Allied Warships

USS Indianapolis (CA 35)

Heavy cruiser of the Portland class

USS Indianapolis prewar.

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Heavy cruiser
Class	Portland
Pennant	CA 35
Built by	New York Shipbuilding Corp. (Camden, New Jersey, U.S.A.)
Ordered
Laid down	31 Mar 1930
Launched	7 Nov 1931
Commissioned	15 Nov 1932
Lost	30 Jul 1945
Loss position	12° 02'N, 134° 48'E

History	This was one of the more famous losses of the war, made into many made-for-TV movies/shows. She was returning from Tinian after delivering top-secret nuclear-weapon components for dropping on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of the more sensitive missions in the war. She was sunk by Japanese submarine I-58 (offsite link) (Lt.Cdr. Mochitsura Hashimoto, later promoted to Commander for the same attack) in the Philippine Sea in position 12º02'N, 134º48'E. The men were not missed until 2 August (she was to return to Leyte on 31 July) and aircraft on routine flight spotted the survivors in the water on that day. Rescue operations did not complete until 8 August. Only 316 survived from her crew of 1199 officers and men.

Commands listed for USS Indianapolis (CA 35)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	Capt. John Franklin Shafroth, Jr., USN	1 Jul 1938	1941 ?
2	Capt. Edward William Hanson, USN	1941 ?	11 Jul 1942 (1)
3	T/R.Adm. Morton Lyndholm Deyo, USN	11 Jul 1942	12 Jan 1943
4	Cdr. Nicholas Vytlacil, USN	12 Jan 1943	30 Jul 1943
5	Capt. Einar Reynolds Johnson, USN	30 Jul 1943	18 Nov 1944
6	T/Capt. Charles Butler McVay, 3rd, USN	18 Nov 1944	30 Jul 1945

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Notable events involving Indianapolis include:

At the time of her sinking the ships commanding officer Captain McVay was blamed for her loss and the loss of so many men. But information was withheld from Cpt. McVay about submarine activity in the area and especially about how navy policies at the time precluded the navy from even realizing the ship was lost for days. In one of the most shameful episodes in maritime history US Navy brass tried to make him a scapegoat for their own failures in procedure and omission. By now history has exonerated Cpt. McVay. (2)

31 Mar 1945
Seriously Damaged by Japanese Kamikaze off Okinawa.9 of her crew were killed and 26 were wounded.

30 Jul 1945
She was hit by two torpedoes at 12:05 am, one blowing off most of her bow, where the officers slept. About 900 of the 1,196 on board survived the sinking, which lasted 12 minutes. 316 would later survive the dehydration, the sharks, and the heat. The ships commanding officer, Capt. McVay survived, only to commit suicide in 1968 by reasons of receiving hate mail. The survivors attend a reunion every 5 years, starting in 1960. (2)