I was fortunate enough to know Jimmy O'Donnell who was the last survivor who was an actual resident of the city of Indianapolis. We were both members of an Irish-Catholic fraternal group. He was a very nice man who came home and continued to serve as a fireman for the city. May he and all the crew RIP.
I live in Indiana, me and my twin liked going to guns shows and military shows and one in Indianaoplis that we went to. we meet with w fellow who had set at a table who was the survivor of the sinking, and it could be your uncle. showing us pictures, telling his story, we were very honored to have shaken his hand.
My Great Uncle Ed Turk was a survivor on this fateful trip. He had rank. Very solid, intelligent and strong individual. He told me he’s was deployed to a supply ship, USS Indianapolis. He would not tell me any details, I think bc it is impossible to speak with a large lump in his throat. I missed his funeral around 1996. It was an impressive show per Navy fighter jets overhead. I feel so bad for all the men aboard this mighty ship, not to mention all the family members associated with the might #35.
Poor guy ended up putting a pistol to his head after being ridiculously blamed for the sinking. Even the Japanese commander said there was nothing they could have done to avoid her sinking
I remember that part well. I think it motivated someone to start a movement to get the captain cleared of charges. A long time ago I think they dramatized the story with Stacy Keach as the captain.
Captain McVeigh received venomous hate mail from some of the parents of his crew who perished all the way to his death in 1968. I feel that if the navy had never brought him up on those unwarranted charges, he would have never been blamed by those parents, and probably wouldn't have blamed himself.
Thought You might be interested to know, I have a Navy Flat Hat with both the US Navy Ribbon and USS INDIANAPOLIS Ribbon. Its hard to decide which ; Indianapolis Museum in the Capital, The Smithsonian DC, or The Submarine Museum of SSN697. This year it will be decided though.....
@@markbrandon7756my vote would be the Indy museum. It deserves to be where it would receive the most special recognition. (Smithsonian would be 2nd choice)
Agree with first choice, the Indianapolis Museum. Due to their latest efforts toward revisionist history The Smithsonian wouldn't even be a choice.@@chadportenga7858
I have the book "Only 317 survived" signed by 10 of the survivors, i received the book from them after singing to them while in cub scouts, at an airshow, i still remember their faces and as a native of Indiana will hold this book close wherever i go
My uncle (my dad's brother), Clarence Max Hill, CWT, went down with her at the initial blast/sinking. From speaking directly with one of the survivors, Seaman Wilcox, he told me that he had spoken briefly with my uncle just minutes before the first torpedo hit and that my uncle had gone below to his quarters mid ship. Mr. Wilcox said the first torpedo hit mid ship first and that no way my uncle could have survived the explosion. I was born in 46, so I never knew him but I have two letters from him to my dad and mom and find them very interesting in content, especially writing about supporting the invasion of Iwo Jima. My mother's brother, W. Richardson, went down with the USS Plymouth (escort gun ship) off the coast of North Carolina in 45 also. I have the honor of being named after both of them. Thanks for sharing this video.
I want to thank your family for their service. Their dedication and pride of our nation saved us. WWI & WWII took the lives of so many soldiers. So many families lost a Dad, a Brother, an Uncle, a Cousin, a friend. Every one of them are heroes. Their sacrifice and their selfless service has given us the freedoms that we all have now. God Bless you, and God Bless your family, and again I want to thank you, and your family for everything they did. Take care.
@@EdsterIII you are very kind and gracious and I thank you for that. My dad passed in 1948 just before my 2nd birthday so I never had the honor of knowing him, but I was very fortunate that my mother's four sister"s husbands were like fathers to me growing up and I thank the Father I had that relationship with them. My mom passed in 2004 and the last sister passed in 2010. There are only 2 cousins left now. I will be 78 in Feb. Grace to you.
That's terrible but amazing at the same time, so sorry that you guys had to sacrifice a family member. ❤ I hope you have a happy Birthday I'll be 38 Feb 15th! I want to send love to you and all your family members no matter where you all are.
@@Betterdayz12 thank you so much for that. As a young boy back in the 50s my mom use to talk about my 2 uncles and how much fun they were to be around. My mother's brother's grave is just a few feet from hers. Of course his remains are not there, but he has a nice headstone with his seaman's picture on it. I'm the last one of my immediate family, but in good health. Grace to you and yours.
"Our peoples have forgiven each other for that terrible war and its consequences. Perhaps it is time your peoples forgave Captain McVay for the humiliation of his unjust conviction." -Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, captain of I-58, the Japanese submarine that sank the USS Indianapolis
Several years ago, while living in Indianapolis I had the pleasure of attending one of the Indy's reunions. There I met several survivors, heard their stories, and was blessed to receive 10 autographs. Those have become cherished memories.
one of the most horrific and saddest event in WW2..shame that they hung out McVay to dry..and the burden took a fatal turn..neglect and lack of awareness and red tape let these poor crewmen down..cannot imagine what they went through..thx for this great video and research..haunting..
Kimmel lost 8 battleships and other ships on December 7,1941, was relieved of command but never court martial for his failure to protect his ships before Pearl Harbor. Lost: Arizona Utah Nevada California West Virginia Tennessee
@@kevinhoffman6592 Yeh but Robert shaw make one critical error he says "June 29,1945" when in fact the Indy was sunk on July 30,1945, a full month later.
@@CSAFD the sad thing was that the CO was hung out to dry to protect an idiot Admiral. Bad intel about no japanese subs in the area, when there were, lies about not zig zagging when he was but the captain of the jap sub that sunk him stated that even that didn't save the ship. then no one bothering to check the ship had arrived in port when due. instead it was 3 days before someone noticed a friggen ship missing. all due to poor planning. practices and command. The CO committed suicide holding a toy sailor in his hand from the shame years later. this makes me so mad that Command in the US was so gutless they refused to answer for their crimes.
RIP to all brave crew that went down with USS Indianapolis. The memorial in Indianapolis is beautiful and a wonderful tribute to her sacrifice. Rest easy..
A horrific fate for those men. My father served in both the Royal Navy and for a time in the U.S.Navy during 1943. As a teenager I asked him why his Crossing the Line Certificate from H.M.S. Nelson was simply a poor black and white version unlike that from H.M.S.Malaya. He replied that those went down with the torpedoed ship off West Africa and that the unfortunate nurses aboard were similarly eaten by sharks. Such incidents stay with you. 👍🏻🇺🇸🏴🇬🇧
My neighbor, Richard thelen was a survivor of the Indianapolis. He’s a very humble man and honorable person, and I’m glad to have known him rest in. Peace Richard Thelen. Lansing , MI
I had family who survived this, he was bitten in the leg, lived but years later developed cancer at the scar tissue. Being who he was, joked that "The Sharks finally got him". I suggest reading the books, they get your pain water going.
@randomrazr that's a know thing scars have potential to develope cancer. It's gentic an among other reasons. Im sure chemical in the water with a shrak bit will cause issues
@@randomrazr I was telling my VA doc the same story and he stopped me in my tracks and gave me a very long medical word for it, so.. I gotta go with the doctor, as I'm not one. I never knew the guy, was young and being my mother's side lived out of state.
@@randomrazr Any trauma increases risk of cancer in that tissue. Then all the fuel in the water, chemicals, asbestos fibers from the ship, bacteria. It all adds up.
Best monologue Robert Shaw made on the silver screen was as Captain Quint retelling his experience on the Indianapolis. While fictional, it was still a gripping scene and I think honored the real heroes who actually gave their lives on that ship.
If you watch Richard Dreyfuss during the take, he has a look of amazement, his eyes are glued to Robert Shaw. Rob came up with the monologue and Speilberg allowed him to do it. Richard and Scheider had no clue, so their reactions to his story was authentic.
So nice to see her resting in peace.. may she remain that way forever. At 18:40 the aircraft pictured is actually the inverted cockpit area of one the Seahawk floatplanes she was carrying. Bottom centre is the armor plate behind the pilot seat and to the right we can see the upper surface of the wing.
When it comes to ww2 and ww1 ships, their turrets were held in by gravity alone so it’s common to see ww2 ship wrecks without their turrets. As to why that rear turret stayed in it could be a number of factors. It could be the superstructure shielded the turret from the waters current enough to prevent it falling out, or it could be that the ship sank very level and prevented it from falling out. Either way it’s very surprising that the turret stayed in place.
Many of the turrets also had a "lock" that held them down in place. This wasn't present in all ships or necessarily even present in some navy's altogether. Its entirely possible the explosion or as you said water current (maybe some combination) broke these. The locks in US BB's that I've heard of wasn't much more than a large metal bar that was never meant to hold turrets in place through a capsizing but would prevent them from jumping off of tracks and preventing training which is suspected to have happened to at least on turret on the Bismark in one of the many accounts of her sinking I've read (could be wrong but its not impossible) Edit: Not an expert on the Indianapolis's design so she may not have had such locks.
