Documents in the collection provide information on the routing and sinking of the ship, the available intelligence, rescue operations, and the investigation and court martial that followed. The online collection also includes photographs of the survivors of Indianapolis in addition to paintings by combat artist Alexander Russo. Navy ship and what this indicates about the route of Indianapolis before the sinking. A Grave Misfortune: The USS Indianapolis Tragedy An e-book that examines the circumstances surrounding the sinking of Indianapolis on 30 July , including primary source documents describing the sinking, rescue efforts, investigations, aftermath, and continuing commemoration efforts.
Frequently the flagship of the 5th Fleet, Indianapolis served with honor from Pearl Harbor through the last campaign of World War II, earning ten battle stars. Members of the ship's crew pose in the well deck, during World War II. Official U. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
She arrived at Mare Island under her own power after being badly damaged by a kamikaze bomb in the pre-invasion of Okinawa the morning of 31 March This photo has been released and is available for public use.
McVay III. Haynes, and the Allied interrogation of Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto of the Japanese submarine I regarding wartime tactics. Indianapolis survivors en route to a hospital following their rescue, circa early August Indianapolis Wreck Site Located. On 19 August , the U. Navy—supported expedition led by entrepreneur-philanthropist Paul G.
Allen announced that it had located the wreck of Indianapolis. This Sextant blog entry recaps the exhilarating culmination of the search. Indianapolis continues to serve her Navy and her nation by teaching our Sailors today something new about themselves and reminding them that we never forget.
Naval History and Heritage Command. Print Friendly. The Sextant. Social Media. Toggle left navigation Nav. Toggle navigation Menu. As the sun rose, Twible conducted a head count and realized that he was the only officer in charge of survivors.
As day one wore on to day four, many of the men began to lose faith that they would ever be rescued. My biggest concern was that the people we could save, we saved them.
Desperation and fear grew among the men floating in the shark-infested waters. The common image of the story of the Indianapolis is that of hundreds of men being ravaged by sharks for days on end. While there were many shark attacks, the exact figure for death by shark attack among the survivors is unknown; there were many survivors who never even saw a shark.
Twible and his group, however, were not among those fortunate men. The sharks usually stayed away from the larger groups, which would beat and kick the sharks, normally forcing them away. Twible insisted on cutting the dead men off of floating wreckage they had tied themselves to, then pushing the dead out to sea so that those who remained would not have a constant visual example of their potential fate.
After four days and five nights, the survivors were finally sighted by a US Navy aircraft on routine patrol. Of the men who went into the water, only survived to be rescued. The Indianapolis disaster remains one of the worst—and most controversial—tragedies in US Navy history.
Harlan Twible stayed in the Navy following World War II, serving through the Korean War, eventually retiring in due to health issues sustained during his time floating in the Pacific Ocean. He entered the business world and became successful, retiring at age 54 and moving to Florida with his wife.
Like many combat veterans, Harlan Twible never talked about the disaster in the years immediately following the war. Initially, the horrible experience was too much for Twible to share, but his thoughts eventually changed. He feels that talking about the disaster helps people remember it and honors those who never made it out of the sea. That was one of the biggest decisions I ever made. In the 12 years he was Manager of Research Services, Seth and his team increased the oral history collection from 25 to nearly 5, oral histories.
0コメント