On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb, called “Baby,” was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion of a uranium bomb led to the death of 90 to 166 thousand people. On August 9, 1945, the Fat Man plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing between 60,000 and 80,000 people. Diseases caused by radiation exposure even plague the descendants of those who survived the nightmare.
Participants in the bombings until the very last days They were confident that they were acting correctly and did not suffer from remorse.
The curse of “Baby” and “Fat Man” affected those Americans who were involved in the history of the first atomic bombing, although they themselves did not know about it.
In November 1932, a new heavy cruiser of the Portland project, named Indianapolis, was included in the American fleet.
At that time, it was one of the most formidable warships in the United States: an area the size of two football fields, powerful weapons, and a crew of over 1,000 sailors.
Secret mission
During World War II, Indianapolis took part in major operations against Japanese forces, successfully completing missions and remaining unharmed. In 1945, a new danger loomed over American ships - the Japanese began to use kamikaze pilots and torpedoes controlled by suicide bombers for attacks.
On March 31, 1945, Japanese suicide bombers attacked the Indianapolis. One of the kamikazes managed to ram the bow of the cruiser. As a result, 9 sailors were killed, and the ship itself was sent to San Francisco for repairs. The war was rapidly coming to an end, and the sailors of the Indianapolis even began to believe that it was over for them. However, when the repairs were almost completed, they arrived at the cruiser General Leslie Groves And Rear Admiral William Parnell.To the commander of the Indianapolis, Charles Butler McVeigh It was reported that the cruiser is tasked with transporting top-secret cargo that must be delivered to its destination quickly and safely. Captain McVeigh was not informed what the cargo was. Soon two people arrived on board with some small boxes.
Indianapolis, July 10, 1945. Source: Public Domain
"Stuffing" for atomic bombs
The captain learned the destination already at sea - the island of Tinian. The passengers were taciturn, rarely leaving their cabin, but they strictly monitored the safety of the boxes. All this led the captain to certain suspicions, and he said with disgust: “I didn’t think that we would end up in bacteriological warfare!” But the passengers did not react to this remark either. Charles Butler McVeigh was thinking in the right direction, but he simply could not know about the weapons that were carried on his ship - it was a closely guarded secret.
General Leslie Groves was the leader of the Manhattan Project, the work to create the atomic bomb. Passengers of the Indianapolis carried the “stuffing” to Tinian - cores for atomic bombs, which were to be dropped on the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On the island of Tinian, pilots from a special squadron assigned to carry out the first atomic bombings completed their training. On July 26, the Indianapolis arrived at Tinian, and its passengers and cargo went ashore. Captain McVey breathed a sigh of relief. He did not know that the most terrible page was beginning in his life and in the life of his ship.
Japanese hunting
Indianapolis received orders to sail to Guam and then to the Philippine island of Leyte. On the Guam-Leyte line, the commander of the Indianapolis violated instructions that prescribed zigzag maneuvers to avoid detection by enemy submarines.
Captain McVeigh did not perform these maneuvers. Firstly, this technique was outdated, and the Japanese adapted to it. Secondly, there was no information about the activities of Japanese submarines in this area. There was no data, but there was a submarine. For more than ten days, the Japanese submarine I-58, under the command of Captain 3rd Rank Matitsura Hashimoto. In addition to conventional torpedoes, it was equipped with Kaiten mini-submarines. In essence, these were the same torpedoes, only directed by suicide bombers.
The route of the last voyage of the Indianapolis. Source: Public Domain
On July 29, 1945, at about 23:00, a Japanese acoustician detected a single target. Hashimoto gave the order to prepare for an attack.
There is still debate as to whether the Indianapolis was ultimately attacked by conventional torpedoes or Kaitens. Captain Hashimoto himself claimed that in in this case there were no suicide bombers. The cruiser was attacked from a distance of 4 miles, and after 1 minute 10 seconds a powerful explosion occurred.
Lost in the ocean
The Japanese submarine immediately began to leave the attack area, fearing persecution. The sailors of I-58 did not really understand what kind of ship they had hit, and they had no idea what happened to its crew. The torpedo destroyed the Indianapolis's engine room, killing the crew members there. The damage turned out to be so serious that it became clear that the cruiser would remain afloat in a matter of minutes. Captain McVeigh gave the order to abandon ship.
After 12 minutes, the Indianapolis disappeared under water. About 300 of the 1,196 crew members went to the bottom with him. The rest ended up in the water and on life rafts. Life jackets and heat The waters in this part of the Pacific Ocean allowed sailors to wait for help for a long time. The captain reassured the crew: they were in an area where ships constantly cruised, and they would soon be discovered.
An unclear story has developed with the SOS signal. According to some sources, the cruiser's radio transmitter failed, and the crew was unable to send a signal for help. According to others, the signal was nevertheless sent and even received by at least three American stations, but was either ignored or perceived as Japanese disinformation. Moreover, the American command, having received a report that the Indianapolis had completed a mission to deliver cargo to Tinian, lost sight of the cruiser and did not show the slightest concern about it.
Surrounded by sharks
On August 2, the crew of the American PV-1 Ventura patrol aircraft was surprised to find dozens of people in the water who turned out to be exhausted and half-dead sailors of the US Navy. After the pilots’ report, a seaplane was sent to the area, followed by American military vessels. For three days, until help arrived, a terrible drama played out in the middle of the ocean. The sailors died from dehydration, hypothermia, and some went crazy. But that was not all. The crew of the Indianapolis was surrounded by dozens of sharks that attacked people, tearing them apart. The blood of the victims, getting into the water, attracted more and more predators.
It is not known for certain how many sailors became victims of sharks. But of those bodies of the dead that were managed to be lifted from the water, traces of shark teeth were found on almost 90. 321 people were raised alive from the water, five more died on board the rescue ships. A total of 883 sailors died. The death of the Indianapolis went down in the history of the US Navy as the most massive loss of personnel as a result of a single sinking.
Survivors from the Indianapolis on the island of Guam.
In July 1945, the cruiser delivered components of an atomic bomb to the Tinian base in Pacific Ocean. When a plane taking off from the island destroyed Hiroshima on August 6, the ship was already lying at the bottom. Several hundred sailors were eaten in the water.
The heavy cruiser Indianapolis was launched on November 7, 1931, and before the war she hosted President Roosevelt on board more than once. During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he conducted target practice at sea and was not injured. He then participated in operations throughout the Pacific Ocean and earned 10 “battle stars.”