Almost all US ships had some form of turret restraint, if your ship hits a huge wave or is hit near the barbette, the turret can “jump” off its gear track and be misaligned at best, or jammed completely at worst.
to add in here, its an unreasonable to assume any of the WW2 vessels had the turrets held in place by gravity. heavy seas could easily toss even the heaviest turrets otherwise just due to the inertia carried by their movement. This myth, as far as i can determine, comes from a old documentary on Bismarck and her demise. In it they make the claim Bismarcks turrets were held in place by gravity, which is untrue. Bismarck had turret retainers that during the fire fight, likely were damaged beyond all function. Notably, Tirpitz (Bismarck's sister ship) would note that during a raid in which British mines were attached to her hull and detonated, the turret retainers for the stern turrets were bent and distorted from the explosion. this left the super firing stern turret inoperable which would stay that way through to her demise.
The big gun turrets have locking pins when in the center position to prevent them from moving in heavy seas. The majority of turrets when ships were built starting in the 30's started having clamps installed when the turrets were installed, but not every turret got them. It's possible that the forward turrets did not have clamps, or were not locked in place, while the rear turret did appear to be in heavy seas lockdown mode, which would be enough to keep the turret from falling out. As part of securing from battle, each turret is centered and locked in place with 2 centering pins. This would keep the turret from coming out unless the carriage was damaged from battle. My guess is the rear turret did not get damaged so remained intact while the forward guns were damaged from the torpedo and fell out when the ship rolled over. The clamps were added to prevent misalignments with the barbetts during heavy seas.
One thing that always struck me as amazing about the internet and these videos... is that the internet arrived just in time for some old WW2 veterans who we're still living - to be able to look at parts of a specific ship they knew well from when they were serving on them. Now being able to see what those specific spots look like after the ship has been underwater for decades, and society has gone through more changes than a chameleon. That's kinda cool.
At Wabash College in Crawfordsville Indiana in 2008 0r 09 two remaining survivors of the Indianapolis visited. Greatly admired and with full respect of those veterans and their testement of how they survived.
Had a patient about a dozen years ago, now passed away, who made the trip from Mare Island to Tinian. He was in the meteorologist pool at Mare. A Chief came in looking for one and told him take this slot as it was a good ship and better than assigned to some random ship. He sailed over to Hunter's Point and noticed a large crate loaded onto the ship and guarded by officers. He thought when do officers do guard duty? He got off at Tinian since he was slotted with the Admiral's staff. Once I found out, and since there was a free hour after him, we spent that hour on the event. During an exam of older seniors, mainly one to two decades ago, and I found out you served in the Navy then we went into depth. Gave me first hand accounts of battles from Midway to Samar.
I was a 16 inch gunner on the battleship Missouri back in the 1980's. After the Missouri was decommissioned, there was a ships reunion held in Pearl Harbor which I attended. At the reunion I ran into a man who was on the Missouri when she was first commissioned. Turns out after talking we were both the same rank, GMG2, in the same turret, turret 3 and the same gun, center gun. We both even found the same hiding place inside the turret to catch a nap. Only difference was all this took place 40 years apart. Another man I ran into was an army officer who was on MacArthur's staff. He said Doug was the most self centered and biggest asshole he ever met. LOL
It's amazing the technology now that allows researchers to find these deep sea wrecks. The high definition of that sonar image is unbelievable. RIP Indy sailors.
My first exposure to this story was a trailer on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. I was 14 and at the time didn’t know what PTSD was. But I remember thinking “How could anyone survive that and EVER be ok again?” Don’t get me started on what his own country did to Capt McVay… no matter how many times I think of a gun in one hand and a toy sailor in the other, I cry.
The Japanese submarine captain Mochitsura Hashimoto was an expert sailor and said he couldn’t miss the Indy. There was nothing captain Mcvay could have done against the superior and more experienced Hashimoto. He bravely and gallantly served on the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Battle of Okinawa and the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Saving all his crew during every campaign against the enemy. When Hashimoto came home from the war as a Great War hero, he learned that his entire family had been killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 7 August. ❤️ 🇯🇵
Met one of the survivors at an air show near my home town. He signed the bomb bay door of our B25. He has since passed. He was an aviation machinist's mate and his hangar was where they put the bomb parts in. He wore a shirt the said USS Indianapolis swim team.
Excellent video. The USS Indianapolis is indeed as famous as the RMS Titanic, and indeed, like her, is best known for her sinking. I feel, however, that there is another famous shipwreck the Indy could be compared to, one immortalized by the late, great Gordon Lightfoot, who sang: The church bell chimed 'till it rang twenty-nine times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald. Like the Indy, the Fitz had enjoyed a long and happy life before meeting a violent end. For example, Indy carried President Franklin Roosevelt to South America, while the Fitz was known having a "deejay captain", because her second skipper, Pete Pulcher, was fond of playing music over the ship's loudspeakers. And yet, tragedy clouds the memories of such happy times for both vessels, because the disasters that befell the Indianapolis and the Fitzgerald were unspeakably brutal. Both shipwrecks also share a similar level of preservation. Every time the Fitzgerald was surveyed in the 1990s, she looked like she had sunk yesterday, not in 1975. While the Indy has higher levels of rust and other weathering than the Fitzgerald, she too looks like she had gone down only days before her discovery, not back in 1945. Finally, I'd like to close by noting both the Indianapolis and the Edmund Fitzgerald are indisputably gravesites. To this day the Fitzgerald's final crew lie amidst her shattered wreck, while somewhere within the Indianapolis's battered remains lie most of the ship's Marine detachment, nine men left trapped in a compartment Indy survivor Giles McCoy barely escaped from, the ship's damage control officer, Lieutenant Commander Kyle C. "Casey" Moore, who was last seen by a couple of survivors stumbling about below decks badly burned and calling for help after leaving the bridge to inspect damage, and others, such as the victim mentioned below, Clarence Max Hill. God bless their souls.
The tragedy and loss of the USS Indianapolis and her crew is a real testimony to the complacent and INCOMPETENT US Navy brass of that era! No escorts, no timetable, no concern when she didn't show up at her designated port. How much more could the US Navy brass have screwed this tragedy up?
My father was on the USS Indianapolis from San Francisco to Tinian. He got off at Tinian before her sinking. He always said that the ship had the best food in the Navy.
Indianapolis and Portland might not have been the greatest, most powerful, or best-designed heavy cruisers, but I do really like them. They have very good lines. Handsome ships.
I hate to correct you,but USS Salem CA-139 is a Des Moines class heavy cruiser,not in service until after ww2.She is preserved as a museum ship where she was built in Quincy,MA.Indianapolis' sister was USS Portland,sold for scrap in Oct 1959.@@truthseeker2321
Layperson here, happy to stand corrected. The anchor serial numbers are not engraved. They were pressed into the sand mould before casting. Such labels were usually made of punched steel and nailed to the wooden pattern. Major fixtures and fittings were not 'generic'. They were made for specific hulls. It's an important point when you consider the love, pride and care that goes into ship building. Big ships are a big deal… more than the sum of their parts. Being bottom heavy, turrets are held within barbette by gravity alone, and will detach from a sinking ship if turbulence and currents within the hull so dictate. Being a cylinder within a cylinder, and considering the catastrophic forces in play, it would not take much deformation to jam a turret in place.
@@klipsfilmsmelbourne I sure did, and I did see the Nic Cage movie too. Since I like Nick Cage. I would not call that one crappy, Its Nick Cage, Right now he is in a movie and its is Dracula He is a massive Talent.
@@GeorgeSemel In my opinion Cage didn't fit well as captain of Indianapolis in men of courage. while mission of the sharks Stacy Keach did perform well done as Captain of Indianapolis
@@klipsfilmsmelbourne I don't know, I just like Movies in general and well Nic Cage is after all Nic Cage. You have a point Stacy Keach is a fine actor.
Interesting fact. Quint says that it was 30 minutes before they saw the first shark. It's about 30 minutes from there that the shark attacks their boat.
Navy brass made Capt. McVay a fall guy. Blaming him for her sinking when the same brass had denied him the escort as was customary for her mission. Sad what her crew had to endure and so many lives lost when the end of the war was just a few weeks away. Edgar Harrell story was amazing. If you haven’t seen his story there are many videos on RUclips of his story of survival. A great man, rest in peace Edgar. ❤
My working buddy, Joey DeBernari, was the son of Louis DeBernardi of the survivors. I was shocked when he told me. RIP Mr. Louis DeBernardi. A great American. And Joey is a good dude as well.
It still amazes me how intact these ships are after so many decades under water. The pressure and the lack of oxygen at such depths keeps the iron from oxidizing.
@@theonewhoknows2 my initial thought was along the lines of yours. the Titanic is almost total degraded, yet the Indianapolis is in very good condition. I've read the story of this ship and the ordeal the crew went through several times. the Navy blamed the Captain yet the Navy dropped the ball also in that they overlooked the overdue ship for several days.
@asmodai6244 Might I add that while Titanic, being brand new, had only been painted once, Indianapolis had received multiple, multiple coats. Navy busywork DOES have a point...
@@InterrogatorchaplainAsmodai Also, depth. This ship is substantially deeper than the titanic, deeper enough for the biome to be completely different than at titanic's location.
