Customer Reviews

In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors

5 star:		(113)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My father, Albert Ferguson, stepped off the fantail of the USS Indianapolis the night she was torpedoed. He had served aboard her the entire war, a a Chief Machinist Mate in her engine room. He survived the sinking and lived to share the tale with his children. This book propels the reader through a 3-D experience of serving aboard the Indy, her sinking, and the too familiar attempts to lay the blame on those who were targeted by the command staff. My father testified on behalf of McVay at his courts martial, and I have a carbon of the original transcript. IN HARM'S WAY is a riveting tale of honor, sacrifice, and ultimate betrayal of the American fighting man. So what else is new?

Like, I'm sure, most of you, I first heard of the USS Indianapolis and the horrific events surrounding its sinking in the movie Jaws. You'll recall the Robert Shaw character telling about being adrift in the waters of the Pacific as sharks circled and attacked the helpless men. This story has such a compelling fascination that it has spawned a series of books, documentaries and even a TV movie. Doug Stanton's new account can take its place with the very best of them. Drawing heavily on interviews with survivors and on Captain Charles Butler McVay's account of the sinking and the ensuing ordeal, Stanton presents the story with an immediacy and intimacy that makes it all the more terrible.

The men of the Indianapolis were the victims of an entire series of oversights and foul ups, few of their own making. First, the ship had just delivered components of the Little Boy atomic bomb (which was dropped on Hiroshima), and so had been traveling in great secrecy. Then when they set out from Guam to join up with Task Force 95 at Okinawa, they sailed alone and were not warned about known Japanese submarine activity, for security reasons. Thus, when the submarine I-58, commanded by Mochitsura Hashimoto, torpedoed them, they didn't even realize what had happened at first.

From there, unfortunate coincidence turns to bitter irony and real tragedy. Damage to the radio rooms was so great and the ship sank so fast, that they did not get a chance to radio for help. Meanwhile, again for security reasons, port authorities had been ordered not to relay messages every time a ship arrived and had interpreted the order to mean that they shouldn't report non-arrivals either. Of the 1196 men on board, 300 probably died immediately, but while the other 900 struggled in the water, no one yet knew of their dilemma.

Eventually sharks, salt water, hypothermia, injuries sustained in the sinking, fights among the men, and a host of other maladies, left just 321 men alive to be rescued, four of whom died almost immediately. Stanton renders the crew's five day holocaust in heart breaking detail, with much of the narrative supplied by ship's doctor Lewis Haynes and Private Giles McCoy. Finally, as even these stalwart souls were preparing to give up, they were discovered by Lieutenant Commander George Atteberry in a Ventura bomber, which could do little more than drop some supplies and radio for help. He was followed by Lieutenant Adrian Marks in a PBY-5A Catalina, which Marks heroically set down in the water. Marks and a few succeeding planes were able to start picking up the survivors while they waited for rescue ships to reach the scene.

One would think that the awful story had run its course at that point, but the Navy added insult to tragedy by court-martialing Captain McVay, the only captain to that point in US Naval history to be court-martialed for losing being sunk. The Navy, pretty clearly trying to avoid admitting its own mistakes, failed to share much information which would have been helpful to his defense and took the extraordinary step of summoning Commander Hashimoto to testify about the incident. The prosecution's theory of the case was that McVay's failure to zig-zag had been responsible for the sinking, and, despite contrary testimony from both Hashimoto and the prosecution's own expert witness on this issue, he was convicted.

In the succeeding years crew members gathered for reunions (organized by McCoy) and worked to clear McVay's name. These efforts went for naught until a High School student in Florida, working on a class project, got involved. On October 12, 2000, Congress passed an amendment exonerating McVay and recommending citations for the crew. It was too late for McVay though, he had killed himself in 1968.

This is a terrific book, filled with all the drama you could ever ask for, remarkable moments of human endurance and despair, stupidity and loyalty, heroism and despair. I'm not big on all of the current Greatest Generation stuff, but there is something to the idea that the shared experience of war (and Depression) that this generation shared somehow gives them a common identity and a sense of accomplishment that their successors have lacked. The men of the USS Indianapolis and particularly their captain, Charles McVay, are deserving of our respect and their story should never be forgotten. Doug Stanton's book makes it a painful pleasure to remember the sacrifices they made.