In July 1945, after a kamikaze strike, the cruiser was under repair in San Francisco Bay. Captain McVay then informed Admiral Spruance that the ship was overloaded with weapons and would easily capsize on its side in a critical situation.
It was true.
Time for records
On July 12, McVay receives orders to sail with important cargo to the Northern Mariana Islands. No one on the Indy, including the captain, knew about the contents of the containers.
The cruiser sailed from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor for refueling at an average speed of 29.5 knots and arrived 74 hours later - this was a new record for the US Navy. On July 26, Indianapolis reached its destination, the Tinian base.
The departure and arrival of the vessel at the ports were not recorded. The Ghost Ship delivered one of the most closely guarded secrets in military history: about half of all the enriched uranium available to humanity and parts of the future Baby Bomb.
Nuclear bomb, which was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
Indianapolis crew, July 1945. Photo: Official U.S. Navy Photograph/National Archives
Big, independent, doomed
Having completed the mission, the ship departed for Guam. From there on the morning of July 28 - to the Philippine island of Leyte. The crew's immediate plans are exercises.
Before sailing, the captain of the Indianapolis, as he should have, requested the escort of destroyers with anti-submarine radars. As always, he was refused. The American Navy's practice with regard to battleships and cruisers was that the big guys had to deal with problems on their own.
On July 30, just after midnight, 800 kilometers from the nearest land, the Indianapolis received two torpedoes on board. When an hour later the Japanese submarine I-58 reloaded its torpedo tubes and rose to the surface again, Captain Motitsura Hashimoto did not see the target. The cruiser sank in 15 minutes.
“In the afternoon we celebrated the victory. For lunch we had our favorite rice and beans, boiled eels and corned beef (all canned),” Hashimoto wrote after the war.
Indianapolis sent a distress signal. It was received at three American bases, but was considered Japanese disinformation. The cruiser should not have been in these waters. No one was going to save the crew of the ghost ship.
Motitsura Hashimoto's combat diagram. Indianapolis is on a straight course, I-58, after launching torpedoes, zigzags underwater in anticipation of pursuit and attack by depth charges. Source: Naval History and Heritage Command / history.navy.mil Japanese submarine ship I-58, which torpedoed the Indianapolis. Sasebo, Japan, 28 June 1946. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps Photograph I-58 forward torpedo room. Sasebo, Japan, January 28, 1946. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps Photograph
First day in the water
Indianapolis collapsed right side and nose, but continued to walk at high speed. The sailors began to leave the ship 7 minutes after the torpedoes hit. The cruiser's engines were still running, the propellers were turning. One of the most horrifying memories of survivors is people jumping blindly onto the blades.
About 300 sailors went down with the Indy. About 900 were scattered in the water along the entire length of his dying path. Overnight they formed groups ranging from 10 to 200 people. By the time they are rescued, they will be blown apart 60 kilometers.
Many received injuries, burns and fractures. Only some managed to put on life jackets. Some were lucky enough to find rafts in the water - rectangular frames made of balsa wood with a rope net to which a plank floor was attached.
During the first 24 hours, the problem of life jackets ceased to be acute - the seriously wounded died. Many swallowed diesel fuel that spilled on the surface. Delirium, convulsions. Although the waters of the Pacific Ocean at this latitude are relatively warm, people suffered from hypothermia at night. When the sun rose, the scorching rays became a problem.
All this could be tolerated. But the sharks came.
Indianapolis sailors in life jackets. Frame from documentary film"Worst Shark Attack Ever: Ocean of Fear": Discovery Networks / EMEA / UK Reef sharks near the life rafts of the Indianapolis. Still from the documentary "Worst Shark Attack Ever: Ocean of Fear": Discovery Networks / EMEA / UK
In a ring of fins
The sharks' first victims were dead crew members. The body suddenly went under the water, and after a while a fragment of it or just the vest surfaced. In an attempt to protect themselves from predators, the sailors huddled together and pressed their legs to their stomachs.
On the afternoon of the third day, the sharks began to kill the living. People started hallucinating. Someone suddenly shouted that he saw an island or a ship, and swam towards the mirage. Fins quickly appeared nearby.
The next night, the sharks surrounded the survivors with a ring of fins. The sailors remembered it as the most terrible. David Harell, who found himself in a group of 80 people after the sinking of the ship, said that by the third night it was halved, and in the morning he found only 17 colleagues nearby.
“On the fourth day, a kid from Oklahoma saw his best friend being eaten by a shark. He couldn't stand it, so he took out a knife, held it in his teeth and swam after the shark. They didn't see him again.", - said Sherman Booth.
Reef sharks attack the surviving members of the Indianapolis. Still from the documentary "Worst Shark Attack Ever: Ocean of Fear": Discovery Networks / EMEA / UK
We're drowning again!
72 hours after the death of the cruiser, the survivors had no strength left. Meanwhile, life jackets began to sink. They were made of fabric filled with cotton tree fibers and guaranteed buoyancy for 48 hours. This deadline has long passed.
Few people remembered the night and day of the fourth day. People drifted almost unconscious, having lost all hope.
There would be no luck, but the antenna breakdown helped
No one was looking for the Indy crash site. Lockheed Ventura bomber commander Chuck Gwinney did it by accident. On August 2, at about 10 a.m., while patrolling the ocean, he noticed that the antenna had fallen off its mount and was hitting the side of the aircraft. This was dangerous, so he handed over control to the co-pilot and left the cockpit to discuss the situation with the engineer.
As he walked, Gwynnie glanced at the ocean through the shaft in the floor. A few minutes later he sent a radio message about the people found and dropped an inflatable dinghy down. It turned out to be full of holes and drowned. But the sailors realized that they had been found. All that remained was to wait for salvation.
Surviving sailors of the Indianapolis. Naval base hospital on Peleliu Island, August 5, 1945. Photo: National Archives
The Catalina amphibious aircraft was the first to arrive at the crash site. Lieutenant Marks picked up 56 people, placing some on the wings. The lucky ones felt a solid surface under their feet for the first time in 90 hours. They could neither stand nor sit straight. After drinking fresh water, most fell asleep dead asleep.
Six arriving ships combed the area of the ocean around. 317 people were saved. Six hundred died from wounds and dehydration or were killed by sharks.
The sinking of the Indianapolis was the largest loss of crew due to a single attack in the history of the US Navy.