I had the privilege or honor of knowing Giles McCoy. He was one of the last members of the Indianapolis to be picked up. He was instrumental in creating the survivors reunions. Also instrumental in working to get Capt, Charles McVay name cleared.
It truly amazes me to see how deep wrecks like the Johnson, Samuel B, Indianapolis are so well preserved compared to ones closer to the surface because of how deep it is not allowing much life to grow down there.
The stern could have sunk upright and prevented the turrets from dumping out. The Bismarck was observed to roll over before she shank and that is why her turrets are missing. This is a common occurrence in shipwrecks.
According to one of the books about the tragedy, the Indy listed to one side, causing the crew on the deck to slip into the water. Not sure how far it listed before sinking, though.
I strongly suspect that the damaged chunk of metal sticking out from the hull low in the picture at 12:20 is part of the starboard side bilge keel. US cruisers of Indianapolis' vintage needed these large bilge keels to cut down on their propensity to roll in even moderate seas, they tended to be top heavy. The "Rising Sun" stencils would note Japanese aircraft that the ship's AA armament are claimed to have shot down and is usually stenciled on the side of the Bridge Wing on either side. Indianapolis was in route to rejoin 5th Fleet and would possibly have become Admiral Spruance's Flagship once again even though he had a number of Iowa class and the South Dakota available. For some reason she was his favorite Flagship, preferring her over battleships.
As with the failed Singapore Campaign Force Z (PoW\Repluse sunk) and two days prior the Pearl Habour Attack, the mentality of the admiralty(Us\UK) was The Battleship is King of its domain and a projection of that countries dominace. With Naval airpower now a major threat, smart admirals choose speed to dodge incoming jappanese aircraft than armor.
I was a Gunner's Mate (Guns) for four years, and I have an answer for why the forward (bow) turrets dropped out, while the aft (stern) turret did not. As it turns out, naval gun turrets are designed to fall out of their barbette if the ship tips beyond a certain point, as an engineered last-ditch effort to get all that extra weight free of the ship and give the ship a chance to right itself somewhat for the crew to have a better chance to either abandon ship or somehow save the ship. The bow soon separated from the rest of the ship due to the location of the torpedo strike, causing the separated bow section to quickly roll enough for both turrets to drop free on its way down to the bottom. After the two forward turrets slid out, the separated bow section somewhat righted itself on its way down, enough so that both barbettes are now clearly missing their turrets. Meanwhile, the rest of the ship stayed sufficiently upright to prevent that aft turret from reaching the tipping point, riding all the way down to the sea floor still oriented that way enough to retain it when it finally impacted the sea floor.
Hello gunner. Surprised you did not notice the "portholes" on the side of the turret comment. Those were not portholes as turrets did not have portholes. GMG2 U.S.S. Missouri BB 63 16 inch aft turret, center gun. 1985- 1987
@@samuelschick8813 For what it's worth, I didn't serve on a battleship, as you did. I was a tin can sailor, first on a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer, then on a Knox-class frigate. We had two of the MK42 gun mount instead of a turret as such (yes, I know that you know the difference between a turret and gun mount) on the destroyer and a single MK42 gun mount on the frigate. I had a friend from gun school who served on the Wisconsin who took me on an incredible tour of his ship, but I didn't look at that feature on the side of the turrets that you talked about. I knew turrets didn't have portholes as such, and I missed his comment about that, instead concentrating on the information about the turrets sliding out. I'm certain that you have considerably more technical information about the turrets especially, but also about other features of ships from the era that the Indianapolis and Iowa-class ships were made. It's good to hear from another GMG, especially from a battleship, even more so from a battleship with the obvious historic importance of the Missouri. I was a GMG2 as well, 1987-1991.
@@samuelschick8813 I could be wrong about this, but I believe the "portholes" on the side of the turrret are optical rangefinders. If not, they're almost certainly used for fire control in another capacity.
@@Gunners_Mate_Guns, They are not. If look at pictures of the ship they store life rafts on the side where the "portholes" are. If you look at a blown up picture of the ship, you will see the range finders on the upper rear sides of the turrets, same as the Iowa class battleships. On top outside just like the Iowas there is a periscope. The only difference being CA 35 turrets have hatches on the side for the crew to enter where as Iowa turret access is either through the powder flats or the rear bottom of each turret through an armored drop hatch. Port holes on a turret is a weak spot.
@@samuelschick8813 Thanks for the info, and yes, portholes are a weak spot. You might be interested to know that the position I usually took during gun shoots with our 5"/54 MK42 gun system was as the OMC operator, a position that entails sitting in a lockup seat with my feet dangling about a yard over the inside of the gun, looking out through the "bubble," a thick plexiglass window where the operator can serve as mostly a safety observer, but it's also a nice spot to be able to get an idea what we were shooting at. I have to confess that I couldn't actually see what we shot at most of the time due to distance to the target, but I can tell you that on one occasion, when our ship was just about to open fire for a gun shoot in the Straits of Magellan, I spotted a helo from the USS Jesse L. Brown that was airborne at the same time. As soon as I saw the helo that was definitely downrange from us, I alerted (sound-powered phones) CIC, saying "Checkfire! Checkfire!" before telling them about the reason. I sat and watched, waiting for the word to finally reach the pilot of the helo, then sure enough, the helo quickly cleared the area in a straight line, allowing us to complete our gun shoot. I wonder how modern gun mounts that lack a forward observer might have dealt with that situation.
Although almost 400 U.S. captains whose ships had been sunk during World War II, McVay was the only one to have been court-martialed and he was the only captain in the history of the Navy to be court-martialed for the loss of a ship sunk by an act of war.
I met Eric Anderson over a book that I was reading, title “Jaws”. We both worked for a tugboat company in San Francisco. He made the comment that he was on the Indianapolis when she was struck by the Japanese torpedos The way he described was chaos..He was in the radar room when all of a sudden the ship shook valiantly and rolled and the emergency lights came on He grabbed his May West life jacket, once outside there were many injured sailors. As he is helping injured get onto life rafts, abounded ship was blasting over the speaker. she sunk in 12 minutes. Many days with no water and food ,one by one sailors were disappearing under the waves for being weak unable to hold onto the raft or were eaten by sharks. Other sailors were hallucinating that they saw an island and were convinced to swim towards it never to be seen again..Only 317 survived out of 1200 sailors…
It was just another ship lost in combat on the high seas in a war that saw about a thousand ships and crews lost. It didn't make the news like the epic battle between the Hood and Bismarck , or the sinking of the German battleship Graf Spee because the part she played before she was lost was bigger news. Like many, I had never heard about the sinking of Indianapolis and the ordeal of her surviving crew until "Jaws".
I have known for almost my whole life that the USS Indianapolis brought the Little Boy across the Pacific from San Francisco to Tinian Island. Without her mission I might never have known my father or my uncles. - Marc Smith, born 8/16/1943.
The main gun turrets may be designed to fall off the ship during rough seas. If the ship rolls too far in heavy swells,The heavy turrets could cause the ship to capsize..45-48 degree rolls are common in heavy seas. Better to lose the main guns than lose an entire ship due to capsizing. So the guns are not bolted down or secured to the barbette..their own weight keeps them in place..unless there's extreme rolls..then they simply slip out of the barbette..theoretically the ship would right itself and come back to 90 degrees when the weight is dropped
From what I have read in a book named "In Harm's Way" one torpedo blew the bow off of the ship and the other torpedo struck amidships. The ship wasn't ordered to stop but to continue forward. This movement caused extra seawater pressure to collapse bulkheads from forward moving to the stern of the ship. It was reported that the ship sunk starting with the bow with the stern going under last. That kind of downward movement subjected the forward turrets to the force of water current pressure. The rear turret was largely protected from that kind of pressure. Perhaps this is a factor involved in why the forward turrets came off while the rear turret didn't.
Navy SOP is that in Modified Battle Stations (as they were), half the ships guns were loaded, UNlocked, and ready to fire with a crew standing by to do so, while the other guns were UNloaded and LOCKED in-place so their crews could rest. That's why the rear turret didn't come off- she was locked in place.
If they can find it, that would be awesome. I think the bell from the H.M.S. Hood was lying by itself on the sea floor away from the ship, and they found it by accident, if I remember correctly.
She didn't go down with her bell. The bell was removed from her for weight savings during the war. This was common, I think Ryan at BBNJ said New Jerseys bell was also removed during the war and reinstalled after the war. The bell is currently at the Indiana War Memorial Museum. She may have had a generic bell in its place made of lighter metals, most likely not.
My Uncle, my Dad's older Brother, was Robert E. Truitt, RM2, in C Division. He did not Survive. The Now has a new Class of Small Ship called the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the 3rd. Vessel to bear the Name, after the Sub. which was launched in 1977. She was decommissioned in early 2000' Paul E. Truitt Jr.
my late uncle Ricardo was stationed on The Indianapolis when it was sunk. he was one of the survivors. . he once asked me, "have you ever watched the movie Jaws ? I was in the real thing". he passed away 20 years ago. RIP to all. 🇺🇸
12:15 Most likely the piece of metal will be the bilge keel which runs along the bottom of the hull, it highly likely that it has been pushed up upon impact with the seafloor.
