the distress signal could not be sent in time, the fleet command did not even suspect what had happened. On the island of Guam, where the cruiser was traveling, his absence was explained by a possible change in the course and did not raise the alarm. As a result, four days passed before the disaster survivors were accidentally spotted by an American bomber who was carrying out a patrol flight in the area.

Death among sharks

But only a few have survived to this day. In addition to thirst, hunger and hypothermia, seafarers were trapped in the open ocean yet another terrible danger - sharks. Initially, several solitary fins appeared on the surface of the water, then their number increased, and soon all the space around the seamen literally swarmed with them. Panic began among the people. Nobody knew what to do and how to protect themselves from these ruthless ocean predators.

And the sharks were already tightening themselves around the ring around their victims. They then surfaced, their high open mouths raised high above the surface, then again they went into the depths. Suddenly, blocking the sound of the waves, a shrill human cry came, and the water colored with blood. This served as a signal for the rest of the sharks. They began to grab helpless people and still alive to draw in depth.

Continuation of the tragedy

Hell's feast then stopped, then resumed for three days. Of the nine hundred sailors caught in the water after the tragedy that occurred with the cruiser of the US Navy Indianapolis, almost half of them were a victim of sharks.

But soon another one was added to this danger. The fact is that life jackets, thanks to which sailors continued to stay on the water, were designed for three days. Having exhausted their resource, they were saturated with water and lost buoyancy. Thus, the death became inevitable.

Arrival of rescuers

Only on August 2, that is, on the fourth day of the tragedy, the few who were still alive heard the sound of the airplane over their heads. The pilot who found them immediately reported to the headquarters, and from this moment the rescue operation began. Prior to the approach of the main ships to the place where the crash of the Indianapolis cruiser occurred, a seaplane arrived and, having made a risky landing among the foaming waves, became a kind of marina for all those who managed to survive.

Soon, two ships arrived - the USS Bassett destroyer and USS Tranquility, which brought the survivors to Guam, where they received medical assistance. Of the 1,189 people on board, only 316 survived. For the remaining sailors, the crash of the Indianapolis cruiser cost lives. Until the end of the war there were only 17 days left.

Verdict rendered by the tribunal

The tragedy of the cruiser Indianapolis caused a wide resonance among the American and world public. Hardly survived the horrors of the war, people demanded to immediately find and punish the perpetrators of what happened. The Ministry of Defense demanded that Captain McVey be brought to trial, incriminating him with criminal negligence, as a result of which the ship did not perform the zigzagging prescribed in such cases and became easy prey for the enemy submarine.

By decision of the tribunal, held on December 19, 1945, the captain of the cruiser Indianapolis was demoted in military rank, but escaped prison. It is curious that the former commander of the Japanese submarine Mochitsura Hashimoto, the one who sent the ill-fated cruiser to the bottom, was invited to witness the case. The war was over, and the former enemies now solved important legal issues together.

Personal tragedy of the captain

The verdict handed down by the tribunal was the occasion for numerous disputes. At all levels, voices were heard accusing the fleet command of wanting to blame the death of the Indianapolis cruiser for one McVey and thus avoiding the share of responsibility that fell on them. It ended, however, by the fact that a few months later the Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, with a personal decree, restored him to his previous rank, and four years later, quietly and without noise sent to retire.

However, he was ultimately destined to become another victim, which led to the death of the cruiser Indianapolis. The story of his death was in itself a tragedy. It is known that over the following years, McVey regularly received letters from family members of sailors, whose deaths he was accused of. Despite the fact that he was officially released from responsibility, many considered him the main culprit for what had happened. Obviously, this voice was also echoed by the voice of his conscience. Unable to overcome the moral torment, in 1968, Captain McVey shot himself.

The history of the cruiser Indianapolis again became the subject of discussions in 2000, when the US Congress passed a resolution on the basis of which all charges brought against McVey were fully filed. This document was signed by President Bill Clinton, then a corresponding entry was made in the captain's personal file, which was kept in the Navy's archive.

In the city of Indianapolis, whose name was worn by the dead cruiser, a memorial was created in his honor. Every two years on July 30, the day when the Japanese torpedo put an end to the ship's warship, all surviving participants of the events of those days gather to the monument to once again share the pain of the total loss. But time is inexorable, and every year they are getting smaller.