GRADE : A

In contrast to the strip of glassy smooth water that is a ship's wake, the sinking of the Indianapolis has left nothing behind but roiling emotions. Still easily brought to the surface after all these years - anger at the navy being the most common expression, and as IN HARM'S WAY shows - it is most appropriate. The 1,196 men who went into the water on the morning of July 30, 1945 were abandoned to their fate by the navy. They were left adrift for 5 days, eventually being spotted and rescued by chance; by this time only 321 were left alive, four of whom died shortly thereafter. The navy then rubbed salt into this open wound by blaming one of the survivors - Captain Charles McVay - for "hazarding" his ship.

This book is much more a story of men battling the sea and finding the courage to survive than it is a history of the war. As such it is less about the Indianapolis and its mission but more to do with personal drama of the men. It succeeds by drawing on the stories of three survivors - Captain McVay, ship's doctor Lewis Haynes, and Private Giles McCoy. The facts of the tragedy only put the achievement of survival into its proper perspective.

> The ship was sunk by a torpedo from Japanese submarine I-58; the explosion killing about 300 of the crew instantly; the wounded as well as the uninjured jumped into the sea. Escaping a fiery death only brought on other dangers "from dozens of probing bacteria and organisms which, as the men drifted, began gnawing at their flesh. The salt water itself was a caustic brew...not unlike immersion in a mild acid bath."

> Perhaps as many as 200 men were eaten alive by sharks. Morning and evening were the sharks feeding times; twice a day for five days the men were preyed on.

> Many faced hypothermia and mental and physical exhaustion; for others suffering was in the form of hallucinations and delirium which caused them to swim away to an imaginary rescue or giving up, they drank down sea water which only guaranteed an agonizing death.

The author puts it best when he says what this tragedy means to the survivors; "the disaster of the Indy is their My Lai massacre or Watergate, a touchstone moment of historic disappointment: the navy put them in harm's way, hundreds of men died violently, and then the government refused to acknowledge its culpability." Perhaps the only good that this tragedy has produced is that it has spurred young writers like Doug Stanton to preserve these stories of human courage before all the remaining survivors slip under the waves of time. The author at 39 is a little younger than I am, but by writing and by reading these books, we, as a generation can honor the men who fought, died, and survived WWII.

The only glory in war is surviving.

"All the glory of the world would be buried in oblivion, unless God had provided mortals with the remedy of books." (Bishop Richard De Bury)

Perhaps you remember the harrowing story told by Captain Quint in the movie _Jaws_, explaining to his fellow shark hunters about how after his ship, the _USS Indianapolis_ was torpedoed, the men drifted for days and were picked off by sharks. Quint's tale is accurate, but it is only part of the terror within the _Indy_'s story. The whole is laid out in _In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors_ (Henry Holt) by Doug Stanton, as spellbinding and frightening a book about the horrors of war as you are likely to read.

_Indy_ had had the imposing job of bringing the bomb "Little Boy" from San Francisco to Tinaian Island, near Guam, from where it could be sent to Hiroshima. After leaving the bomb in Tinaian, the ship was routed to Leyte in the Philippines, ready to take part in any mopping up action; but on 30 July it was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-58, and sank in twelve minutes. Astonishingly, for four days the Navy had no idea the ship was lost. _In Harm's Way_ details a surprising number of administrative errors and missed chances that would have saved most of the crew, but when the _Indy_ went down, no one but the survivors knew what had happened, and no one on land knew to worry about them.

1,196 men were on the ship when it was struck, and about 300 of them died immediately from the two torpedoes. Of the remaining 900, only 317 were eventually rescued. Sharks had, indeed, taken some of the rest, maybe about 200 during the four days the men floated in the Pacific. The fuel oil blinded and poisoned some, and some just went mad with blood chemistry imbalances and killed themselves and each other. The surviving doctor tried to minister to the sailors, but all he could really do was collect the dog tags of the dead, and when those proved so heavy that his exhaustion wouldn't let him carry them any more, he let them sink.