My 1st cousin 2x removed was Herman Ferdinand Fuchs, Chief Machinist on board. He did not survive. If anyone knows of him, or might have a photo that contains Herman, please reply to this post as I have little info on the family. If anyone knows of a resource I could look into to find more about his service on board, would love to hear of it, thanks! Very good review of the events and the wreck here, well done.
Very good video! I love history and this is right up my alley. May I give some constructive feedback? Your content is rich, however the verbal delivery is lacking. Try reading the script like you aren’t reading. Faster, more like it’s a stream of thought rather than being read slowly from paper. I can’t wait to see more of your content! This channel is rather impressive. Keep up the good work!
Just a guess but maybe the hydraulic forces of the ship sinking bow first lifted the bow turrets off while the stern turret was protected by the superstructure??
Considering that ship gun turrets are only held in by their sheer weight and gravity. I would say as the ship plunged I would agree with you that the bow turrets were probably lifted out due to the forces of the water while the stern turret was possibly protected from being ripped out due to the superstructure blocking the force of the water. It obviously seems like the ship didn't roll over when it sank because if it did then all the turrets would have fallen out.
Great video, but the Indianapolis wasn't selected to carry the bomb materials to Tinian because of the IJN's impotence by that point in the war. She'd just completed repairs at Mare Island after taking heavy bomb damage while participating in the pre-invasion bombardment of Okinawa. She was selected because she was fast and available.
I always felt the Navy passed a miscarriage of justice regarding Captain McVay. The commander of the attacking Japanese sub declared his belief in Captain McVay's innocence. Captain McVay's suicide is clearly another victim of war. I agonized for him still receiving accusatory letters from relatives of sailors killed in the sinking, even years after the war.
The bow turrents are only held in by gravity just like when the Bismarck sink once the ship is turned upside down most of those come out so it’s kind of rare that the one didn’t come out that’s pretty neat though
RV Petrol has become such a kindred figure in the eyes of maritime history. I feel like they went around the Pacific Ocean, took some pictures of these gravesites so they are documented and remembered, and left some flowers behind as they left. I love the fact that they keep the location of these wrecks hidden, it gives these graves even a sliver of hope for eternal peace. This ship reminds me of a trauma victim; everyone only knows them from the trauma they suffered. USS Indianapolis was a cutting-edge heavy cruiser, and while she never got the chance to cut her teeth against other heavy hitters like Tone or Chokai, she played a critical role in bringing the Pacific war to a close. My grandfather was in the Philippines when she was sunk, and while he was not informed of the sinking at the time, he did recall that there were rumors of a sinking where lots of sailors got attacked by sharks. Thanks to the parts Indi delivered, my grandfather wasn't lost in the potential hellscape of Operation Downfall, and my father, and myself now have a life we otherwise would have never had. Really awesome vid on such a cool subject! I had one question, that is as much for the audience as it is for you, Mr. Skynea. Has the wreck of HMS Glorious ever been located? I imagined its wreck might be in some fairly deep water/rough seas, but I was unsure if any efforts had been made to find the wreck. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day and looking forward to the next one!!
If I remember right the turrets in battleships weren't actually held in buy anything they were lowered into place by cranes and held in place by gravity so when the ship sinks and lists the guns fall out so all I can say is that the gun didn't fall out because that part of the ship didn't tip enough for it to fall out
The two rungs on the side of the #3 turret are NOT what is left of a destroyed ladder. That is all of it. It was two rungs for the crew to use to step up and access the door they are next to. There never were any more.
The dark colour on top of the gun barrels could be part of the camouflage as the line between the dark colour and the light coiour is to straight to be just mud just laying on the top of the barrels, some ships painted the top of the barrels the same colour as the turret tops to help in hiding the barrels.
The forward Turrets slid out when the ship capsized while on it's decent to the bottom because a couple of devices called "hold down clips" on those two Turrets let go. These clips are bolted to the rotating structure and extend outward under the fixed structure, there is just enough clearance to allow the Turret to train.....these are the same on the IOWA Class Battleships. As to why they let go is anyone's guess.
While a history major and long aware of its story. I think you kind of missed why its so well known in our culture. And that is due to the speech Robert Shaw gave in Steven Spielberg's Jaws. For many succeding generations l would attribute recognition of the fate of the USS Indianapolis to Spielberg's film.
You're right. I was 11yrs old when 'Jaws' was released. And I would not have known anything about the ship nor its' crew if it had not been for that scene with Robert Shaw.
This ship was referenced in the original Jaws movie by the Actor Robert Shaw , probably for a lot of People the first time they had heard of the tragic loss of the Ship and the way many of the crew died in the water because their mission was so classified that no one knew she was missing at first.
Really enjoyed this, and the research you did on it. One suggestion, when doing the arrows, use a more contrasting color depending on the photo, I didn't even see the first arrow when pointing at the storage boxes on the suspected bridge. Thank you!
I know her wreck most likely won't last 1 billion years but imagine in case it does and the sea evaporated by the sun growing hotter and hotter, how spectacular would it be. The Resurface of Indianapolis.
You should just say that the reason most people now only know about the USS Indianapolis is because of Steven Spielberg and "Jaws" and the unforgettable scene when the three men are telling stories about their scars....
I was in the navy, stationed aboard uss carl vinson cvn-70 when i heard this story....then i would find a sign on the bulkhead that gave instructions for abandon ship procedures( stuff like dont jump into fire or oil) god bless these men most of them leaving this earth in such a horrible way
I'm glad I went in the army. That's bad enough considering that there's a million horrible ways to die if you find yourself in combat, but getting eaten by sharks or drowning on a sinking ship is two things that you don't have to worry about.
I was fortunate enough to know Jimmy O'Donnell who was the last survivor who was an actual resident of the city of Indianapolis. We were both members of an Irish-Catholic fraternal group. He was a very nice man who came home and continued to serve as a fireman for the city. May he and all the crew RIP.
Sorry to hear about his passing. My last name is O'Donnell too. 👍
I live in Indiana, me and my twin liked going to guns shows and military shows and one in Indianaoplis that we went to. we meet with w fellow who had set at a table who was the survivor of the sinking, and it could be your uncle. showing us pictures, telling his story, we were very honored to have shaken his hand.
My Great Uncle Ed Turk was a survivor on this fateful trip. He had rank. Very solid, intelligent and strong individual. He told me he’s was deployed to a supply ship, USS Indianapolis. He would not tell me any details, I think bc it is impossible to speak with a large lump in his throat. I missed his funeral around 1996. It was an impressive show per Navy fighter jets overhead. I feel so bad for all the men aboard this mighty ship, not to mention all the family members associated with the might #35.
Poor guy ended up putting a pistol to his head after being ridiculously blamed for the sinking. Even the Japanese commander said there was nothing they could have done to avoid her sinking
I remember that part well. I think it motivated someone to start a movement to get the captain cleared of charges. A long time ago I think they dramatized the story with Stacy Keach as the captain.
Captain McVeigh received venomous hate mail from some of the parents of his crew who perished all the way to his death in 1968. I feel that if the navy had never brought him up on those unwarranted charges, he would have never been blamed by those parents, and probably wouldn't have blamed himself.
Thought You might be interested to know, I have a Navy Flat Hat with both the US Navy Ribbon and USS INDIANAPOLIS Ribbon.
Its hard to decide which ; Indianapolis Museum in the Capital, The Smithsonian DC, or The Submarine Museum of SSN697.
This year it will be decided though.....
@@markbrandon7756my vote would be the Indy museum. It deserves to be where it would receive the most special recognition. (Smithsonian would be 2nd choice)
Agree with first choice, the Indianapolis Museum. Due to their latest efforts toward revisionist history The Smithsonian wouldn't even be a choice.@@chadportenga7858
I have the book "Only 317 survived" signed by 10 of the survivors, i received the book from them after singing to them while in cub scouts, at an airshow, i still remember their faces and as a native of Indiana will hold this book close wherever i go
My uncle (my dad's brother), Clarence Max Hill, CWT, went down with her at the initial blast/sinking. From speaking directly with one of the survivors, Seaman Wilcox, he told me that he had spoken briefly with my uncle just minutes before the first torpedo hit and that my uncle had gone below to his quarters mid ship. Mr. Wilcox said the first torpedo hit mid ship first and that no way my uncle could have survived the explosion. I was born in 46, so I never knew him but I have two letters from him to my dad and mom and find them very interesting in content, especially writing about supporting the invasion of Iwo Jima. My mother's brother, W. Richardson, went down with the USS Plymouth (escort gun ship) off the coast of North Carolina in 45 also. I have the honor of being named after both of them. Thanks for sharing this video.
I want to thank your family for their service. Their dedication and pride of our nation saved us. WWI & WWII took the lives of so many soldiers. So many families lost a Dad, a Brother, an Uncle, a Cousin, a friend. Every one of them are heroes. Their sacrifice and their selfless service has given us the freedoms that we all have now. God Bless you, and God Bless your family, and again I want to thank you, and your family for everything they did. Take care.
