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Shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945, the Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea. The ship had just left the island of Tinian, delivering components of the atomic bomb destined for Hiroshima. As the torpedoes hit, the Indianapolis erupted into a fiery coffin, sinking in less than fifteen minutes and leaving nine hundred crewmen fighting for life in shark-infested waters. They expected a swift, routine rescue, unaware that the Navy high command didn't even realize that the Indianapolis was missing. Help would not arrive for another five days.
Drawn from definitive interviews with key figures, Fatal Voyage recounts the horrific events endured as the number of water-treading survivors dwindled to just 316. Each gruesome day brought more madness and slow death, from explosion-related injuries, dehydration, and, most terrifying of all, shark attacks. But the pain did not end when the men finally returned home: The Indianapolis's commander, Captain Charles B. McVay III, was court-martialed for causing the clearly unavoidable disaster.
With a new afterword chronicling the fifty-five-year campaign by Indianapolis survivors and their supporters to win public vindication for Captain McVay, this classic is restored, along with memories of the Indianapolis crew.
ABATTBQ87 said:
Captain, Once a Scapegoat, Is Absolved
Floating in the Pacific Ocean under a broiling sun, delirious from thirst, nearly 600 died over the next four days. Many were killed by sharks. By the time a patrol plane found them, just more than 300 were still alive. One was Captain McVay, who was court-martialed soon after the war and found guilty of endangering his vessel by failing to steer a zigzag course to avoid torpedoes.
Captain McVay was stripped of some seniority, although Navy Secretary James Forrestal lifted the sentence because of Captain McVay's bravery in combat before the sinking. He was promoted to rear admiral upon his retirement in 1949. But he never really recovered from his ordeal, and he shot himself to death in 1968.
Many people, including survivors of the Indianapolis, have defended him over the years. They say that just before it was torpedoed, the cruiser had carried a top-secret cargo -- the final components of the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.
Some historians, citing documents declassified years later, have attributed the slowness of the rescue to the secrecy surrounding the atomic bomb mission. Some have suggested, too, that senior Navy officers knew there might have been a Japanese submarine in the area but did not warn the cruiser out of fear of disclosing that the Navy had broken Japan's naval codes.
Yessir. To his great credit, Hashimoto didn't blame the captain. The fact remains though that the Navy intended to utilize Hashimoto's testimony to aid the prosecution.ABATTBQ87 said:
from the same article:
One of Captain McVay's defenders was Mochitsura Hashimoto, commander of the Japanese submarine that attacked the Indianapolis. He testified at the court-martial that the torpedoes would have found their mark even if the Indianapolis had been zigzagging.
On Nov. 24, 1999, a year before his death, Mr. Hashimoto wrote to Senator Warner.
''Our peoples have forgiven each other for that terrible war,'' he said. ''Perhaps it is time your peoples forgave Captain McVay for the humiliation of his unjust conviction.''
https://litigationcommentary.org/contributors/1384-one-question-too-many-the-trial-of-captain-charles-b-mcvay-iiiQuote:
The prosecution's case ultimately came down to the single issue of the alleged failure to zigzag at night during conditions of what it claimed were "good visibility." McVay was cleared of the second charge of failing to issue abandon ship orders in an "efficient" manner. The ship had sunk in 15 minutes and men were literally falling overboard into the ship's still spinning propeller, so this charge had no credibility from the beginning. But on the issue of zigzagging, the Navy was determined to obtain a conviction.
To do this, it shocked many by calling the commander of the Japanese submarine that sank the Indianapolis, Mochitsura Hashimoto. The trial transcript clearly shows the animus against the Japanese at the time, which was only six months after V-J day. McVay's counsel objected to his testimony thusly:
If the court please, I wish to make a formal objection to the idea of calling one of the officers of the defeated enemy who, as a nation, have been proven guilty of every despicable treachery, of the most infamous cruelties, and most barbarous practices in violation of all of the laws of civilized warfare, to testify against one of our own commanding officers on a matter affecting his professional ability and judgment
If the proposed witness Hashimoto is to be called, I will also make legal objection on the grounds of competency, since his nation is not of Christian belief, thus affecting ability to take the oath as a witness to tell the truth.
After much skirmishing over whether Hashimoto could be admitted as a witness, his examination began. Speaking through an interpreter, he preliminarily stated that he believed that "the soul exists after the death," and was "fully aware of the meaning of truth and falsehood."
In terms of trial strategy, it is important to keep in mind that the Navy was calling Hashimoto for the purpose of supporting its charge that McVay was negligent in failing to zigzag. This was the purpose of flying him around the world to testify against McVay.
Lt. McKissick was the officer that was given the order to stop zig-zagging by the Captain. I'm not certain but I also believe he was in charge when the ship was hit.CanyonAg77 said:
Who is McKissick?
