USS Indianapolis · 4:51pm Aug 8th, 2015
July 31st through August 8th marks the 70th Anniversary of the US Navy's worst disaster at sea, the loss of the Portland Class Heavy Cruiser USS Indianapolis and the rescue of the 315 survivors,
The sinking would claim another victim years later, in the form of Captain Charles McVay. He would receive letters from families of the lost sailors saying things like "We had a wonderful holiday. If only our son was alive to enjoy it with us"
Mochitsura Hashimoto, the captain of the Japanese sub that sank her, testified at Captain McVay's court marshal that even if he had been zigzagging, he still would have been able to sink her, and the Navy ignored that part of the testimony!
Contrary to the excellent scene from Jaws, the Indianapolis did send out a distress call. It was received but the three ships that got it refused to act (largely because the first two captains were drunk). The planes that were sent out to search for the survivors were also told to fly too high for them to spot anyone in the water.
The reason why the Navy blamed McVay was because they didn't want to admit the lack of professionalism in the US Navy in response to the sinking.
But my favorite part of the saga of Indianapolis's survivors is that in December 1990, Hashimoto met with some of the survivors of the Indianapolis at Pearl Harbor where he stated (through a translator): "I came here to pray with you for your shipmates whose deaths I caused," to which survivor Giles McCoy simply responded: "I forgive you."
That shows you that former enemies can become friends. It takes incredible courage to forgive your enemy, past or present.
I salute to her and the crew that went down with her.
I've been in the Navy for a while, but haven't heard this one. This is an interesting story but sad story. Both sides suffered greatly.
3304686 The Wikipedia article. For a more extensive view of the tragedy, I recommend the books Fatal Voyage and 317 Survived.
Also, thank you for serving.