@@EdsterIII you are very kind and gracious and I thank you for that. My dad passed in 1948 just before my 2nd birthday so I never had the honor of knowing him, but I was very fortunate that my mother's four sister"s husbands were like fathers to me growing up and I thank the Father I had that relationship with them. My mom passed in 2004 and the last sister passed in 2010. There are only 2 cousins left now. I will be 78 in Feb. Grace to you.
That's terrible but amazing at the same time, so sorry that you guys had to sacrifice a family member. ❤ I hope you have a happy Birthday I'll be 38 Feb 15th! I want to send love to you and all your family members no matter where you all are.
@@Betterdayz12 thank you so much for that. As a young boy back in the 50s my mom use to talk about my 2 uncles and how much fun they were to be around. My mother's brother's grave is just a few feet from hers. Of course his remains are not there, but he has a nice headstone with his seaman's picture on it. I'm the last one of my immediate family, but in good health. Grace to you and yours.
@@easttexan2933 Your very welcome, I wish you nothing but Happy Times
"Our peoples have forgiven each other for that terrible war and its consequences.
Perhaps it is time your peoples forgave Captain McVay for the humiliation of his unjust conviction."
-Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, captain of I-58, the Japanese submarine that sank the USS Indianapolis
Indeed yes-!
Several years ago, while living in Indianapolis I had the pleasure of attending one of the Indy's reunions. There I met several survivors, heard their stories, and was blessed to receive 10 autographs. Those have become cherished memories.
Whilst any shipwreck is a testament to human loss and suffering I cannot help but admire the superb quality of the images of USS Indianapolis.
one of the most horrific and saddest event in WW2..shame that they hung out McVay to dry..and the burden took a fatal turn..neglect and lack of awareness and red tape let these poor crewmen down..cannot imagine what they went through..thx for this great video and research..haunting..
In the movie Jaws they mentioned the Indianapolis. Makes me think about those souls lost in those trying times
Kimmel lost 8 battleships and other ships on December 7,1941, was relieved of command but never court martial for his failure to protect his ships before Pearl Harbor.
Lost:
Arizona
Utah
Nevada
California
West Virginia
Tennessee
@@kevinhoffman6592
Yeh but Robert shaw make one critical error he says "June 29,1945" when in fact the Indy was sunk on July 30,1945, a full month later.
@@CSAFD the sad thing was that the CO was hung out to dry to protect an idiot Admiral. Bad intel about no japanese subs in the area, when there were, lies about not zig zagging when he was but the captain of the jap sub that sunk him stated that even that didn't save the ship. then no one bothering to check the ship had arrived in port when due. instead it was 3 days before someone noticed a friggen ship missing. all due to poor planning. practices and command. The CO committed suicide holding a toy sailor in his hand from the shame years later. this makes me so mad that Command in the US was so gutless they refused to answer for their crimes.
Something amiss McVay killed himself.
RIP to all brave crew that went down with USS Indianapolis. The memorial in Indianapolis is beautiful and a wonderful tribute to her sacrifice. Rest easy..
A horrific fate for those men. My father served in both the Royal Navy and for a time in the U.S.Navy during 1943. As a teenager I asked him why his Crossing the Line Certificate from H.M.S. Nelson was simply a poor black and white version unlike that from H.M.S.Malaya. He replied that those went down with the torpedoed ship off West Africa and that the unfortunate nurses aboard were similarly eaten by sharks. Such incidents stay with you. 👍🏻🇺🇸🏴🇬🇧
Which ship was your father on that sank off West Africa?
@@grahamepigney8565 He wasn’t on the ship torpedoed by the U-boat but on the Nelson.
The technology to find these wrecks and keep the history from fading away is amazing!
My neighbor, Richard thelen was a survivor of the Indianapolis. He’s a very humble man and honorable person, and I’m glad to have known him rest in. Peace Richard Thelen. Lansing , MI
I had a cousin, S1C James Denny Price, who survived the sinking. I spoke with him numerous times about the sinking. He passed away in October 2005
My great uncle Orville Wells S1 was 1 of the survivors too but he passed in a car crash in 53 or so
I had family who survived this, he was bitten in the leg, lived but years later developed cancer at the scar tissue. Being who he was, joked that "The Sharks finally got him".
I suggest reading the books, they get your pain water going.
is their an actual medical reason cancer developed at the same spot as the bite? or jsut coincidence?
@randomrazr that's a know thing scars have potential to develope cancer. It's gentic an among other reasons. Im sure chemical in the water with a shrak bit will cause issues
@@randomrazr I was telling my VA doc the same story and he stopped me in my tracks and gave me a very long medical word for it, so.. I gotta go with the doctor, as I'm not one.
I never knew the guy, was young and being my mother's side lived out of state.
@@randomrazr Any trauma increases risk of cancer in that tissue. Then all the fuel in the water, chemicals, asbestos fibers from the ship, bacteria. It all adds up.
Shark tooth gems..
Best monologue Robert Shaw made on the silver screen was as Captain Quint retelling his experience on the Indianapolis. While fictional, it was still a gripping scene and I think honored the real heroes who actually gave their lives on that ship.
That was his intention.
They delivered the bum. The Hiroshima bum.
@Hagmire I should have been more clear, I meant that "Jaws" was the fictional story, not the telling of Quint's tale!
Still the greatest cinematic monologue EVER!
If you watch Richard Dreyfuss during the take, he has a look of amazement, his eyes are glued to Robert Shaw. Rob came up with the monologue and Speilberg allowed him to do it. Richard and Scheider had no clue, so their reactions to his story was authentic.
So nice to see her resting in peace.. may she remain that way forever. At 18:40 the aircraft pictured is actually the inverted cockpit area of one the Seahawk floatplanes she was carrying. Bottom centre is the armor plate behind the pilot seat and to the right we can see the upper surface of the wing.
When it comes to ww2 and ww1 ships, their turrets were held in by gravity alone so it’s common to see ww2 ship wrecks without their turrets. As to why that rear turret stayed in it could be a number of factors. It could be the superstructure shielded the turret from the waters current enough to prevent it falling out, or it could be that the ship sank very level and prevented it from falling out. Either way it’s very surprising that the turret stayed in place.
Many of the turrets also had a "lock" that held them down in place. This wasn't present in all ships or necessarily even present in some navy's altogether. Its entirely possible the explosion or as you said water current (maybe some combination) broke these. The locks in US BB's that I've heard of wasn't much more than a large metal bar that was never meant to hold turrets in place through a capsizing but would prevent them from jumping off of tracks and preventing training which is suspected to have happened to at least on turret on the Bismark in one of the many accounts of her sinking I've read (could be wrong but its not impossible) Edit: Not an expert on the Indianapolis's design so she may not have had such locks.
No, that's just false, many ships had locks and retaining details.
Almost all US ships had some form of turret restraint, if your ship hits a huge wave or is hit near the barbette, the turret can “jump” off its gear track and be misaligned at best, or jammed completely at worst.
to add in here, its an unreasonable to assume any of the WW2 vessels had the turrets held in place by gravity. heavy seas could easily toss even the heaviest turrets otherwise just due to the inertia carried by their movement. This myth, as far as i can determine, comes from a old documentary on Bismarck and her demise. In it they make the claim Bismarcks turrets were held in place by gravity, which is untrue. Bismarck had turret retainers that during the fire fight, likely were damaged beyond all function. Notably, Tirpitz (Bismarck's sister ship) would note that during a raid in which British mines were attached to her hull and detonated, the turret retainers for the stern turrets were bent and distorted from the explosion. this left the super firing stern turret inoperable which would stay that way through to her demise.
@@HouseOnFireHelp Turret retainers were not designed to hold the entire weight of the turret, but just to keep it from jumping off its tracks.
The big gun turrets have locking pins when in the center position to prevent them from moving in heavy seas. The majority of turrets when ships were built starting in the 30's started having clamps installed when the turrets were installed, but not every turret got them. It's possible that the forward turrets did not have clamps, or were not locked in place, while the rear turret did appear to be in heavy seas lockdown mode, which would be enough to keep the turret from falling out. As part of securing from battle, each turret is centered and locked in place with 2 centering pins. This would keep the turret from coming out unless the carriage was damaged from battle. My guess is the rear turret did not get damaged so remained intact while the forward guns were damaged from the torpedo and fell out when the ship rolled over. The clamps were added to prevent misalignments with the barbetts during heavy seas.
This is the best and most logical explanation I have heard of why this turret stayed in it's place. Makes perfect sense. Thank You.
One thing that always struck me as amazing about the internet and these videos... is that the internet arrived just in time for some old WW2 veterans who we're still living - to be able to look at parts of a specific ship they knew well from when they were serving on them. Now being able to see what those specific spots look like after the ship has been underwater for decades, and society has gone through more changes than a chameleon. That's kinda cool.
At Wabash College in Crawfordsville Indiana in 2008 0r 09 two remaining survivors of the Indianapolis visited. Greatly admired and with full respect of those veterans and their testement of how they survived.
