It's on Jan 8 at 2100 on the Iowa station, check your local listings.

Follow a scientific detective story detailing the discovery of the USS Indianapolis wreck site three and a half miles below the Philippine Sea. The ship’s sinking in the final days of WWII was the largest loss of life in US Naval history, and the harrowing survival story of 316 sailors drifting in failing life preservers is legendary.

Sketchy info for Iowa viewers:

http://www.iptv.org/series/267...apter/0?d=1547002800

Much better site with preview and extras:

https://www.pbs.org/video/trai...inal-chapter-p5punj/

I'll have to check that out. Those documentaries are usually good.


By the way, the Indy wasn't the 'largest loss of life in US Navy history.'

To be specific (and according to Wiki):"In 1945, the sinking of Indianapolis led to the greatest single loss of life at sea, from a single ship, in the history of the US Navy."

And I think they are even getting picky there (specifying "At Sea") since there were 1177 men who died on the Arizona (in port). As if where the ship was sunk makes any difference. . .

Bump, it's on Tuesday, Jan 8.

I set my DVR to record it just in case there is a "Pledge drive" on PBS.

Here in Indianapolis it's on at 10:00 pm. I just set my DVR.

Thanks for the reminder. I set my DVR too!

It was 35 minutes later then scheduled Here in Carolina.

I went back to watch it today, and a totally different program was recorded, even though it SAID it was the USS Indianapolis documentary. Strange.

Looks like you can watch it here:
https://www.pbs.org/video/uss-...inal-chapter-aabbsw/

quote:

Originally posted by CQB60:
It was 35 minutes later then scheduled Here in Carolina.

DVR shows mine also started 30 minutes late, 9:30. PBS may have showed Trump's address, I was in the sack.

I think I added five minutes to the scheduled ending time, no way did I add 35 minutes. Guess I'll have to watch the last half hour on Roland's link.

Thanks again for the link. That was excellent (watched it on DVR last night).

However.

There were several blatant untruths in the documentary; ones that I see in books about the Indy, as well.

I will start by stating that the court-martial was a total farce, done by the Navy to cover their own butts and to shift blame. SEVERAL high-ranking people failed to notice the Indy was overdue, and did NOTHING to search for her. It was negligence and incompetence, and many of those leaders served on the board on the side of the prosecution against Captain McVay. Admiral Nimitz did not want a court-martial, and I will trust his judgment over anybody else's.

But, McVay WAS Captain. They stated (correctly) that if a sparrow falls to the deck dead, the skipper is responsible. After studying this case for years, I've concluded that the Indy SHOULD HAVE BEEN zig-zagging. Indy was traveling in a straight line at a constant speed, making a torpedo attack against her as easy on the skipper of I-58 as possible. This was his responsibility and his fault (respecting and supporting CAPT McVay does not justify spreading falsehoods).

So, here are a couple of the major errors I noticed in the documentary.

1. "Navy Intel" told McVay there were no enemy subs on his route. This is just plain dishonest, IMO. Intel can NOT tell you there are NO subs; they can only tell you they don't KNOW ABOUT any subs in the area. McVay was an experienced wartime skipper. He should have known that, in any waters of the Pacific, one must ALWAYS be prepared for the possibility of encountering enemy subs. Intel was not perfect back then (or even now), and everybody knew it. EVEN IF McVay believed there were no subs there, he had an obligation to protect his ship and make sure he took the proper precautions.

2. "Navy Intel" knew about 4 subs in that area (I-58 being close to Indy's route), but told McVay nothing. Intel was close-held then and now. Much of it is 'compartmentalized,' meaning that it is only available to a few people. The former skipper of the USS Indianapolis sub stated that the Navy was at fault for not telling McVay there were subs on his route, saying "for intel to be useful, it must be operationalized." We run into these problems today. We must protect our sources, but we must also tell as many people as possible about the intel. The more people we tell, the more likely it is for the source to get compromised. EVEN IF McVay was kept in the dark, it was still his responsibility to take prudent measures to protect his ship.

3. The Navy orders did not REQUIRE him to zig-zag. So what. The orders did not prohibit him from doing so, either.

4. I read a book by the Marine survivor (he was on the show) stating that Indy was not kept at 'Condition Zed.' This is full water-tight condition, which is typical for most ships in a war zone. Every hatch is kept shut, and people passing between compartments must open and re-shut every door. Now, this is apparently the pain in the butt it sounds like, and McVay did NOT order Condition Z. Had he done so, the flooding would have likely been much slower, allowing more men to escape with more boats and rafts, and MAYBE even have given enough time to get a good SOS call out and acknowledged. Heck, they may have even been able to launch one of the planes (with long range and a radio. . .). The author said the 'Navy didn't order Condition Z,' but McVay had the authority to do so on his own.

5. The sub skipper (US Navy guy) showed a chart to 'prove' that zigging would not have saved Indy. I actually yelled at my TV during this part. He assumes that any zigging would have occurred ONLY AFTER the torps were close to Indy. I-58 fired 6 torps at Indy, which was traveling in a straight line at constant speed. Even then, only 2 hit. It's possible that zigging could have caused all to miss; or it could have caused more to hit. It all depends. HOWEVER, they ignore the fact that zigging MIGHT HAVE prevented I-58 from getting into position to fire in the first place. I've read MANY accounts by US, German, and Brit sub commanders how they were lined up to fire on a fat unsuspecting target, only for it to zig away unexpectedly, either before or after torps were fired. I will not say zigging WOULD HAVE saved Indy; only that it COULD HAVE.

In their zeal to clear McVay, many people distort the truth and ignore history about zigging. It was a VERY effective tactic to use, which greatly complicated the task of an enemy sub. In MANY cases, it saved ships from attack, most often without the ship even knowing there was a sub there.


McVay was made into a scapegoat, and the Navy should officially apologize for putting him through that ordeal. The court-martial directly led to his death, as the public (and family members of the crew) saw the trial as 'proof' that McVay was negligent and responsible for killing their family members. It never should have taken place. However, it is also dishonest to ignore the facts and distort the historical record. McVay, like many others, made mistakes that led to the loss of his ship. He should not have been demonized for it.

Yes, local station rescheduled to 1/2 hour later so missed recording last part.
However TIVO shows they are reshoiwng 1/12 at 5 am so it’s set to record.

This is an excellent documentary, much of the narration done by Captain Toti who was captain of the submarine USS Indianapolis, became captivated by the story and by the Navy’s mistreatment of Captain MacVay.

If you get interested in learning more, buy This book from Amazon.