What happened next
- The captain survived and was found guilty. Charles McVay became the only commander of a US Navy ship during World War II to be tried for the loss of a ship in battle. The captain was accused of neglecting the anti-submarine maneuver: Indianapolis was moving straight, not in a zigzag. Although the US Secretary of Defense rejected the military court's verdict, McVay retired several years later. Until the end of his life, he considered himself disgraced and received insulting letters from relatives of the dead Indianapolis sailors. In 1968, he shot himself on the lawn of his own house.
- I-58 commander Mochitsura Hashimoto became a witness at the trial. He claimed that in those conditions he would have hit the target even on a zigzag course.
- In 1990, Motitsura Hashimoto met with Indy sailors at Pearl Harbor and received forgiveness from them.
- In 2001, the US Navy officially cleared McVay of all charges in the death of the cruiser.
- On August 19, 2017, the project of Microsoft co-owner, billionaire Paul Allen, to find the wreckage of a ship at the bottom of the Philippine Sea was crowned with success. This was what 18 Indianapolis crew members waited for.
The Discovery Channel dedicated the film Worst Shark Attack Ever: Ocean of Fear to this story. We used his footage with the permission of the copyright holders.
Indianapolis in 1944
U.S. National Park
On August 18, 2017, a search expedition organized by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen discovered the remains of the American Portland-class heavy cruiser Indianapolis in the Pacific Ocean. The wreckage of the ship is located in the Philippine Sea at a depth of 5.5 thousand meters. Their more precise location is not indicated in the expedition's message.
As confirmation of their find, the expedition published photographs of a fragment of the side of the found ship with the number 35, as well as the lid of a box with spare parts with the name of the ship and the type of parts written on it. The US Navy cruiser Indianapolis had the hull number CA-35. Photos of the anchor and bell of the Indianapolis are also published on the expedition page.
The American cruiser was built in November 1931. The ship's total displacement was 12.8 thousand tons with a length of 185.9 meters and a width of 20.1 meters. The cruiser could reach speeds of up to 32.5 knots, and its range was about ten thousand nautical miles. 1,197 people served on board the cruiser.
Since its construction, the Indianapolis has undergone modernization, during which its weapons were replaced. In the final version, the cruiser received three three-barrel artillery installations 203 mm caliber, eight 130 mm anti-aircraft guns, six 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and 19 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. The ship carried three seaplanes.
Before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he was engaged in ocean patrols, and since 1942 he was already responsible for searching for Japanese ships in the Pacific Ocean. During World War II, the Indianapolis took part in several military operations, including an attack on a Japanese base in New Guinea and attacks on Japanese positions on Kwajalein Atoll.
In total, the cruiser received ten battle stars for participation in military campaigns in the Asia-Pacific region. This is the name given to additional insignia in the United States Armed Forces and is issued as additional insignia for repeated awards of medals or ribbons for service or participation in campaigns.
On July 26, 1945, the cruiser Indianapolis delivered parts for the Baby atomic bomb to the US military base on the island of Tinian in the Mariinsky Islands archipelago. This munition, with a yield, according to various estimates, from 13 to 18 kilotons, was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. You can read more about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Four days after delivering the bomb to Tinian, on July 30, 1945, the Indianapolis encountered the Japanese B-class submarine I-58, which torpedoed it. As a result of the damage received, the Indianapolis sank in just 12 minutes, having managed to send a distress signal. At this moment there were 1196 people on the ships.
The people who survived the torpedo attack were in the water for another four days before they were picked up by American ships. According to various estimates, between 60 and 80 people died from hypothermia, dehydration and shark attacks over four days. Rescuers managed to lift only 321 sailors from the water, of whom 316 survived. 22 former Indianapolis crew members have survived to this day.
The sinking of the Indianapolis was the largest mass loss of sailors in the history of the US Navy. The cruiser also became the last major American ship lost by the US Navy in World War II. Soon after atomic bombings On August 6 and 9, 1945, Japan surrendered, effectively ending World War II (the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on September 2, 1945).
Vasily Sychev
Throughout the history of the US Navy. Shortly before the end of the war, the American cruiser Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. Two torpedoes fired by the submarine claimed the lives of more than nine hundred sailors.
Volunteers in the Navy
After the horror that Japanese aircraft unleashed on the American naval base at Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, the United States found itself embroiled in the carnage of World War II. Among the allied countries, they were assigned an important role in the conduct of combat operations at sea, and thousands of American boys, inspired by the stream of patriotic speeches that poured into them from radios and from the pages of newspapers, signed up as volunteers for the navy.
Those whose duty station was the cruiser USS Indianapolis had a special reason for pride, and this is no coincidence. The warship, launched on November 15, 1932, managed to become one of the most famous and prestigious ships. President Theodore Roosevelt invariably preferred him on his sea voyages. Crossing the ocean on board, he made goodwill visits. The deck of the cruiser also remembered many members of royal families and leaders of world politics.
The ship and its captain
The cruiser, even in its size, corresponded to such an exceptional position. Suffice it to say that the deck could easily accommodate two football fields. The total length was 186 m, and the displacement was 12,775 tons. 1,269 people served on this giant. Home impact force consisted of three bow guns with a caliber of 203 mm. In addition, its arsenal included a large number of onboard guns and several anti-aircraft guns.
He also had worthy captains who knew how to accurately and on time carry out any order from the high command, which managed to create a good reputation for the ship. The last of them was Charles Butler McVey, appointed on December 18, 1944, a young and brilliantly proven officer. It was difficult to imagine that it was he who was destined to lead the cruiser Indianapolis on its last voyage.
On the eve of the end of the war
As a result of active hostilities in the spring of 1944, the ships of the American fleet were only a few miles from the coast of Japan. For a decisive offensive, they needed to capture an ideal bridgehead - the island of Okinawa. The awareness of the imminent end of the war and imminent victory raised the morale of the sailors and doubled their strength.
At the same time, their opponents found themselves in an extremely difficult situation. The Japanese not only had most of their fleet destroyed and their ammunition expended, but their entire available reserve of manpower was coming to an end. In this critical situation, their command decided to introduce kamikazes into battle - suicide pilots, fanatics ready to give their lives for the emperor.
A year earlier, a squad of Japanese planes loaded with explosives and piloted by voluntary suicide bombers attacked American warships during the Battle of the Philippines. Then and in the next few months, more than two thousand projectile aircraft made combat sorties, causing significant damage to the US fleet. In view of the current situation, the emperor gave the order to use these weapons again.
