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Seventy-two years after two torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine sunk cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the ship’s wreckage was found resting on the seafloor on Saturday – more than 18,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean’s surface.

You can see the number on the hull in this shot they got:



Pretty cool.

Pretty cool. I didn't know it was lost.

Wow, now THAT is a great way to spend 'mad money.'

RIP Quint

Interesting. The whole story of the sinking is something else. I saw an interview of a guy that survived both the sinking, shark attacks and then the Japanese POW camp.

Impressive, good news.

The Indianapolis carried the two A bombs to Tinian on July 26, setting a speed record in doing do, and was sunk in the morning of July 30 after stopping in Guam.

The Navy did not know of the sinking until days later when survivors were spotted by a patrol plane. About 900 sailors survived the sinking; only 330 or so were rescued.

Amazing discovery.

The ships loss and the crews ordeal is a terrible story.

quote:

Originally posted by ARMT Guy:
Amazing discovery.

The ships loss and the crews ordeal is a terrible story.

I know a movie was made of the sinking and terrible aftermath - As a former Navy guy, I couldn't begin to watch a movie about the Indianapolis.

From yoBy Lisa Rein August 19 at 6:58 PM
Naval researchers announced Saturday that they have found the wreckage of the lost World War II cruiser USS Indianapolis on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, 72 years after the vessel sank in minutes after it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.

The ship was found almost 3 1/2 miles below the surface of the Philippine Sea, said a tweet from Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen, who led a team of civilian researchers that made the discovery.

Historians and architects from the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, D.C., had joined forces with Allen last year to revisit the tragedy.

The ship sank in 15 minutes on July 30, 1945, in the war’s final days, and it took the Navy four days to realize that the vessel was missing.

About 800 of the crew’s 1,200 sailors and Marines made it off the cruiser before it sank. But almost 600 of them died over the next four to five days from exposure, dehydration, drowning and shark attacks. Nineteen crew members are alive today, the Navy command said in a news release.

The Indianapolis had just completed a top secret mission to deliver components of the atomic bomb “Little Boy” to the island of Tinian. The bomb was later dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

In a statement on its website, the command call the shipwreck a “significant discovery,” considering the depth of the water.

“While our search for the rest of the wreckage will continue, I hope everyone connected to this historic ship will feel some measure of closure at this discovery so long in coming,” Allen said in a statement. His research vessel, Petrel, has state-of-the-art subsea equipment that can descend to depths like those at which the ship was found.

The cruiser’s captain, Charles Butler McVay III, was among those who survived, but he was eventually court-martialed and convicted of losing control of the vessel. About 350 Navy ships were lost in combat during the war, but he was the only captain to be court-martialed. Years later, under pressure from survivors to clear his name, McVay was posthumously exonerated by Congress and President Bill Clinton.

The shipwreck’s location had eluded researchers for decades.

The coordinates keyed out in an S.O.S. signal were forgotten by surviving radio operators and were not received by Navy ships or shore stations, the Navy command said. The ship’s mission records and logs were lost in the wreck.

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Researchers got a break last year, however, when Richard Hulver, a historian with the Naval History and Heritage Command, identified a naval landing craft that had recorded a sighting of the Indianapolis hours before it was sunk. The position was west of where it was presumed to be lying. The team was able to develop a new estimated position, although it still covered 600 square miles of open ocean.

The ship is an official war grave, which means it is protected by law from disturbances. Naval archaeologists will prepare to tour the site and see what data they can retrieve. No recovery efforts are planned.

Hulver and Robert Neyland, the command’s underwater archaeology branch head, wrote on the website that “there remains a lot we can learn.”

“From the sinking to the battle damage and site formation processes, we hope to gain a better understanding about the wreck site and how we can better protect USS Indianapolis to honor the service of the ship and crew.”





I did not post a link on purpose. Good story from Washington Post, providing more details.

I have mixed emotions on this. I was a Sea Cadet in the late 80's and early 90's. Our division was named after her.

I had the privilege to meet some of the survivors and help raise money for their monument.

I hope this helps bring closer to the crew or there family's.

One of the only good things Bill Clinton did was to exonerate Captain McVay.

He found the IJN Battleship Musashi & now the Indianapolis. If Mr. Allen & Co. have some cycles, please stop over at Howland Island and help those twits locate the wreckage of Amelia Earharts lockeed electra, please....