Had a patient about a dozen years ago, now passed away, who made the trip from Mare Island to Tinian. He was in the meteorologist pool at Mare. A Chief came in looking for one and told him take this slot as it was a good ship and better than assigned to some random ship. He sailed over to Hunter's Point and noticed a large crate loaded onto the ship and guarded by officers. He thought when do officers do guard duty? He got off at Tinian since he was slotted with the Admiral's staff. Once I found out, and since there was a free hour after him, we spent that hour on the event. During an exam of older seniors, mainly one to two decades ago, and I found out you served in the Navy then we went into depth. Gave me first hand accounts of battles from Midway to Samar.
I was a 16 inch gunner on the battleship Missouri back in the 1980's. After the Missouri was decommissioned, there was a ships reunion held in Pearl Harbor which I attended. At the reunion I ran into a man who was on the Missouri when she was first commissioned. Turns out after talking we were both the same rank, GMG2, in the same turret, turret 3 and the same gun, center gun. We both even found the same hiding place inside the turret to catch a nap. Only difference was all this took place 40 years apart.
Another man I ran into was an army officer who was on MacArthur's staff. He said Doug was the most self centered and biggest asshole he ever met. LOL
@@samuelschick8813that's wild!!
The USS Indianapolis still holds the speed record from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor Hawaii. That itself is amazing.
It's amazing the technology now that allows researchers to find these deep sea wrecks. The high definition of that sonar image is unbelievable. RIP Indy sailors.
My first exposure to this story was a trailer on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. I was 14 and at the time didn’t know what PTSD was. But I remember thinking “How could anyone survive that and EVER be ok again?”
Don’t get me started on what his own country did to Capt McVay… no matter how many times I think of a gun in one hand and a toy sailor in the other, I cry.
The Japanese submarine captain Mochitsura Hashimoto was an expert sailor and said he couldn’t miss the Indy. There was nothing captain Mcvay could have done against the superior and more experienced Hashimoto.
He bravely and gallantly served on the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Battle of Okinawa and the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Saving all his crew during every campaign against the enemy.
When Hashimoto came home from the war as a Great War hero, he learned that his entire family had been killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 7 August.
❤️ 🇯🇵
The Navy KNEW that Capt. Hashimoto was right. The Navy just wanted Capt.McVay as a fall guy..
One word could have saved millions of lives. “Uncle”.
@@gergq5888
Exactly. The defeated Americans wouldn’t say it after the masterful Pearl attack.
🇯🇵
@@billyrock8305 wow lol. I’m just going to let this be.
@@gergq5888
❤️ 🇯🇵
Met one of the survivors at an air show near my home town. He signed the bomb bay door of our B25. He has since passed. He was an aviation machinist's mate and his hangar was where they put the bomb parts in. He wore a shirt the said USS Indianapolis swim team.
Excellent video. The USS Indianapolis is indeed as famous as the RMS Titanic, and indeed, like her, is best known for her sinking. I feel, however, that there is another famous shipwreck the Indy could be compared to, one immortalized by the late, great Gordon Lightfoot, who sang:
The church bell chimed 'till it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Like the Indy, the Fitz had enjoyed a long and happy life before meeting a violent end. For example, Indy carried President Franklin Roosevelt to South America, while the Fitz was known having a "deejay captain", because her second skipper, Pete Pulcher, was fond of playing music over the ship's loudspeakers. And yet, tragedy clouds the memories of such happy times for both vessels, because the disasters that befell the Indianapolis and the Fitzgerald were unspeakably brutal.
Both shipwrecks also share a similar level of preservation. Every time the Fitzgerald was surveyed in the 1990s, she looked like she had sunk yesterday, not in 1975. While the Indy has higher levels of rust and other weathering than the Fitzgerald, she too looks like she had gone down only days before her discovery, not back in 1945.
Finally, I'd like to close by noting both the Indianapolis and the Edmund Fitzgerald are indisputably gravesites. To this day the Fitzgerald's final crew lie amidst her shattered wreck, while somewhere within the Indianapolis's battered remains lie most of the ship's Marine detachment, nine men left trapped in a compartment Indy survivor Giles McCoy barely escaped from, the ship's damage control officer, Lieutenant Commander Kyle C. "Casey" Moore, who was last seen by a couple of survivors stumbling about below decks badly burned and calling for help after leaving the bridge to inspect damage, and others, such as the victim mentioned below, Clarence Max Hill. God bless their souls.
The tragedy and loss of the USS Indianapolis and her crew is a real testimony to the complacent and INCOMPETENT US Navy brass of that era! No escorts, no timetable, no concern when she didn't show up at her designated port. How much more could the US Navy brass have screwed this tragedy up?
She was traveling under absolute secrecy due to her cargo, and after it was delivered she was returning on her own.
Yeah the totally incompetent Navy that had just defeated the Japanese Imperial Navy and was trying to keep an ultra top secret event secret…..🤦♂️🙄
My wife's family still has a small memorial every year for the Indianapolis; her uncle was killed.
My father was on this ship from 1936 to 1945. Luckily he was not on the ship due to food poisoning, none of his shipmates survived.
If that isn’t Devine intervention, idk what is 🙏 god bless all who sailed her and thank you to your father and all those who serve
My father was on the USS Indianapolis from San Francisco to Tinian. He got off at Tinian before her sinking. He always said that the ship had the best food in the Navy.
Indianapolis and Portland might not have been the greatest, most powerful, or best-designed heavy cruisers, but I do really like them. They have very good lines. Handsome ships.
USS Salem is the sister ship to Indianapolis, and she's still afloat.
I hate to correct you,but USS Salem CA-139 is a Des Moines class heavy cruiser,not in service until after ww2.She is preserved as a museum ship where she was built in Quincy,MA.Indianapolis' sister was USS Portland,sold for scrap in Oct 1959.@@truthseeker2321
@@59ogre You're right. I can't remember where I heard that before, but I looked it up after your post.
Thanks for the info 👍
My dad served on Portland CA-33
Layperson here, happy to stand corrected. The anchor serial numbers are not engraved. They were pressed into the sand mould before casting. Such labels were usually made of punched steel and nailed to the wooden pattern. Major fixtures and fittings were not 'generic'. They were made for specific hulls. It's an important point when you consider the love, pride and care that goes into ship building. Big ships are a big deal… more than the sum of their parts.
Being bottom heavy, turrets are held within barbette by gravity alone, and will detach from a sinking ship if turbulence and currents within the hull so dictate. Being a cylinder within a cylinder, and considering the catastrophic forces in play, it would not take much deformation to jam a turret in place.
Thanks for posting this story. Bless those who served on this ship.
It gave me great sadness to view this ship knowing the story of all that went on .Thank You for the video.
Most of my generation learned of the USS Indianapolis thru that wonderful Monologue given by Robert Shaw in the Movie "Jaws"!
you seen mission of the sharks first uss indianapolis movie unlike 2016 crappy nic cage film
@@klipsfilmsmelbourne I sure did, and I did see the Nic Cage movie too. Since I like Nick Cage. I would not call that one crappy, Its Nick Cage, Right now he is in a movie and its is Dracula He is a massive Talent.
@@GeorgeSemel In my opinion Cage didn't fit well as captain of Indianapolis in men of courage. while mission of the sharks Stacy Keach did perform well done as Captain of Indianapolis
@@klipsfilmsmelbourne I don't know, I just like Movies in general and well Nic Cage is after all Nic Cage. You have a point Stacy Keach is a fine actor.
Interesting fact. Quint says that it was 30 minutes before they saw the first shark. It's about 30 minutes from there that the shark attacks their boat.
Navy brass made Capt. McVay a fall guy. Blaming him for her sinking when the same brass had denied him the escort as was customary for her mission. Sad what her crew had to endure and so many lives lost when the end of the war was just a few weeks away. Edgar Harrell story was amazing. If you haven’t seen his story there are many videos on RUclips of his story of survival. A great man, rest in peace Edgar. ❤
My working buddy, Joey DeBernari, was the son of Louis DeBernardi of the survivors. I was shocked when he told me. RIP Mr. Louis DeBernardi. A great American. And Joey is a good dude as well.
It still amazes me how intact these ships are after so many decades under water. The pressure and the lack of oxygen at such depths keeps the iron from oxidizing.
Titanics a different story, and its pretty deep, though it's from the British edwardian era.
@@theonewhoknows2 my initial thought was along the lines of yours. the Titanic is almost total degraded, yet the Indianapolis is in very good condition. I've read the story of this ship and the ordeal the crew went through several times. the Navy blamed the Captain yet the Navy dropped the ball also in that they overlooked the overdue ship for several days.
@@theonewhoknows2I believe there is an unusual bioform unique to the area of the titanic that contributes to its degradation
@asmodai6244 Might I add that while Titanic, being brand new, had only been painted once, Indianapolis had received multiple, multiple coats.
Navy busywork DOES have a point...
@@InterrogatorchaplainAsmodai Also, depth. This ship is substantially deeper than the titanic, deeper enough for the biome to be completely different than at titanic's location.
I had the privilege or honor of knowing Giles McCoy. He was one of the last members of the Indianapolis to be picked up. He was instrumental in creating the survivors reunions. Also instrumental in working to get Capt, Charles McVay name cleared.
Anything else he was instrumental in?
