Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The USS Indianapolis

Episode Date: August 17, 2021

There are tens of millions of stories to come out of World War II. Many of them are tales of horrible human cruelty. However, there is one particular story that is as horrific as any other, yet it doesn’t involve human barbarity, it involves nature. It was so horrific that it has been the subject of books and movies, and was the inspiration for the film Jaws. Learn more about the USS Indianapolis and the terrifying fate of its sailors, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There were tens of millions of stories to come out of World War II. Many of them were tales of horrible human cruelty. However, there's one particular story that is as horrific as any other, yet it doesn't involve human barbarity, it involves nature. It was so horrific that has become the subject of books and movies, and it was one of the inspirations for the movie Jaws. And it was perhaps the worst sea disaster in American naval history. Learn more about the USS Indianapolis and the terrifying fate of its sailors

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. I wanted to let everyone know that this week I'm going to be launching a new weekly newsletter to go along with the podcast. In the process of researching all the episodes I do for the show, I come across a lot of interesting items which wouldn't necessarily make for good podcast material. However, they're still interesting enough to be shared. The newsletter will have these stories, in addition to updates from previous episodes I've done, as well as news about new features I'll be launching, as well as updates on the Everything Everywhere tours, and personal updates from me. The newsletter is, of course, free of charge, and you can sign up at Everything- Everywhere.com slash newsletter.

If you've already submitted an email to get updates on the tour, don't bother doing anything, you'll automatically get the newsletter. The newsletter will be in your inbox on Saturday mornings in North America and whatever the corresponding time is wherever you happen to be in the world. Once again, to sign up, just go to everything-everywhere.com slash newsletter. The USS Indianapolis was a Portland-class heavy cruiser that was launched in 1931. It was 610 feet long, had a maximum crew of 1,269 sailors and officers, and could reach a top speed of 32.7 knots or 60 kilometers per hour or 38 miles per hour.

During the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Indianapolis was in the Pacific, conducting a mock bombardment of Johnson Aptole, when it was immediately recruited into the hunt for Japanese aircraft carriers that were responsible for the attack. In 1942, the Indianapolis was assigned to Papua New Guinea, where it served as an escort for American aircraft carriers and later for escorts to Australia. Later in 1942 and through 1943,

he was assigned to the Aleutian Islands, where it assisted in the island hopping campaign to take the islands back. In 1943, it returned to Hawaii for refitting, and then was made the flagship of the 5th Fleet. It was then involved in the island hopping campaigns in the Pacific, taking part in most of the battles of the Pacific campaign, Taurua, Kowajaline, Palau, Saipan, all the way through the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. After serving with distinction throughout the war, it was in the summer of 1945 that this story

takes place. The USS Indianapolis was assigned to a secret mission. On July 16th, they left the naval base in San Francisco, carrying the most important package of the war. Their departure was just hours after the Trinity explosion in New Mexico, which detonated the world's first atomic bomb. Their top secret cargo was half the world's supply of enriched uranium 235. Their assignment was to deliver this to the island of Tinian,

where it would be assembled as part of the atomic bomb known as Little Boy, which was dropped on Hiroshima. It set a speed record arriving in Pearl Harbor on July 19th, and then traveled unaccompanied, completely silent, to the island of Tinian, where it delivered its cargo on July 26th. From there, it went to Guam to swap out crew and to refuel. It left Guam headed to the island of Laitay in the Philippines, Philippines for training. However, the Indianapolis never arrived in Laitay. At 15 minutes after midnight

on July 30th, the ship was struck by two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. The torpedo strike was totally unexpected, and the Indianapolis went down in only 12 minutes. An estimated 300 souls went down with the ship. This left, however, almost 900 sailors floating in the water. There were few lifeboats, and not everyone had a life preserver. They were floating in the middle of the ocean, and no one knew where they were. Little did they know that their nightmare was just beginning. Stranded, floating in the open ocean, there were several problems that the survivors were facing. The first risk was obviously drowning.