Suicide attack
According to documents, the cruiser Indianapolis was attacked by suicide bombers in the early morning of March 31. It was extremely difficult to repel it, because the kamikaze could only be stopped by shooting the plane in the air, and this was not always possible.
Just a few minutes after the start of the battle, one of the planes, diving from the clouds hanging over the sea, crashed into the bow of the cruiser. The subsequent explosion claimed the lives of nine sailors, and the damage it caused forced the command to remove the ship from combat duty and send it to the San Francisco docks for repairs. But, in spite of everything, everyone was in high spirits, because he was walking Last year war - 1945.
The cruiser Indianapolis carries out a secret order
As the surviving participants in those events later said, most of the ship’s crew members were confident that the war was over for them and Japan’s surrender would be signed even before the repairs were completed. But fate decreed otherwise. At the beginning of July, when they were still walking fighting, the captain received an order on the basis of which the cruiser Indianapolis was to take on board a highly secret cargo and deliver it to the specified destination.
Soon two containers were lifted onto the ship, to which armed guards were immediately assigned. In those days, none of the sailors knew what this mysterious cargo contained, and most of them were never destined to find out. But the cruiser, which managed to complete the repairs, according to the order, went to sea and headed for Hawaii. He sailed at a top speed of thirty-four knots and covered the entire route in three days.
Carriers of atomic death
Having reached the destination of the journey, Captain McVey received a radiogram to proceed further to those located at a distance of two thousand miles to the west. The final destination was the island of Tinian, which was one of them. There, with utmost precautions, the containers were removed from the deck and taken ashore.
Now it’s no secret to anyone that they contained uranium cores for atomic bombs, one of which ten days later was dropped on Hiroshima, and its explosion, which, according to the most conservative estimates, killed one hundred and sixty thousand people, made the world tremble. But then no one knew this, and humanity did not imagine all the consequences. It was still a military secret.
The death of the cruiser Indianapolis was preceded by an order received by the captain immediately after unloading the containers. He was ordered to follow western part Pacific Ocean to the island of Guam, and then to the Philippines. The war was ending, and the next order was perceived by the crew of the Indianapolis as an invitation to a sea voyage that did not involve any danger.
Captain McVey's mistake
The cruiser Indianapolis left the docks of San Francisco on July 16, and on the same day a submarine, numbered I-58, silently departed from the pier of the Japanese naval base. Its captain, Mochitsura Hashimoto, was an experienced submariner who sailed throughout the war and was accustomed to facing death. This time he took his ship out to hunt for the Americans, who were often deprived of elementary caution by the premonition of an imminent victory.
According to established rules, in a war zone, surface ships must move in zigzags to avoid detection by enemy submarines. This is exactly how Captain McVey led his ships throughout the war, but the euphoria of victory that reigned around him played a cruel joke on him. Since there was no information about the presence of enemy submarines in the area, he neglected the usual precautions. This criminal frivolity later became a nightmare that haunted him for the rest of his life.
Submarine chaser
Meanwhile, the echo sounders of the Japanese submarine picked up the sound made by the cruiser's propellers, and this was immediately reported to the commander. Mochitsura Hashimoto ordered torpedoes to be prepared for battle and to follow the ship, choosing the best moment to attack. For the cruiser's crew, this trip was a normal work routine, and no one even suspected that their ship was being pursued by an enemy submarine. This allowed the Japanese to follow the Americans covertly for several more miles.
Finally, when the distance allowed for a combat launch with sufficient confidence of a hit, the Japanese submarine fired two torpedoes at the cruiser. A minute later, through the eyepieces of the periscope, Hashimoto saw a fountain of water shoot up into the sky. This indicated that one of them had achieved the goal. Having completed its combat mission, the submarine disappeared into the depths of the ocean as unnoticed as it had appeared.
Catastrophe
Yes, indeed, unfortunately for the sailors, it was a direct hit. The explosion that occurred in the area of the engine room destroyed the entire crew in it. Water poured into the hole that had formed, and, despite its enormous size, the heavy cruiser Indianapolis began to list to the right side. In this situation, disaster was inevitable, and Captain McVey ordered the crew to abandon ship.
The attack of the submarine, which came as a complete surprise to everyone, the explosion and the subsequent fatal command became the causes of panic and chaos that engulfed the sinking ship. One thousand two hundred crew members simultaneously sought salvation, putting on life jackets as they went and throwing themselves into the water. Surprisingly, it turned out that there were not enough emergency watercraft for everyone - their number did not correspond to the size of the crew. For this reason, most sailors were doomed to spend a long time in the water while waiting for help.
The beginning of a four-day nightmare
Finding themselves in the midst of a huge oil slick spreading around the crippled cruiser, they witnessed the destruction of the ship, which until recently had been considered the beauty and pride of the American fleet. Before their eyes, the cruiser slowly capsized on its side, the bow part completely went under the water, causing the stern to lift up, and, finally, the entire ship, as if having exhausted its last strength in the fight against the ocean, fell into the depths.
On this day, for nine hundred sailors who survived a torpedo attack by a Japanese submarine and found themselves in the middle of the ocean without boats, without drinking water and food, a real tragedy began to unfold. Many were in a state of shock. Cries for help were heard from all sides, but there was no one to provide it. To somehow cheer up the team, the captain tried to assure everyone that they were on one of the main sea routes and will doubtless soon be discovered.
However, everything turned out differently. Since the explosion damaged the ship's radio station and it was not possible to send a distress signal in time, the fleet command did not even suspect what had happened. On the island of Guam, where the cruiser was heading, his absence was explained by a possible change in course and they did not raise the alarm. As a result, four days passed before the planes in distress were accidentally spotted by an American bomber on patrol in the area.
Death Among Sharks
But only a few lived to see this day. In addition to thirst, hunger and hypothermia, sailors were faced with another terrible danger in the open ocean - sharks. At first, several single fins appeared on the surface of the water, then their number increased, and soon the entire space around the sailors was literally swarming with them. Panic began among people. No one knew what to do or how to protect themselves from these ruthless ocean predators.
And the sharks tightened their ring around their victims. They then surfaced, raising their open mouths high above the surface, then again sank into the depths. Suddenly, above the noise of the waves, a piercing human scream was heard, and the water turned red with blood. This served as a signal to the other sharks. They began to grab helpless people and drag them still alive into the depths.
