JULY 29, 2025 – Eighty years ago on July 30, 1945, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine, resulting in the deaths of 880 sailors and Marines, making it the Navy’s worst disaster at sea.
In late March 1945, the Indianapolis was participating in the pre-invasion bombardment of Okinawa, Japan. During that time, U.S. ships were repeatedly attacked by kamikaze aircraft.
The Indianapolis shot down six of them, but one managed to drop a bomb on the ship. The damage was enough for the vessel to steam to Mare Island Naval Shipyard in San Francisco for repair.
Following repairs, the skipper, Navy Capt. Charles Butler McVay III received orders to undertake a top-secret mission to Tinian Island, delivering parts for an atomic bomb that would be dropped on Japan. The assignment was so secret that McVay was not informed of the contents of the cargo container, only that speed was of the essence.
The ship set sail July 16, 1945, and delivered the cargo to Tinian 10 days later. That atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, Aug. 6, 1945.
After delivering the weapon, the ship set sail for the Micronesian island of Guam and on July 28, 1945, began sailing to Leyte in the Philippines, where the crew was slated to receive combat training for the invasion of the Japanese mainland.
A few minutes after midnight on July 30, 1945, in the Philippine Sea, the Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes from a cruiser submarine, skippered by Japanese Cmdr. Mochitsura Hashimoto. Within minutes, the ship sank and about 300 sailors lost their lives. Many more would perish in the coming days.
No distress call was transmitted because one of the torpedoes knocked out power and radios in the control room.
The Navy was unaware of the ship’s sinking until days later, when an Army Air Forces PV-1 Ventura spotted survivors in the ocean. By that time, hundreds had died of wounds from the torpedo strikes, while others died from shark attacks or dehydration.
Only 316, including McVay, survived and were rescued by ship. The last survivor was pulled from the water in the afternoon of Aug. 3, 1945.
In December 1945, McVay was brought up on charges and convicted of negligence for hazarding his ship by not zigzagging.
Hashimoto was called to testify at the court-martial, which was held in the Washington Navy Yard. The submarine commander, who was flown in from Japan, said even if the ship had zigzagged, he would have been able to account for the maneuver and still sink the ship.
Although McVay was convicted, his sentence was remitted because of his many years of outstanding service. McVay retired as a rear admiral in 1949, but those who knew him said he was despondent over the loss of so many of his men. In 1968, he took his own life.
In later years, Hashimoto, who became a Shinto priest, met with many of the Indianapolis survivors, each of whom forgave him.
Hashimoto also volunteered his support to the survivors in their efforts to clear McVay’s name. Hashimoto died Oct. 25, 2000.
Many survivors of the sinking, as well as those who disembarked in Hawaii, Tinian and Guam, experienced survivor’s guilt.
“My uncle Bruce Neibaur was on that cruiser until it stopped in Hawaii, while en route to Tinian to deliver the bomb,” Marine veteran O. Paul Mortensen said. “But he was one of about 17 sailors who got other orders and got off. Until the day he died, he suffered survivor’s guilt.”
Richard A. Hulver, who was the lead historian on the USS Indianapolis Project at the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, discussed the tragedy and lessons learned at the Pentagon, July 17, 2025:
- The discretion for zigzagging given to captains in the Pacific Ocean was taken away, and all combatant ships were directed to zigzag at all times.
- All vessels carrying more than 500 men were to be escorted. The Indianapolis did not have an escort vessel.
- McVay successfully advocated for life-saving improvements, including parachute flares, a pocket containing freshwater in life preservers and changing the dull-colored paint schemes on life rafts to bright yellow.
- Knowledge of the ship not reaching Luzon was not relayed up the chain of command, so more rigid movement reporting procedures were put in place.
“Actions of captain and crew of [the] Indianapolis throughout their ordeal and in the aftermath stand as exemplars of the highest traditions and honor of the United States Navy,” Hulver said.
In 2016, Hulver conducted research that led to a new search for the USS Indianapolis. He identified a naval landing craft that had recorded a sighting of the ship hours before it was torpedoed. By combining tracking movements of both ships, the approximate location was discovered.
The wreck was located, Aug. 19, 2017, by the expedition crew of research vessel Petrel, 5,500 meters below the surface.
The Indianapolis also lives on in popular culture.
In the 1975 movie “Jaws,” Quint, played by actor Robert Shaw, is a survivor of the Indianapolis and recounts the sinking and shark attacks.
The ship is also the subject of the 1991 TV film “Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis,” starring Stacy Keach, and the 2016 film “USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage,” starring Nicolas Cage, is based on the sinking.
By David Vergun, DOD News