The longer you're in the water, the greater the risks of exhaustion, the greater the risk of your life vests becoming waterlogged, and the greater the risk of drowning. The second was dehydration. You can't drink seawater, so everyone would effectively be slowly dehydrating, especially considering that they were out in the open sun. Finally, the most terrifying prospect was sharks. The location where the ship sunk was in some of the most shark-infested water in the world, and the sharks that were there were some of the world's most aggressive,

the oceanic white-tip shark. The ship sank in pitch darkness. While the sailors in the water could hear each other, they could barely see each other. The sharks were attracted by the sounds of the explosion and the movement of the men, and of course, blood in the water. The first night, the sharks mostly attacked the dead bodies in the water. When the sun came up, most of the men began to join up and link arms with each other. By joining in a group and improved their buoyancy, they were able to give each other moral support,

and they could keep the sharks at bay in a group. The men could all clearly see the sharks. They were swimming under and around them. Survivor Edgar Harrell recorded the scene in the open water as, quote, at any given time you could look out and see big fin swimming around and around and around. All of a sudden you heard a blood-curdling scream, and you looked to see the shark had taken him under. end quote. The men in the water waited for relief to arrive, but no one showed up. As the hours passed, it went into days. Men became delirious from the sun, exhaustion, and dehydration. Some

began swimming to illusionary islands off in the distance. Some would break away from their groups and started thrashing, making them easy targets for the sharks. When someone in the group died, they would often push the body away, trying to placate the sharks for a while, by offering up one of the corpses. Over time, the skin of the sailors in the water began to rot and come off. If you've ever been in the water for an extended period of time, you know that the skin on your fingers can get wrinkled. Studies have found that serious damage can happen to skin after only 12 hours of continuous

exposure to water. The survivors of the USS Indianapolis were in the water for four days and five nights. As it turns out, the Navy was totally unaware that the Indianapolis had sunk. There was no system in place to notify the Navy that the ship never arrived in LATE. At 1025 in the morning on August 2nd, a small bomber and a PBY2 floating plane spotted the men in the water. They dropped a life raft and all available units were sent to the area in a rescue effort. Another float plane arrived in a few hours. After seeing men get attacked by sharks, the plane decided to break protocol and land even though the waves were up to 12 feet high.

They managed to pick up 56 survivors. They had so many men on board the plane that they literally couldn't hold them all. They had to lash some men to the wings and the plane wasn't able to fly. Even if it couldn't fly, the men were at least out of the water and safe from sharks. After sunset, the first of the rescue ships arrived, the USS Cecil J. Doyle. Six other ships arrived to get the remaining survivors. The seaplane which landed wasn't able to fly again, so it was abandoned and sunk by one of the ships. Of the approximately 900 men who survived the initial sinking of the ship, only 316 were rescued.

There was an investigation into the incident after the rescue took place. They found that the Navy system of tracking ships was deeply flawed. The fact that no one knew that the Indianapolis hadn't arrived was a huge problem in the Navy's tracking procedures. Furthermore, before the ship sunk, it did manage to send out a radio signal. It turns out that three different radio stations received the signal, but no. none of them acted on it. One unit commander was drunk, another had been told not to be disturbed, and yet another thought it was a Japanese trick. The captain of the Indianapolis was Charles B. McVeigh III. He was one of the last to abandon ship and one of the 316 survivors. In November of

1945, he became the only captain of a Navy ship in World War II to be court-martialed for losing his ship. He was brought up on two charges, failing to order his men to abandon ship and the hazarding of the ship. He was cleared of the first charge and found guilty of the second because he wasn't zigzagging to avoid submarines. Most of his men thought the conviction was wrong. In fact, the Japanese submarine commander later testified that had the ship zigzagged, it wouldn't have made a difference. There was actually a lot of evidence to suggest that the Navy was at fault for not providing adequate intelligence. Admiral Chester Nimitz eventually rescinded the sentence and McVeigh was retired as a rear admiral in 1949.

but he never really lived it down. He killed himself in 1968 at the age of 70. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis led to many changes in the U.S. Navy. The movement report system was created to ensure that all ships are reported if they don't arrive on time at port. Also, as the Indianapolis was sailing alone,

the Navy started requiring any ship with over 500 sailors to have an escort ship. In the event that one ship would be sunk, the second ship could provide rescue, or at least get out a second distress signal. In 1996, due to the work of a sixth grade student, the case of Captain McVeigh was once again brought to the public's attention. After testimony from the survivors, in the year 2000, a joint resolution of Congress was passed exonerating Captain McVeigh, which was then signed by the president. In 2017, the wreckage of the ship was found 18,000 feet or 5,500 meters below the surface of the ocean.

The sinking of the USS Indianapolis remains to this day one of the worst naval disasters, in U.S. history, not just because of the tremendous loss of life, but because of how most of the men died and the series of missteps that allowed it to happen. The associate producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Thor Thompson. If you'd like to support the show, please donate over at patreon.com. There is content only available to supporters, merchandise, and even opportunities for a show producer credit. If you know someone you think would enjoy the show, please share it with them. Also remember, if you leave a five-star review, I'll read your review on the show.