Continuation of the tragedy
The hellish feast either stopped or resumed during three days. Of the nine hundred sailors who found themselves in the water after the tragedy that occurred with the US Navy cruiser Indianapolis, almost half were victims of sharks.
But soon another danger was added to this danger. The fact is that the life jackets, thanks to which the sailors continued to float on the water, were designed to last for three days. Having exhausted their resource, they became saturated with water and lost buoyancy. Thus, death became inevitable.
Rescuers arrive
Only on August 2, that is, on the fourth day of the tragedy, those few who were still alive heard the sound of an airplane overhead. The pilot who discovered them immediately reported to headquarters, and from that moment the rescue operation began. Before the main ships approached the place where the crash of the cruiser Indianapolis occurred, a seaplane arrived and, having made a risky landing among the foaming waves, became a kind of haven for all who managed to survive.
Soon, two ships approached the scene of the tragedy - the destroyer USS Bassett and the hospital ship USS Tranquility, which took the survivors to Guam, where they received medical treatment. health care. Of the 1,189 people on board, only 316 survived. The crash of the cruiser Indianapolis cost the rest of the sailors their lives. There were only 17 days left until the end of the war.
Verdict rendered by the tribunal
The tragedy of the cruiser Indianapolis caused a wide resonance among the American and world public. Having barely survived the horrors of the war, people demanded to immediately find and punish those responsible for what happened. The Ministry of Defense demanded that Captain McVeigh be brought to trial, charging him with criminal negligence, as a result of which the ship did not make the zigzag movement prescribed in such cases and became easy prey for an enemy submarine.
By decision of the tribunal, held on December 19, 1945, the captain of the cruiser Indianapolis was demoted in military rank, but avoided prison. It is curious that the former commander of the Japanese submarine Mochitsura Hashimoto, the same one who sent the ill-fated cruiser to the bottom, was invited as a witness in the case. The war was over, and the former enemies were now deciding important legal issues together.
The captain's personal tragedy
The verdict rendered by the tribunal became the reason for numerous disputes. At all levels, voices were heard accusing the fleet command of wanting to shift the blame for the death of the cruiser Indianapolis onto McVey alone and thereby avoid their share of responsibility. It ended, however, that a few months later, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, by personal decree, restored him to his previous rank, and four years later he quietly and quietly sent him into retirement.
However, it was he who was ultimately destined to become another victim, which led to the death of the cruiser Indianapolis. The story of his death was a tragedy in itself. It is known that over the following years, McVey regularly received letters from family members of sailors for whose deaths he was accused. Despite the fact that he was officially cleared of responsibility, many considered him to be the main culprit of the incident. Obviously, these accusations were echoed by the voice of his conscience. Unable to overcome moral torment, Captain McVey shot himself in 1968.
The story of the cruiser Indianapolis again became a topic of discussion in 2000, when the US Congress passed a resolution on the basis of which McVeigh was completely cleared of all previously charged charges. The President of America approved this document with his signature, then a corresponding entry was made in the captain’s personal file, which was stored in the archives of the navy.
In the city of Indianapolis, whose name the deceased cruiser bore, a memorial was created in his honor. Once every two years, on July 30, the day when a Japanese torpedo put an end to the ship’s combat journey, all the surviving participants in the events of those days come to the monument to once again share the pain of a common loss. But time is inexorable, and every year there are fewer and fewer of them.
“This is the most important secret, the preservation of which was the subject of greatest concern throughout the Second World War.”
US Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy
Summer nights over the ocean in the tropics are especially dark, and the moonlight only emphasizes the thickness and viscosity of this darkness. The USS Indianapolis, the heavy cruiser that delivered the Hiroshima bomb to Tinian, sailed through the damp darkness of the night of July 29-30, 1945, carrying a crew of 1,200. Most of them were asleep, only those on watch were awake. And what could a powerful American warship fear in these waters long cleared of the Japanese?
The heavy cruiser Indianapolis was laid down on March 30, 1930. The ship was launched on November 7, 1931 and commissioned on November 15, 1932. The ship's total displacement is 12,755 tons, length 185.93 m, width 20.12 m, draft 6.4 m. The cruiser reached a speed of up to 32.5 knots with a turbine power of 107,000 hp. The ship's armament consisted of nine 203 mm guns in three turrets, eight 127 mm guns and 28 anti-aircraft guns of various calibers. The ship had two catapults and four aircraft. The ship's crew in 1945 was 1,199 people.
The cruiser Indianapolis took an active part in the war with Japan. On the evening of February 20, 1942, the cruiser took on its first battle, when a formation of American ships was attacked by eighteen Japanese bombers. In this battle, fighters from the aircraft carrier and anti-aircraft fire from the escort ships shot down sixteen Japanese aircraft, and later two seaplanes tracking the American ships. On March 10, 1942, the 11th Operational Command, which included Indianapolis, attacked Japanese bases in New Guinea. They managed to inflict heavy damage on Japanese warships and transport ships. After this battle, the cruiser escorted a convoy to Australia and underwent repairs and modernization.
From August 7, 1942, the cruiser took part in operations near the Aleutian Islands. In January 1943, Indianapolis destroyed the Akagane Maru transport loaded with ammunition with artillery fire. After undergoing repairs on Mar Island, the cruiser returned to Pearl Harbor, where she became the flagship of the 5th Fleet commander, Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance. On November 10, 1943, Indianapolis took part in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. On November 19, Indianapolis, as part of a detachment of cruisers, bombarded Tarawa Atoll and Makin Island. On January 31, 1944, the cruiser took part in the shelling of the islands of Kwajelein Atoll. During March and April, Indianapolis participated in attacks on the Western Carolinas. In June, the cruiser took an active part in the invasion of the Mariana Islands. After undergoing regular repairs at the Mar Island Naval Shipyard, on February 14, 1945, the cruiser became part of Vice Admiral Mark Mitscher's high-speed aircraft carrier formation. From February 19, the formation provided cover for the landing on the island of Iwo Jima. On March 14, 1945, Indianapolis took part in the capture of Okinawa. On March 31, the cruiser's signalmen noticed a Japanese fighter that began an almost vertical dive onto the cruiser's bridge. The plane was damaged by anti-aircraft fire, but a Japanese suicide pilot dropped a bomb from a height of eight meters and crashed into the aft part of the upper deck. The bomb, having pierced all the decks of the cruiser and the bottom, exploded, damaging the bottom of the ship in several places. Several compartments were filled, 9 sailors were killed. Indianapolis reached the shipyard on the island of Mar under its own power. Having completed the repairs, the cruiser received an order to deliver atomic bomb components to the island of Tinian...