"I'll never put on a lifejacket again."
Quin
@@PETERODZZJaws
My grandfather was on the USS Register and helped rescue the surviving souls.
It was my fortunate to meet LLoyd Bartow who was nearly one of the last survivors. It was a really incredible memory for me.
It is a testament to how well this ship was built by the fact that she is still largely intact.
It truly amazes me to see how deep wrecks like the Johnson, Samuel B, Indianapolis are so well preserved compared to ones closer to the surface because of how deep it is not allowing much life to grow down there.
The lack of oxygen at such extreme depths is a major contributing factor to the slower disintegration.
The stern could have sunk upright and prevented the turrets from dumping out. The Bismarck was observed to roll over before she shank and that is why her turrets are missing. This is a common occurrence in shipwrecks.
According to one of the books about the tragedy, the Indy listed to one side, causing the crew on the deck to slip into the water. Not sure how far it listed before sinking, though.
I strongly suspect that the damaged chunk of metal sticking out from the hull low in the picture at 12:20 is part of the starboard side bilge keel. US cruisers of Indianapolis' vintage needed these large bilge keels to cut down on their propensity to roll in even moderate seas, they tended to be top heavy.
The "Rising Sun" stencils would note Japanese aircraft that the ship's AA armament are claimed to have shot down and is usually stenciled on the side of the Bridge Wing on either side.
Indianapolis was in route to rejoin 5th Fleet and would possibly have become Admiral Spruance's Flagship once again even though he had a number of Iowa class and the South Dakota available. For some reason she was his favorite Flagship, preferring her over battleships.
As with the failed Singapore Campaign Force Z (PoW\Repluse sunk) and two days prior the Pearl Habour Attack, the mentality of the admiralty(Us\UK) was The Battleship is King of its domain and a projection of that countries dominace.
With Naval airpower now a major threat, smart admirals choose speed to dodge incoming jappanese aircraft than armor.
I was a Gunner's Mate (Guns) for four years, and I have an answer for why the forward (bow) turrets dropped out, while the aft (stern) turret did not.
As it turns out, naval gun turrets are designed to fall out of their barbette if the ship tips beyond a certain point, as an engineered last-ditch effort to get all that extra weight free of the ship and give the ship a chance to right itself somewhat for the crew to have a better chance to either abandon ship or somehow save the ship.
The bow soon separated from the rest of the ship due to the location of the torpedo strike, causing the separated bow section to quickly roll enough for both turrets to drop free on its way down to the bottom.
After the two forward turrets slid out, the separated bow section somewhat righted itself on its way down, enough so that both barbettes are now clearly missing their turrets.
Meanwhile, the rest of the ship stayed sufficiently upright to prevent that aft turret from reaching the tipping point, riding all the way down to the sea floor still oriented that way enough to retain it when it finally impacted the sea floor.
Hello gunner. Surprised you did not notice the "portholes" on the side of the turret comment. Those were not portholes as turrets did not have portholes.
GMG2
U.S.S. Missouri BB 63
16 inch aft turret, center gun.
1985- 1987
@@samuelschick8813 For what it's worth, I didn't serve on a battleship, as you did.
I was a tin can sailor, first on a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer, then on a Knox-class frigate.
We had two of the MK42 gun mount instead of a turret as such (yes, I know that you know the difference between a turret and gun mount) on the destroyer and a single MK42 gun mount on the frigate.
I had a friend from gun school who served on the Wisconsin who took me on an incredible tour of his ship, but I didn't look at that feature on the side of the turrets that you talked about.
I knew turrets didn't have portholes as such, and I missed his comment about that, instead concentrating on the information about the turrets sliding out.
I'm certain that you have considerably more technical information about the turrets especially, but also about other features of ships from the era that the Indianapolis and Iowa-class ships were made.
It's good to hear from another GMG, especially from a battleship, even more so from a battleship with the obvious historic importance of the Missouri.
I was a GMG2 as well, 1987-1991.
@@samuelschick8813 I could be wrong about this, but I believe the "portholes" on the side of the turrret are optical rangefinders.
If not, they're almost certainly used for fire control in another capacity.
@@Gunners_Mate_Guns, They are not. If look at pictures of the ship they store life rafts on the side where the "portholes" are. If you look at a blown up picture of the ship, you will see the range finders on the upper rear sides of the turrets, same as the Iowa class battleships. On top outside just like the Iowas there is a periscope. The only difference being CA 35 turrets have hatches on the side for the crew to enter where as Iowa turret access is either through the powder flats or the rear bottom of each turret through an armored drop hatch.
Port holes on a turret is a weak spot.
@@samuelschick8813 Thanks for the info, and yes, portholes are a weak spot.
You might be interested to know that the position I usually took during gun shoots with our 5"/54 MK42 gun system was as the OMC operator, a position that entails sitting in a lockup seat with my feet dangling about a yard over the inside of the gun, looking out through the "bubble," a thick plexiglass window where the operator can serve as mostly a safety observer, but it's also a nice spot to be able to get an idea what we were shooting at.
I have to confess that I couldn't actually see what we shot at most of the time due to distance to the target, but I can tell you that on one occasion, when our ship was just about to open fire for a gun shoot in the Straits of Magellan, I spotted a helo from the USS Jesse L. Brown that was airborne at the same time.
As soon as I saw the helo that was definitely downrange from us, I alerted (sound-powered phones) CIC, saying "Checkfire! Checkfire!" before telling them about the reason.
I sat and watched, waiting for the word to finally reach the pilot of the helo, then sure enough, the helo quickly cleared the area in a straight line, allowing us to complete our gun shoot.
I wonder how modern gun mounts that lack a forward observer might have dealt with that situation.
Although almost 400 U.S. captains whose ships had been sunk during World War II, McVay was the only one to have been court-martialed and he was the only captain in the history of the Navy to be court-martialed for the loss of a ship sunk by an act of war.
I met Eric Anderson over a book that I was reading, title “Jaws”. We both worked for a tugboat company in San Francisco. He made the comment that he was on the Indianapolis when she was struck by the Japanese torpedos The way he described was chaos..He was in the radar room when all of a sudden the ship shook valiantly and rolled and the emergency lights came on He grabbed his May West life jacket, once outside there were many injured sailors. As he is helping injured get onto life rafts, abounded ship was blasting over the speaker. she sunk in 12 minutes. Many days with no water and food ,one by one sailors were disappearing under the waves for being weak unable to hold onto the raft or were eaten by sharks. Other sailors were hallucinating that they saw an island and were convinced to swim towards it never to be seen again..Only 317 survived out of 1200 sailors…
i met a old man named abe at church who served on this ship - he was on shore leave when the ship went down
Let's be honest, most people know the Indianapolis from Quint's famous monologue in Jaws.
It was mentioned in Jaws? I know of the Indanapolis because she carried parts for one of the atomic bombs...
Very famous monologue, the whole movie is worth a watch @@roadsweeper1
It was just another ship lost in combat on the high seas in a war that saw about a thousand ships and crews lost. It didn't make the news like the epic battle between the Hood and Bismarck , or the sinking of the German battleship Graf Spee because the part she played before she was lost was bigger news. Like many, I had never heard about the sinking of Indianapolis and the ordeal of her surviving crew until "Jaws".
"Japanese sub slammed two torpedoes into our side Chief"
The scariest part of the movie is quint telling the story.
I read a book on the subject about 20 years ago. It was well done and devoted a great deal of time to the trial.
May these sailors rest in peace, still hero's, all of them.
I have known for almost my whole life that the USS Indianapolis brought the Little Boy across the Pacific from San Francisco to Tinian Island. Without her mission I might never have known my father or my uncles. - Marc Smith, born 8/16/1943.
It gave Jaws one of the greatest monologues ever.
The main gun turrets may be designed to fall off the ship during rough seas.
If the ship rolls too far in heavy swells,The heavy turrets could cause the ship to capsize..45-48 degree rolls are common in heavy seas.
Better to lose the main guns than lose an entire ship due to capsizing.
So the guns are not bolted down or secured to the barbette..their own weight keeps them in place..unless there's extreme rolls..then they simply slip out of the barbette..theoretically the ship would right itself and come back to 90 degrees when the weight is dropped
From what I have read in a book named "In Harm's Way" one torpedo blew the bow off of the ship and the other torpedo struck amidships. The ship wasn't ordered to stop but to continue forward. This movement caused extra seawater pressure to collapse bulkheads from forward moving to the stern of the ship. It was reported that the ship sunk starting with the bow with the stern going under last. That kind of downward movement subjected the forward turrets to the force of water current pressure. The rear turret was largely protected from that kind of pressure. Perhaps this is a factor involved in why the forward turrets came off while the rear turret didn't.
Wonderful Video. Thank You for sharing this with us. Such a sad ending for a Wonderful Lady.
Navy SOP is that in Modified Battle Stations (as they were), half the ships guns were loaded, UNlocked, and ready to fire with a crew standing by to do so, while the other guns were UNloaded and LOCKED in-place so their crews could rest. That's why the rear turret didn't come off- she was locked in place.