A patrol plane on another mission finally saw some of the survivors, and the belated, but heroic rescue took place. Captain McVay became the first captain in US history to be court-martialed for losing his ship as an act of war. It is clear that there was nothing McVay could have done to save his ship, but he was found guilty. The survivors, however, rallied behind McVay, a truly tragic figure, who was worried when he attended the first survivor's reunion in 1960; it was clear that he was respected and even loved by those who had served under him. Some members of families of dead sailors remembered differently, however, and McVay got hate mail from them. This was surely one of the reasons he shot himself in 1965. His crew has since tried to get his court-martial erased. Though his story is the backbone of this engrossing and terrifying book, _In Harm's Way_ contains satisfying doses of history and of heroics under unimaginable stress. It is a fine addition to the current flow of volumes on World War II.

You don't have to be a history buff to be fascinated by Doug Stanton's compelling chronicle of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, the worst catastrophe in the history of the US Navy. Shortly after delivering the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and hastened the end of World War II, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship sank within minutes, leaving approximately 900 crewmen stranded at sea. Incredibly, the ship's brief distress call was ignored and the Navy did not notice that the ship was missing for over 4 days. Most of the surving crewmen were badly injured and virtually without survival equipment or even basic clothing. After battling vicious shark attacks, dehydration, exposure and exhaustion for days, 321 men were eventually rescued. Stanton's masterful recounting of this epic tale is a worthy testimonial to these courageous surviors. He adroitly combines the historical record with the powerful and poignant personal stories of key survivors. The result is a vivid, forceful book that you will long remember.

I got so engrossed in this great book, I literally read through the night, and realized at 6:00 a.m. it was getting light out. The writing is so immediate, I got a clear mental picture of the horror that was going on as these brave men endured the unimaginable. I had heard of the Indianapolis tragedy, but many have not.

When this ship failed to arrive at its destination on time, after being sunk by the Japanese, it is through a series of inexcusable snafus that no one realizes they are missing, and they have to float helplessly in rafts, while one after another, they are eaten by sharks. The author did a fantasitic job researching the entire story so many years later. He spoke at length to some heroic survivors, and their families.

This book should be must reading in school history classes. I can't recommend it enough. Just don't start reading it if you have somewhere you have to be soon. :-)

Doug Stanton has honored the memories of my father, an Indy survivor, and all the brave crew. This book has personalized the tragedy in a way none of the books about the Indianapolis has ever done. Kudos to Doug Stanton, an excellent writer and wonderful human being, for working so hard to bring the Indy's story to light in such a riveting and compelling book.

One of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. When reading historical books or biographies, you're normally subjected to a slow start to provide background info. Even this book's first chapters are interesting and then it quickly gets into the story. What a fine balance it is for the author to cover facets of the story and correctly allocate the appropriate page space to the important parts of the story.

It is very clear the author did good research to determine possible breakdowns in the system forcing 900 men to spend 5 terrifying days floating in the ocean as fish food. But the actual accounts of the sinking and subsequent time spent in the water are simply mesmerizing allowing you to feel the terror of this incident. Probably the most exciting part of the story is the daring rescue when these men were on their last leg and most could not have survived another day. How terrifying was their situation? Well, when sailors take off their life jacket and prefer death to their existence, that should tell you their situation was grave indeed.

This book reads fast and furious. I read it in one night since I was incapable of putting the book down. This book will appeal to people exploring history or just pure adventure stories. It reads like a screenplay and you can visualize this movie in a few years.

I picked up this book the first day it was out and started reading it that evening. Many hours later I finished as I just couldn't put it down. The way I was drawn into this frightening and tragic event was unlike anything I've experienced since reading "The Perfect Storm" and "Into Thin Air." Stanton's way of writing totally drew me into the story and the characters. His description of the breaking up of the ship was breathtaking and so real...it was as if I was seeing a movie unfolding during the telling. And once the men were in the water, I found myself holding my breath and even vocalizing their agony out loud. What a great read! What an incredible writer!

I happen to have read both 'In Harm's Way' and the earlier book,'Abandon Ship' by Richard Newcomb, within the last six months. I first read 'Abandon Ship' and was totally blown away by the story and the power of his writing. On subsequently reading 'In Harm's Way', I was disappointed, not much new info, and a much less dramatic style of writing. Like another reviewer it drove me crazy after a while that he referred to the crew of the Indianapolis as 'boys' time and time again. READ 'ABANDON SHIP'instead!