After the crushing defeats of 1944 - near the Mariana Islands and the Philippines - the Japanese Imperial Navy, which once terrorized the entire Pacific Ocean, simply ceased to exist. The overwhelming majority of its combat units lay on the bottom, and several surviving large ships were finished off by aircraft from the aircraft carriers of the 5th Fleet right in the harbor of the Kure naval base.
The beauty and pride of Japan, a symbol of its sea power and the entire nation, the magnificent Yamato, the most powerful of all battleships created by mankind, was sunk by the aircraft of Admiral Mark Mitscher on April 7, 1945, during the battleship’s last voyage to the shores of Okinawa. The Yamato was saved neither by its unusually thick armor, nor by its design features, which made the ship very difficult to sink, nor by two hundred anti-aircraft guns, which turned the sky above the battleship into a continuous curtain of fire.
As for the Japanese Air Force, no one took them seriously anymore. Veterans who defeated Pearl Harbor died at Midway and the Solomon Islands; and fledgling novice pilots became easy prey for the much more experienced and much better trained pilots of numerous American fighters. The war inexorably rolled towards its victorious conclusion for America.
True, there remained kamikaze pilots, fearlessly ramming ships, but through air combat patrols and dense anti-aircraft fire only a few made it to the target, so the impact of these weapons was, rather, purely psychological. One such suicide bomber crashed into the deck of the Indianapolis during the battles for Okinawa, but so what? There was a fire (which was quickly put out), some things were destroyed or damaged... and that was it.
There were casualties, but the crew reacted to this with the indifference of seasoned soldiers - after all, as a result of this attack, the cruiser went for repairs to San Francisco, where it remained for two months away from the war. It's much nicer to drink whiskey on the beach than wait for the next crazy Japanese to fall on your head. The war is about to end - and dying at the end of the day is doubly offensive.
It was also possible to run into some rogue enemy submarine - according to intelligence data, a certain number of these lone sea wolves were still prowling the waters of the Pacific Ocean in search of unprotected targets for attack - but for a high-speed warship the likelihood of such an encounter is very small (much less than the risk of getting hit by a car when crossing the street in New York).
However, such thoughts occupied few people on board the Indianapolis - let the head of these problems hurt the one who is entitled to such illness according to the state. Captain McVeigh, for example.
The cruiser's commander, Captain Charles Butler McVeigh, at forty-six, was an experienced sailor who deservedly found himself on the command bridge of a heavy cruiser. He met the war with Japan with the rank of commander, being the first mate of the cruiser Cleveland, participated in many battles, including the capture of the islands of Guam, Saipan and Tinian and in the largest battle in the history of naval warfare in Leyte Gulf; earned the Silver Star. And that night, despite the late hour - eleven in the evening - he did not sleep. Unlike most of his subordinates, McVeigh knew much more than any of them, and this knowledge did not at all add to his peace of mind.
It all started in San Francisco. The ship's repairs at the Mar Island shipyard, about twenty miles from the city, were nearing completion when McVeigh was unexpectedly called to the headquarters of the California naval base. The order received was brief: “Make a ship for the voyage.” And then an order was received to move to another shipyard, Hunter Points, and wait for the arrival of high-ranking guests from Washington. Soon, General Leslie Groves, the head of the secret “Manhattan Project” (and McVeigh, naturally, had no idea what the essence of this very project was), and Rear Admiral William Parnell appeared on the cruiser.
High-ranking officials briefly outlined the essence of the matter to the captain: the cruiser must take on board a special cargo with accompanying persons and deliver it safe and sound to its destination. They didn’t say where, the commander had to find out from the package handed to him from the chief of staff under the Supreme Commander-in-Chief armed forces USA Admiral William D. Leahy. The package was decorated with two impressive red stamps: “Top Secret” and “Open at Sea.” The captain was also not informed about the nature of the cargo; Parnell said: “Neither the commander, nor, especially, his subordinates are supposed to know about this.” But the old sailor instinctively understood: this damn special cargo is more expensive than the cruiser itself and even the lives of its entire crew.
Part of the cargo was placed in the seaplane hangar, and the other part - probably the most important (packed in a package reminiscent of an impressively sized women's hat box) - in the commander's cabin. The silent accompanying officers settled in the same place. Noticing the emblems of the chemical forces on them, Charles McVeigh thought with the disgust of a real soldier accustomed to honest methods of combat: “I really didn’t expect that we would end up with bacteriological warfare!” However, he did not say anything out loud - many years of service in the navy taught him to be able to keep his mouth shut in appropriate situations. But the captain didn’t like this whole story from the very beginning - there was something too sinister in it...
The crew and passengers (army and navy officers were returning to Hawaii on board the Indianapolis) showed keen curiosity about the mysterious “hatbox.” However, any attempts to find out anything from the silent sentries were a complete failure.
At 0800 on July 16, 1945, the heavy cruiser Indianapolis weighed anchor, passed the Golden Gate and entered the Pacific Ocean. The ship set course for Pearl Harbor, where it arrived safely after three and a half days - almost the entire time at full speed.
The stay on Oahu was short - only a few hours. The cruiser dropped the left anchor and, having worked with the engines, poked its stern into the pier. The passengers disembarked, and the ship hurriedly took on fuel and provisions and left Pearl Harbor just six hours after arrival.
The Indianapolis arrived at the island of Tinian in the Mariana archipelago on the night of July 26. The moon, rising above the ocean, flooded with its deathly ghostly light the endlessly rolling strings of waves, decorated with white plumes of crests, towards the sandy shore. The primeval beauty of this spectacle did not delight Captain McVeigh at all: because of the waves and depths it is impossible to get close to the shore, and then this damned moon hangs overhead like a huge flare, turning all the ships on the island roadstead into ideal targets for night torpedo bombers. US aircraft completely dominated the skies over the Marians, but McVeigh had already sufficiently studied the desperation of samurai and their penchant for adventurous antics.
But everything worked out. At dawn, a self-propelled barge with bigwigs from the command of the local garrison approached the Indianapolis - there was an air base on the island, from where the B-29 “superfortresses” flew to bomb the metropolis of the Japanese Empire. They got rid of the special cargo quickly - there was nothing left of it: a few boxes and the notorious “hat box”. People worked quickly and harmoniously, spurred on by strict orders and an unconscious desire to quickly get rid of this mysterious piece of junk along with its gloomy, unresponsive attendants.