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Interesting. The whole story of the sinking is something else. I saw an interview of a guy that survived both the sinking, shark attacks and then the Japanese POW camp.

The survivors were rescued by the US Navy. None of them ended up as POWs. . .

One picture shows the ship's bell. Hopefully, I will be able to see it some day (assuming they recover it).

Do not waste your time on the recent movie, SF members gave it MANY thumbs down:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2032572/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Read this instead:

https://www.amazon.com/Abandon...eywords=abandon+ship

I stand corrected. In my mind I confused it with the story of Louis Zamperini, the Olympic runner.
After more than 45 days at sea in an under-supplied lifeboat, he and one other crash survivor were captured by the Japanese and held prisoner for the remainder of the war. He was released in 1945 following Japanese surrender.

The knowledge base of the Forum is impressive.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Do not waste your time on the recent movie, SF members gave it MANY thumbs down:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2032572/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Read this instead:

https://www.amazon.com/Abandon...eywords=abandon+ship

100% agree, but I read "In Harms way"
The irony is the Captain got brought up on court Marshall charges, the navy used the Jap Sub Commander as a witness against the US Captain and years later he committed suicide.
Incredible story.

My father in law served on the Helm DD388, if I recall correctly, his ship was part of the initial response to pick up survivors and reclaim the dead. He had some ghastly stories... he wouldn't discuss the event until he was much older.

He always bristled at the fact the Captain had the blame pinned on him, the crew and many others understood the reality. Being a torpedo and depth charge man he doubted that there was anything the captain could have done that would have changed the outcome.

Article says 800 of the 1,200 survived so do we assume that there are 400 Sailors still down there?

I wonder if there are plans to recover the remains, ID them and return them to their families. I imagine it would provide closure for a lot of families.

To deep to do that, dangerous and cost prohibitive. Mark it as a war memorial site, and let them Rest In Peace.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:


100% agree, but I read "In Harms way"
The irony is the Captain got brought up on court Marshall charges, the navy used the Jap Sub Commander as a witness against the US Captain and years later he committed suicide.
Incredible story.

+1 on In Harms Way. Excellent book.

quote:

He always bristled at the fact the Captain had the blame pinned on him, the crew and many others understood the reality. Being a torpedo and depth charge man he doubted that there was anything the captain could have done that would have changed the outcome.

I'm torn on this issue. From the book above, McVay noted (right before he turned in for the night) that the visibility was lousy, meaning there was no need to zig-zag. However, the Japanese sub skipper noted that he spotted the Indy from about 5 miles away. Now, subs make lousy observation platforms, as they are really low in the water. For the sub crew to spot Indy from 5 miles, means the visibility was NOT bad at all. Therefore, the Indy SHOULD have been zig-zagging.

The Japanese sub skipper testified that he would have sunk Indy even IF she were zig-zagging, but this is simply not true. Maybe he could have hit her, maybe not. I've read many WWII sub books, and there were countless instances where a sub had a firing solution set up, and right before or right after firing torpedoes, the target zigged away, making the torpedoes wasted. Zig-zagging made the target unpredictable; subs in WWII could only hit targets on predictable courses (unless they got really lucky).

So, my question is why wasn't Indy zig-zagging. Did the weather clear up after McVay retired for the night? This seems the most likely scenario to me, but this also raises more questions. Did McVay have standing orders to contact him or to commence zig-zagging if the weather cleared up? If so, why weren't these orders carried out?

I think the entire crew was complacent. Japan's surface navy was practically wiped out. They may have thought the odds of them stumbling upon an enemy sub in the vast Pacific were low (they were). Either way, fact remains that the Indy was traveling straight at a constant speed in a war zone in submarine-infested waters. This is dereliction of duty, IMO.

Now, I think the Navy screwed McVay with the court-martial. As stated, he was the only US skipper court-martialed over the loss of his ship. Certainly, there were other instances of negligence leading to a loss of a ship and crew; he was singled out, IMO, to cover the Navy's butt for not realizing one of their ships was missing.

I feel bad for McVay - he never should have had to go through that ordeal.

quote:

I wonder if there are plans to recover the remains, ID them and return them to their families. I imagine it would provide closure for a lot of families.

They will not recover any remains. They might recover the ship's bell (I would love to see a piece of the Indy with my own eyes). They might lay a wreath, plaque, or other commemorative icon there. They won't salvage any significant pieces out of respect for the dead.