I wonder if the U.S. Navy would try to recover the Bell of Indianapolis. We know the bell of HMS Hood was recovered from her wreck
If they can find it, that would be awesome.
I think the bell from the H.M.S. Hood was lying by itself on the sea floor away from the ship, and they found it by accident, if I remember correctly.
She didn't go down with her bell. The bell was removed from her for weight savings during the war. This was common, I think Ryan at BBNJ said New Jerseys bell was also removed during the war and reinstalled after the war. The bell is currently at the Indiana War Memorial Museum. She may have had a generic bell in its place made of lighter metals, most likely not.
@@Salty_Balls I never heard that before, but thanks for the info.
There was a picture with two different bells
This was a fantastic vid, AGAIN!! KEEP IT UP.!! Very good diagnosis on the sinking.
The kill tally was on the starboard side of the ship below the bridge. Great video and I loved the movie!
My Uncle, my Dad's older Brother, was Robert E. Truitt, RM2, in C Division. He did not Survive. The Now has a new Class of Small Ship called the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the 3rd. Vessel to bear the Name, after the Sub. which was launched in 1977. She was decommissioned in early 2000' Paul E. Truitt Jr.
The Indy set a speed record that still stands when she made the trip from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor, 2,405 miles, in 74.5 hours.
The USS INDIANAPOLIS escorted my Dad's Regiment from the Golden Gate Bridge in California ro Adelaide Australia in early 1942!
my late uncle Ricardo was stationed on The Indianapolis when it was sunk. he was one of the survivors. . he once asked me, "have you ever watched the movie Jaws ? I was in the real thing". he passed away 20 years ago. RIP to all. 🇺🇸
12:15 Most likely the piece of metal will be the bilge keel which runs along the bottom of the hull, it highly likely that it has been pushed up upon impact with the seafloor.
My 1st cousin 2x removed was Herman Ferdinand Fuchs, Chief Machinist on board. He did not survive. If anyone knows of him, or might have a photo that contains Herman, please reply to this post as I have little info on the family. If anyone knows of a resource I could look into to find more about his service on board, would love to hear of it, thanks! Very good review of the events and the wreck here, well done.
Very good video! I love history and this is right up my alley. May I give some constructive feedback? Your content is rich, however the verbal delivery is lacking. Try reading the script like you aren’t reading. Faster, more like it’s a stream of thought rather than being read slowly from paper. I can’t wait to see more of your content! This channel is rather impressive. Keep up the good work!
I remember the day this ship was found. I was happy to see it found.
Just a guess but maybe the hydraulic forces of the ship sinking bow first lifted the bow turrets off while the stern turret was protected by the superstructure??
Considering that ship gun turrets are only held in by their sheer weight and gravity. I would say as the ship plunged I would agree with you that the bow turrets were probably lifted out due to the forces of the water while the stern turret was possibly protected from being ripped out due to the superstructure blocking the force of the water. It obviously seems like the ship didn't roll over when it sank because if it did then all the turrets would have fallen out.
Shes still a beautiful ship. Great video.
Rest in peace Uncle Jim. This event tortured him till he passed March 10th 95. He had night terrors till he passed from this.
Wow, after being torpedoed and being under water all these year, the US Indianapolis is amazingly preserved
Great video, but the Indianapolis wasn't selected to carry the bomb materials to Tinian because of the IJN's impotence by that point in the war. She'd just completed repairs at Mare Island after taking heavy bomb damage while participating in the pre-invasion bombardment of Okinawa. She was selected because she was fast and available.
RIP Captain McVay 🇺🇸⚓️⚓️⚓️🇺🇸
I always felt the Navy passed a miscarriage of justice regarding Captain McVay. The commander of the attacking Japanese sub declared his belief in Captain McVay's innocence. Captain McVay's suicide is clearly another victim of war. I agonized for him still receiving accusatory letters from relatives of sailors killed in the sinking, even years after the war.
The bow turrents are only held in by gravity just like when the Bismarck sink once the ship is turned upside down most of those come out so it’s kind of rare that the one didn’t come out that’s pretty neat though
What no mention of Quints spooky monologue in the awesome movie Jaws? Nobody really ever heard of the USS Indianapolis until Jaws came out in 1975!
RV Petrol has become such a kindred figure in the eyes of maritime history. I feel like they went around the Pacific Ocean, took some pictures of these gravesites so they are documented and remembered, and left some flowers behind as they left. I love the fact that they keep the location of these wrecks hidden, it gives these graves even a sliver of hope for eternal peace. This ship reminds me of a trauma victim; everyone only knows them from the trauma they suffered. USS Indianapolis was a cutting-edge heavy cruiser, and while she never got the chance to cut her teeth against other heavy hitters like Tone or Chokai, she played a critical role in bringing the Pacific war to a close. My grandfather was in the Philippines when she was sunk, and while he was not informed of the sinking at the time, he did recall that there were rumors of a sinking where lots of sailors got attacked by sharks. Thanks to the parts Indi delivered, my grandfather wasn't lost in the potential hellscape of Operation Downfall, and my father, and myself now have a life we otherwise would have never had.
Really awesome vid on such a cool subject! I had one question, that is as much for the audience as it is for you, Mr. Skynea. Has the wreck of HMS Glorious ever been located? I imagined its wreck might be in some fairly deep water/rough seas, but I was unsure if any efforts had been made to find the wreck. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day and looking forward to the next one!!
If I remember right the turrets in battleships weren't actually held in buy anything they were lowered into place by cranes and held in place by gravity so when the ship sinks and lists the guns fall out so all I can say is that the gun didn't fall out because that part of the ship didn't tip enough for it to fall out
The two rungs on the side of the #3 turret are NOT what is left of a destroyed ladder. That is all of it. It was two rungs for the crew to use to step up and access the door they are next to. There never were any more.
The dark colour on top of the gun barrels could be part of the camouflage as the line between the dark colour and the light coiour is to straight to be just mud just laying on the top of the barrels, some ships painted the top of the barrels the same colour as the turret tops to help in hiding the barrels.
Correct. This would have been part of Measure 22 camouflage scheme. Upper surfaces are painted dark navy blue to match the deck blue.
The forward Turrets slid out when the ship capsized while on it's decent to the bottom because a couple of devices called "hold down clips" on those two Turrets let go. These clips are bolted to the rotating structure and extend outward under the fixed structure, there is just enough clearance to allow the Turret to train.....these are the same on the IOWA Class Battleships.
As to why they let go is anyone's guess.
1100 men into the water, Chief....sharks are in the water. 1975, When I first learned about the USS Indianapolis.
While a history major and long aware of its story. I think you kind of missed why its so well known in our culture. And that is due to the speech Robert Shaw gave in Steven Spielberg's Jaws. For many succeding generations l would attribute recognition of the fate of the USS Indianapolis to Spielberg's film.
mission of the sharks first uss indianapolis movie is way better than nic cage film
You're right. I was 11yrs old when 'Jaws' was released. And I would not have known anything about the ship nor its' crew if it had not been for that scene with Robert Shaw.
@@maxmulsanne7054Same here, and I grew up in Indiana, less than an hour away from the city she was named after.
@maxmulsanne7054 Mr. Shaw was totally robbed, he should've won the oscar!
This ship was referenced in the original Jaws movie by the Actor Robert Shaw , probably for a lot of People the first time they had heard of the tragic loss of the Ship and the way many of the crew died in the water because their mission was so classified that no one knew she was missing at first.
My dad just showed me your channel, awesome stuff man! Keep up the great work!
Really enjoyed this, and the research you did on it. One suggestion, when doing the arrows, use a more contrasting color depending on the photo, I didn't even see the first arrow when pointing at the storage boxes on the suspected bridge. Thank you!
I know her wreck most likely won't last 1 billion years but imagine in case it does and the sea evaporated by the sun growing hotter and hotter, how spectacular would it be. The Resurface of Indianapolis.
As for the rear turret, I consider it otherwise. That is the torpedo jammed it and probably even deformed rear structure so it stays in place.
The memorial to the ship in the City of Indianapolis is definitely worth visiting, and it is free.
It’s like RUclips can detect when I’m starting a new fixation
Cool Video... crazy deep. I wonder if Divers will be able to reach that depth someday. Doubtful... but neat to think about.
You should just say that the reason most people now only know about the USS Indianapolis is because of Steven Spielberg and "Jaws" and the unforgettable scene when the three men are telling stories about their scars....
Really enjoyed this video!
You have a promising career ahead of you in voice narration
And even if you don't know the Indianapolis you will know her reference in the movie Jaws.
You can see the ship's bell at 11:16. Any hope of it getting recovered, like the one from HMS Hood?
I was in the navy, stationed aboard uss carl vinson cvn-70 when i heard this story....then i would find a sign on the bulkhead that gave instructions for abandon ship procedures( stuff like dont jump into fire or oil) god bless these men most of them leaving this earth in such a horrible way
I'm glad I went in the army. That's bad enough considering that there's a million horrible ways to die if you find yourself in combat, but getting eaten by sharks or drowning on a sinking ship is two things that you don't have to worry about.
I actually met a gentleman who was on the Indianapolis when I delivered furniture to his home about 40 years ago.