Captain McVeigh watched the unloading with mixed feelings: the precise execution of the order pleased the heart of the old servant, but something else, incomprehensible and disturbing, was mixed with the feeling of duty fulfilled. The commander suddenly caught himself thinking that he would give a lot to never see this stupid “hatbox” in the eyes...
The diesel engine started knocking on the barge, and the boatswain's crew removed the mooring lines. Captain Parsons, who was in charge of the unloading (aka “Yuja” - all those accompanying him had nicknames, like Chicago gangsters), politely touched the visor of his cap and shouted to McVeigh from the departing self-propelled gun: “Thank you for your work, captain! I wish you good luck!”
The heavy cruiser remained for several more hours in the open roadstead of Tinian, awaiting further orders from the headquarters of the commander of the Pacific Fleet. And closer to noon the order came: “Proceed to Guam.”
And then, something incomprehensible began. Captain McVeigh quite reasonably assumed that his ship would be delayed in Guam: almost a third of the Indianapolis crew were young recruits who had not really seen the sea (let alone smelled gunpowder!), and for them it was urgently necessary to conduct full cycle combat training.
And, in fact, where and why to send a warship of this class at the present time? Who to fight with? Where is the enemy who might be a worthy target for the eight-inch guns of a heavy cruiser? Later, perhaps, when the long-planned Operation Iceberg begins - an invasion of the islands of Japan proper - which is being talked about at headquarters (and not only at headquarters), then yes. The cruiser has already had to provide fire support to the landing party - its commander is well familiar with this work. But now? Why drive a ship from one point of the ocean - from the Mariana Islands to the Philippines - to another, burning fuel, if the presence of a cruiser in any Pacific region is equivalent from a military point of view?
However, it turned out that the logic of the senior naval commander of the area, Commodore James Carter, was somewhat different from the logic of Captain Charles McVeigh. Carter categorically told the cruiser commander that the ocean was spacious enough and you could study anywhere. McVeigh's references to the fact that already during the passage of the Indianapolis from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor it became clear that his team was unprepared to solve serious combat missions did not make any impression on the commodore. "The boss is always right!" - this aphorism is true everywhere.
Carter had the last word, and the cruiser’s commander silently held his cap. Nevertheless, McVeigh got the impression that they were trying to push his ship anywhere as quickly as possible, to get rid of him, as if a yellow quarantine flag was flying at the mast of the Indianapolis - like over a plague-ridden ship.
Moreover, the captain did not receive any information about the presence or absence of enemy submarines in the ship’s voyage area, there were not at least a couple of frigates or destroyers for escort, and in Leyte Gulf (where the cruiser was ordered to go) they did not expect him at all and did not even know him, that he was heading towards them at all.
And now the Indianapolis rips open the dark surface of the night ocean, leaving behind the stern a white-foamed trail of breakers glowing in the darkness. Lag hurriedly counts down mile after mile, as if the ship is running away from what he has done - even if not of his own free will...
The Japanese submarine I-58 was on the Guam-Leyte shipping line for the tenth day. It was commanded by an experienced submariner - Captain 3rd Rank Motitsura Hashimoto. He was born on November 14, 1909 in Kyoto, and graduated from the prestigious naval school on the island of Etajima, near Hiroshima. When Japan began the war on the Asian continent, Second Lieutenant Hashimoto had just begun service as a mine officer on submarines. Participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor. After this operation, Hashimoto, as an incentive, was sent to command courses, after which, in July 1942, he was entrusted with the submarine “PO-31”, assigned to the Yokosuka base. The submarine was not of its first generation, and its role was assigned to a purely auxiliary one - to deliver provisions, fuel in canisters, and ammunition to the islands of Guadalcanal, Bougainville and New Guinea. Hashimoto completed all tasks accurately and on time. This did not go unnoticed by the authorities. In February 1943, Hashimoto began his duties as commander of the submarine I-158, which at that time was equipped with radar equipment. In fact, an experiment was carried out on Hashimoto’s boat - studying the operation of radar in different conditions navigation, because until then Japanese submarines fought “blindly”. In September 1943, six months later, Hashimoto was already in command of another boat, the RO-44. On it he operated in the Solomon Islands region as a hunter of American transports. In May 1944, an order came to send Lieutenant Commander Hashimoto to Yokosuka, where the I-58 boat was being built according to a new project. His commander's share fell to the responsible work of completing and re-equipping the boat to carry Kaiten human torpedoes.
“Kaiten” (literally “Turning the Sky”) was the name given to miniature submarines designed for only 1 person. The length of the mini-submarine did not exceed 15 meters, the diameter was 1.5 meters, but it carried up to 1.5 tons of explosives. Suicide sailors directed these formidable weapons against enemy ships. Kaiten began to be produced in Japan in the summer of 1944, when it became obvious that only the dedication of kamikaze pilots and suicide sailors could delay the moment of the country’s military defeat. (In total, about 440 Kaitens were produced before the end of the war. Their samples are still kept in museums at the Tokyo Yasukuni Shrine and on Etajima Island.)
The command included the I-58 submarine in the Congo detachment. Subsequently, Hashimoto recalled: “There were 15 of us who graduated from the naval school with a scuba diving course. But by this time, most of the officers who once made up our class had died in battle. Of the 15 people, only 5 survived. strange coincidence, all of them turned out to be commanders of boats belonging to the Congo detachment. Boats from the Kongo detachment fired a total of 14 Kaitens at enemy ships.
But it was precisely because of these damned seaplanes that the Yankee I-58 a few days ago missed a great opportunity to attack the discovered large high-speed target, which was heading somewhere to the west, to Tinian. Thanks to the radiometricians - they spotted the patrol “flying boat” in time, and the I-58 went to a saving depth. However, it turned out to be impossible to pursue the enemy in a submerged position - there was not enough speed - and Hashimoto regretfully abandoned the torpedo attack. Even more upset were the drivers of the Kaiten human-controlled torpedoes who were eager to go into battle, burning with the desire to give their lives as soon as possible for the beloved Tenno, the emperor.
