(1)
Shortly after midnight on the morning of July 30, 1945,
during the closing days of World War II, the United States
heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was torpedoed and
sunk by the Japanese submarine I-58 in what became the worst
sea disaster in the history of the United States Navy.
(2)
Although approximately 900 of the ship's crew of 1,196 survived
the actual sinking, only 316 of those courageous sailors
survived when rescued after four and a half days adrift
in the open sea, the remainder having perished from battle
wounds, drowning, predatory shark attacks, and lack of food
and potable water.
(3)
Rescue for the remaining 316 sailors came only when they
were spotted by chance by a routine naval air patrol.
(4) After the end of World War II, the commanding officer
of the USS Indianapolis, Captain Charles Butler McVay III
who was rescued with the other survivors, was court-martialed
for "suffering a vessel to be hazarded through negligence"
by failing to zigzag (a naval tactic employed to help evade
submarine attacks) and was convicted even though --
(a)
the choice to zigzag was left to Captain McVay's discretion
in his orders: and
(b)
Motchisura Hashimoto, the commander of the Japanese submarine
that sank the USS Indianapolis, and Glynn R. Donaho, a
United States Navy submarine commander highly decorated
for his service during World War II, both testified at
Captain McVay's court-martial trial that the Japanese
submarine could have sunk the USS Indianapolis whether
or not it had been zigzagging.
(5)
Although not argued by Captain McVay's defense counsel in
the court-martial trial, poor visibility on the night of
the sinking (as attested in surviving crew members' handwritten
accounts recently discovered at the National Archives) justified
Captain McVay's choice not to zigzag as that choice was
consistent with the applicable Navy directives in force
in 1945, which stated that, "During thick weather and at
night, except on very clear nights or during bright moonlight,
vessels normally cease zigzagging.".
(6) Before the USS Indianapolis sailed from Guam on what
became her final voyage, Naval officials failed to provide
Captain McVay with available support that was critical to
the safety of the USS Indianapolis and her crew by --
(a)
disapproving a request by Captain McVay for a destroyer
escort for the USS Indianapolis across the Philippine
Sea as being "not necessary";
(b) not informing Captain McVay that naval intelligence
sources, through signal intelligence (the Japanese code
having been broken earlier in World War II), had become
aware that the Japanese submarine I-58 was operating in
the area of the USS Indianapolis' course; and
(c)
not informing Captain McVay of the sinking of the destroyer
escort USS Underhill by a Japanese submarine within range
of the course of the USS Indianapolis four days before
the USS Indianapolis departed Guam for the Philippine
Islands.
(7)
Captain McVay's court-martial initially was opposed by his
immediate command superiors, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz
(CINCPAC) and Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance of the 5th Fleet,
for whom the USS Indianapolis had served as flagship, but,
despite their recommendations, Secretary of the Navy James
Forrestal ordered the court-martial, largely on the basis
of the recommendation of Admiral Ernest King, Chief of Naval
Operations.
(8)
There is no explanation on the public record for the overruling
by Secretary Forrestal of the recommendations made by Admirals
Nimitz and Spruance.
(9)
Captain McVay was the only commander of a United States
Navy vessel lost in combat to enemy action during World
War II who was subjected to a court-martial trial for such
a loss, even though several hundred United States Navy ships
were lost in combat to enemy action during World War II.
(10)
The survivors of the USS Indianapolis overwhelmingly conclude
that Captain McVay was not at fault in the loss of the USS
Indianapolis and have dedicated their lives to vindicating
their Captain McVay.
(11)
Although promoted to the grade of rear admiral in accordance
with then-applicable law upon retirement from the Navy in
1949, Captain McVay never recovered from the stigma of his
post-war court-martial and in 1968, tragically, took his
own life.
(12)
Charles Butler McVay III --
(a)
was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy;
(b)
was an exemplary career naval officer with an outstanding
record (including participation in the amphibious invasions
of North Africa, the assault on Iwo Jima, and the assault
on Okinawa where the USS Indianapolis under his command
suffered a fierce kamikaze attack);
(c)
was a recipient of the Silver Star earned for courage
under fire during the Solomons Islands campaign; and
(d) with the crew of the USS Indianapolis, had so thoroughly
demonstrated proficiency in naval warfare that the Navy
entrusted him and the crew of the USS Indianapolis with
transporting to the Pacific theater components necessary
for assembling the atomic bombs that were exploded over
Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war with Japan (delivery
of such components to the island of Tinian having been
accomplished on July 25, 1945).
