Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis [Paperback]

Dan Kurzman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 14, 2001

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The cruiser Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945. Most of its crew went down with the ship, but many died during the extraordinary five-day delay in rescue. The ship's captain was one of 316 who survived of a crew of 1196. Charles B. McVay III was court-martialed for negligence, becoming the first captain ever tried by the U.S. Navy for losing his ship in battle. (He later committed suicide.) Kurzman ( A Killing Wind ) here presents a shocking, convincing tale of how a good officer became a political pawn and scapegoat for high-level administrative negligence. He also describes the efforts by McVay's family and survivors of the tragedy to overturn the conviction, efforts which continue despite the "total resistance" of the Navy. The sinking of the Indianapolis has been called the Navy's worst sea disaster; Kurzman suggests that it is the Navy's worst moral disaster as well. This is a first-rate work, covering the details of the sinking, the five-day ordeal of the survivors in shark-infested water, and the unusual court-martial (it featured in-person testimony by the Japanese submarine commander). Photos.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In July 1945 the cruiser Indianapolis sailed from San Francisco to Tinian in the Marianas to deliver components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Then, en route from Tinian to Leyte, sailing alone, the ship was torpedoed and sunk. Incredibly, it was not missed for five days, by which time the survivors had been diminished to under 200 from shark attack, thirst, and exposure. Kurzman argues that the Navy railroaded the captain to court-martial and eventual suicide while covering up indifference and incompetence by higher officials, all to protect the service's public image. Recommended for coverage of the inquiry, which many readers will find distressingly similar to the treatment of more recent disasters. For public and military libraries.
- Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army TRALINET Ctr., Fort Monroe, Va.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; Reprint edition (August 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767906780
• ISBN-13: 978-0767906784
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #579,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for anyone interested in Naval History., February 24, 1999

By 

Ctrot35 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis (Paperback)

Mr. Kurzman does an excellent job of conveying both the personal stories of the Indianapolis's crew and explaining the circumstances surrounding her loss. The reader will wonder how such a tragedy could take place and how those responsible could make a scapegoat out of Capt. McVay. This story remains to this day a sensitive one for the US Navy.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quint couldn't have told it better, July 22, 2000

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis (Paperback)

The best scene in the movie "Jaws" is when captain Quint, played by Robert Shaw, recounts the horrors of having been a survivor of the USS Indianapolis disaster. In Dan Kurzman, this event is given a storytelling treatment worthy of the man who would soon become shark bait himself. The Indianapolis story is a horror not only because of what the survivors of the sinking endured (dehydration, delirium and, of course, shark attacks), but because of the bureaucratic bungling that caused them to be left in the water for many days beyond when the sinking was first reported. Granted the war was in its last stages and important things were happening (the Indianapolis was returning from having delivered the Atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima) but the neglect the ship's survivors received was inexcusable. Kurzman is an excellent journalist and writer. This book and "Left to Die" his account of the sinking of the USS Juneau, are first rate accounts of nautical disaster.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As bad as it gets (the story, not the book), even in war, May 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis (Paperback)

I've read most if not all of the handful of books available on the USS Indianapolis, and this was the best and most readable factual account of the grim story. After successfully completing its top secret mission to deliver the bomb that ended WWII, the Indianapolis was torpedoed by an enemy sub as it sailed home. Most of her crew died in the water, many eaten by sharks, as horrified survivors watched helplessly. It would be days before the first survivors were rescued. But this is not the end of the story. The captain of the Indianapolis was put on trial where, in an unprecedented move, the Japanese sub commander was brought to the American courtroom to essentially testify against the captain. The two military leaders were brought face to face; the men of the Indianapolis who were also in court had to passively regard the enemy sub commander who had sunk their ship. Although ultimately exonerated, the captain killed himself.

It was very hard to believe the U.S. Navy managed to keep something secret that is still regarded as the worst naval disaster in US history. But I asked a relative who sailed the Atlantic on the same mission as the Indianapolis, delivering weaponry to Allies, if he heard the story, rumors, anything at all about this at the time it happened, and he assured me that no one knew anything about it. Amazing, considering he spent the war on ships sailing similar high risk missions. His ship was part of the great fleet that delivered the guns for the Normandy invasion. He said the battleships escorting them actually outnumbered the fleet: more ships were sent to protect them than ships carrying the weapons. Later in the Pacific, the men of the Indianapolis had no escort or protection at all.

There is a small but beautiful monument in honor of these men in Indianapolis, where survivors still gather once a year. I think one of the reasons this story is little known even today is that it's simply too big and too horrifying for Hollywood to handle. I did see a well done documentary recently, which showed available photography and interviewed survivors, in their 80s by this time. Every one of them still wept at the memory.