The Tragic Fate of the U.S.S. Indianapolis by Raymond B. Lech

Author:Raymond B. Lech
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Cooper Square Press
Published: 1982-03-22T16:00:00+00:00

All the other ships of the scouting flotilla were performing the same revolting task as Helm. Initially, some of the captains brought the bodies on board in order to offer a formal—and decent—burial service at sea. The condition of the bodies was so horrible, however, that this idea was scratched almost immediately. After being identified, the corpses were sunk on the spot.

The sharks had been having a feast. When a boat reached a body, it was common to see a hand missing, or foot gone, a part of the head ripped off, or a chunk of meat torn from the torso. It was also usual to find nothing but bones.

In two days, the U.S.S. French examined twenty-nine bodies but could not identify eighteen (62 percent) of them. The French’s report monotonously repeated over and over again: “Impossible to take fingerprints”; “Body badly decomposed”; “Very badly mutilated by sharks.”

As the evening sun dropped over the western horizon on Wednesday, August 8, 1945, the ships sailed for home, leaving in their wake the graveyard of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the final burial ground of 73 percent of her young crew.

One day before the search for survivors came to an end, Fleet Admiral King, Chief of Naval Operations, sent a harsh, Top Secret dispatch to Fleet Admiral Nimitz at Pearl Harbor:

IF PERIODICAL ENEMY SUBMARINE ESTIMATES ARE BEING BROADCAST TO FORCES [under] YOUR COMMAND, AS WAS DONE IN THE ATLANTIC, DESIRE COMINCH [i.e., King] BE MADE REFERENCE ADDRESSEE IN FUTURE. [I] ASSUME THAT UNESCORTED SHIPS OR CONVOYS ARE NOT BEING ROUTED OVER KNOWN POSITIONS OF ENEMY SUBS WITH ASSIGNED OFFENSIVE MISSIONS BUT RECENT LOSS OF INDIANAPOLIS APPEARS TO BE A CASE IN POINT

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