There were six Kaitens on board the I-58. These torpedoes - the naval analogue of kamikaze pilots - looked more like miniature submarines than torpedoes in the usual sense of the word. They did not fit into the torpedo tubes, but were mounted directly on the deck of the submarine. Immediately before the attack - when such a decision was made - the drivers climbed inside their mini-boats through special transfer hatches, battened down from the inside, unhooked from the carrier boat, started the engine running on hydrogen peroxide and set off to meet their own chosen fate. The human torpedo carried three times more explosives (compared to the conventional Japanese Long Pike torpedo), and therefore the damage it caused to the underwater part of the attacked ship was expected to be much more significant.
And it seems that this was actually the case. Luck smiled on the Japanese submariner just yesterday: the I-58 struck two Kaitens (they were released one after the other) on a single large tanker. The attacked ship sank so quickly, as if its entire bottom had been torn out at once; and Hashimoto congratulated his crew on their first combat success.
The commander of the I-58 was by no means deluded; he understood perfectly well that the war was lost, and that none of his efforts would save Japan from inevitable defeat. But a real samurai drives away such spirit-weakening thoughts: there is a warrior’s duty, which must be performed with honor, without allowing any unworthy hesitation.
However, an airplane is too dangerous an enemy for a submarine, practically inaccessible for a retaliatory strike. You can only hide from him...
When a few days later the same surface target appeared on the I-58 radar screen, there was no obstacle to a successful attack...
At 23.00 on July 29, a sonar report was received: the noise of the propellers of a target moving on a counter course was detected. The commander ordered the ascent.
The navigator was the first to detect the enemy ship visually, and immediately received a report about the appearance of a mark on the radar screen. Having climbed to the upper navigation bridge, Hashimoto was convinced personally: yes, there is a black dot on the horizon; yes, she's getting closer.
"I-58" dived again - there was absolutely no need for the American radar to also detect the boat. The target's movement speed is decent, and the enemy can easily dodge. And if the enemy does not notice them, then a meeting is inevitable - the ship’s course leads directly to the submarine.
The commander watched through the periscope eyepiece as the point enlarged and turned into a silhouette. Yes, capital ship- very large! The height of the masts (with twenty cables this can already be determined) is more than thirty meters, which means that in front of it is either a large cruiser or even a battleship. Tempting prey!
There are two attack options: either discharge the bow tubes at the American with a six-torpedo fan, or use Kaitens. The ship is moving at a speed of at least twenty knots, which means, taking into account errors in calculating the salvo, we can hope to be hit by one or two, or maximum three, torpedoes. There were no homing acoustic torpedoes on board the I-58 - such weapons appeared too late in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Will a pair of Long Peaks be enough to break the back of a heavy cruiser?
"Kaiten" with its powerful charge is more reliable, and the man-guidance system is no less - if not more - effective than sophisticated technology. In addition, the Kaiten drivers, in a hurry to die with honor, behaved too expansively, unnerving the rest of the crew with their ardor. A real submariner must be cool and calm, because the slightest mistake of one can lead to the boat turning into one spacious steel coffin for everyone. Therefore, Hashimoto was not averse to getting rid of the suicide bombers as quickly as possible.
Looking up from the periscope, the commander of the I-58 said a short phrase: “Drivers “five” and “six” take their places!” Marine kamikazes - "Kaitens" - did not have names; they were replaced by serial numbers.
When the water entwined with fire and smoke rose over the side of the Indianapolis, Charles McVeigh thought that the cruiser had been hit by a kamikaze again. The ship's commander made a mistake...
The plane and the Kaiten carried approximately the same amount explosive, but the impact of the underwater explosion was much more powerful. The cruiser immediately sank, shuddering under the furious pressure of the sea rushing into the huge hole (the waterproof bulkheads closest to the point of impact were warped and burst). More than half of its crew - those who were in the engine room or sleeping in the cockpits - died immediately. But as it turned out later, their fate was not the worst.
More than five hundred people, including the wounded, ended up in the water. Blood got into the water, and what could be the best bait for sharks? And the sharks appeared and circled around the sailors in the water, methodically snatching out their victims. And still no help came...
While in Guam (where, as already mentioned, the cruiser was not expected at all) they learned that the Indianapolis had not arrived at its destination, while they sent ships and planes to search, while they found and picked up survivors...
Of the 1,199 people who were on the cruiser at the time of the I-58 attack, 316 were saved. 883 people died. It is unknown how many were from shark teeth, but 88 corpses picked up from the water were mutilated by predators, and many survivors had bite marks.
Indianapolis was the last major American warship sunk in the Pacific War, and much about the circumstances surrounding the cruiser's sinking remains mysterious. And the most interesting thing is the following: if the Catalina, which had accidentally deviated (due to a malfunction of the navigation equipment) from the usual patrol route, had not driven the I-58 under water, then the Indianapolis would have had every chance of ending up at the bottom a few days earlier, that is when on board there were components of two (or even three) atomic bombs. The same ones that were dropped on Japanese cities.
Captain Charles Butler McVeigh survived the sinking of his ship. He survived only to be put on trial on charges of “criminal negligence resulting in the death of a large number of people.” He was demoted and kicked out of the Navy, but the Secretary of the Navy later brought him back into service, appointing him commander of the 8th Naval Region in New Orleans. He retired from this post four years later with the rank of rear admiral. McVeigh led a bachelor's life on his farm until November 6, 1968, when the old sailor committed suicide by shooting himself. Why? Did he consider himself involved in the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and guilty of the deaths of almost nine hundred people from the crew of the Indianapolis?
The I-58 commander Motitsuro Hashimoto, who ended up a prisoner of war at the end of the war, was also tried by the Americans. The judges tried to get the Japanese submariner to answer the question: “How was the Indianapolis sunk?” More precisely, how was it sunk - by conventional torpedoes or by Kaitens? A lot depended on the answer: if Hashimoto used “Long Peaks”, then McVeigh was guilty of the death of his ship, but if human torpedoes were used... Then for some reason the charge of negligence against McVeigh was dropped, but Hashimoto himself automatically went into the category war criminals. It is clear that the Japanese did not smile at this prospect at all, and he stubbornly defended the version of sinking the American cruiser with conventional torpedoes. In the end, the judges left the stubborn samurai alone.
In '46, he returned to Japan, went through filtering and successfully withstood the pressure of journalists who wanted to know the truth about the night of July 29-30, 1945. The former submariner became a captain in the merchant fleet, and after retiring, became a bonzo in one of the Shinto shrines in Kyoto. The commander of the I-58 wrote the book Sunken, which tells about the fate of Japanese submariners, and died in 1968 - the same year as the former commander of the Indianapolis - without telling everything about the death of this ship.
Source NNM.RU
