The USS Indianapolis
by Noah and Brendan
Welcome to the virtual museum of the USS Indianapolis
Historical Context
The two articles “Warship's Last Survivors Recall Sinking in Shark-Infested Waters: By National Geographic
and “Cruiser Sunk, 1,196 Casualties; Took Atom Bomb Cargo to Guam” from Livescience and uss.indianapolis.org, all detail the events surrounding the sinking of the U.S.S Indianapolis, During WW2, President Truman made an order for the Indianapolis to deliver the components for the atomic bombs, Fat Daddy and Little Boy, to the large airbase on Tinian Island, The atomic bombs were being constructed in order to end ww2 and decimate Hiroshima and Nagasaki so Japan would surrender.
The Event Itself
The two articles “Cruiser Sunk, 1,196 Casualties; Took Atom Bomb Cargo to Guam” from nytimes.com and “USS Indianapolis Bombed” from History.com, detail the attack on the U.S.S Indianapolis in July of 1945. The ship was delivering parts for the two atomic bombs, little boy and fat daddy. It was hit by two of six torpedoes fired by a Japanese submarine between Tinian island and Guam in , ship sunk and split in half and was fully submerged in about 12 minutes. The soldiers were stuck in the water trying to swim to safety from shark attacks and disease, such as saltwater poisoning, and insanity. A plane later landed in open ocean, which is a very dangerous thing to do, and blew out one of the engines. This was still good because the remaining people were strapped to the wings to get as much people on as possible.
The Aftermath of The Sinking
In the articles “The Tragedy of The USS INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35)” and Nearly 70 years after USS Indianapolis tragedy, survivor tells his tale
depict the aftermath of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Many people were angry and upset with the losses of their family members on the ship, and in that anger they would look for a scapegoat, and it happened to be the captain of the ship Charles Mcvay. They would send hate mail, death threats, and he even lost his rank. He was later put back into duty by a man named Admiral Nimitz and finished his career and retired, but the blame never retired. His wife later ended up dying of cancer, and the world wasn’t worth it to him anymore, he stood out on his porch with his marine revolver and took his own life. Many of the crew couldn’t live off the memory of the ship sinking and were scarred by the event for the rest of their life.