The remains of the cruiser Indianapolis have been found. He transported the atomic bomb “Baby. Microsoft founder found lost cruiser carrying atomic bomb Transport ship Indianapolis

The Japanese live torpedo was a cylinder with a diameter of 1 m, a length of 14.7 m, and a weight of 8 tons, of which 1250 kg was the warhead. The Kaiten's range was 78 km at a speed of 12 knots; or 23 km at a speed of 30 knots. To deliver to the site of the attack, large I-type submarines were used, on the deck of which six Kaiten guided torpedoes were placed.

When approaching the target, the driver climbed from the boat through a special hatch into the torpedo, where he was locked. Having received an order and information about the direction of movement by telephone from the boat commander, he separated from the submarine and turned on the engine. Approaching the target, the driver adjusted the course using a periscope. Approximately 500 meters from the attacked ship, it turned on full speed and at a depth of 4 meters went to ram. If the driver did not find the target, he would die from suffocation, since the oxygen supply was only enough for an hour, and it was impossible to get out of the torpedo. True, later, “for humanitarian reasons,” they made a device that allowed them to blow themselves up so as not to suffer.

The first attack by a human torpedo took place on November 20, 1944, when one of the initiators of the creation of the Kaiten, midshipman Nishina, broke through to the parking lot of American ships and blew up the large tanker Mississippi (11,300 tons), loaded with 405,000 gallons of aviation gasoline. The explosion, which threw a column of flame to a height of several hundred feet, cost the lives of 50 sailors and officers. Thereafter, while attempting to attack American ships in heavily defended bases, the Japanese lost six carrier boats out of eleven and 55 suicide drivers, most of whom never reached their target. The transports Manzana (1 sailor killed, 20 wounded) and Pondus G. Ross suffered minor damage from nearby explosions. Perhaps one of the torpedoes was responsible for the death of the infantry landing ship LCI-600 (246 tons). American sources vaguely claim that it died from an underwater explosion of unknown origin.

The losses were attributed to a flawed doctrine that called for attacking only protected anchorages and ships near beachheads. The Naval General Staff began to lean toward the idea of ​​transferring attacks to sea communications. According to a number of experts, the difficulties of operating human torpedoes on the open sea should have been compensated for by weaker cover of transports and tankers. For Kaiten, such attacks presented enormous difficulty. Instead of approaching a stationary target in calm water, they had to catch up with ships at sea. The pilot had to rely only on his own small periscope, and in rough weather it was of little use. Although the speed of the torpedo reached 40 knots, which was higher than that of any target, at this speed its range was extremely limited.

Many Western historians consider the sinking of the American heavy cruiser Indianapolis to be the greatest victory of human torpedoes. Thus, in the serious work “Submarines of Foreign Fleets in the Second World War” it is said: “The cruiser Indianapolis (USA). Sunk by man-guided torpedoes." In another source: “The submarine I-58 sank the American cruiser Indianapolis with human torpedoes.” However, the Japanese deny this. The submarine I-58, captain-lieutenant Hashimoto Mochitsura (1909-1968), left Kure on June 18, 1945, with 6 Kaitens on board. Displacement - 1800/2300 tons, main dimensions - 100.6 x 8 x 4.8 m, speed - 20/8 knots, cruising range - 10,000 miles, crew - 64 people, armament - eight 533 mm TA, 120- mm gun.

Commander of "I-58" Lieutenant Commander Hashimoto Motitsura (1909-2000)

Hashimoto was an experienced submariner who sailed throughout the war and was accustomed to facing death. This time he took his ship out to hunt for the Americans, who were often deprived of elementary caution by the premonition of an imminent victory. June 28 at 2 p.m. 00 min. Through his periscope, Hashimoto spotted a large tanker accompanied by a destroyer. He fired two human torpedoes and claimed to have sank both ships. In fact, only the destroyer Lowry received minor damage from the explosion of one of the Kaitens.

A few hours before this attack, the heavy cruiser Indianapolis (USS Indianapolis, CA-35), under the command of Captain First Rank McVey, left Guam for the island of Leyte. The cruiser cut through the humid darkness of the night from July 29 to July 30, 1945, carrying 1,200 crew members on board. Most of them were asleep, only those on watch were awake. And what could a powerful American warship fear in these waters long cleared of the Japanese? It was a powerful modern ship, launched on November 7, 1931 and commissioned on November 15, 1932. Total displacement 12,755 tons, length 185.93 m, beam 20.12 m, draft 6.4 m. The cruiser reached a speed of up to 32.5 knots with a turbine power of 107,000 hp. The ship's armament consisted of nine 203 mm guns in three turrets, eight 127 mm guns and 28 anti-aircraft guns of various calibers. The ship had two catapults and four aircraft.

True, it was possible to run into some stray enemy submarine - according to intelligence data, a certain number of these lone sea wolves were still prowling the waters of the Pacific Ocean in search of unprotected targets for attack - but for a high-speed warship the likelihood of such an encounter is very small (much less than the risk of getting hit by a car when crossing the street in New York). However, such thoughts occupied few people on board the Indianapolis - let the head of these problems hurt the one who is entitled to it - the captain, for example.

The cruiser's commander, Captain Charles Butler McVay III (1898-1968), at forty-six, was an experienced sailor who deservedly found himself on the command bridge of a heavy cruiser. He met the war with Japan with the rank of commander, being the first officer on the cruiser Cleveland, and participated in many battles, including the capture of the islands of Guam, Saipan and Tinian and the largest battle in the history of naval warfare at Leyte Gulf; earned the Silver Star. And that night, despite the late hour - eleven in the evening - he did not sleep. Unlike most of his subordinates, McVeigh knew much more than any of them, and this knowledge did not at all add to his peace of mind.

Just two days ago, he completed a top-secret mission - he delivered two atomic bombs to the island of Tinian, which the B-29 was to drop on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They quickly freed themselves from the special cargo - there was nothing of it at all: a few boxes. People worked quickly and harmoniously, spurred on by strict orders and an unconscious desire to quickly get rid of this mysterious piece of junk along with its gloomy, unresponsive attendants. The heavy cruiser stood in the open roadstead of Tinian for several more hours, awaiting further orders from the headquarters of the commander of the Pacific Fleet. And closer to noon the order came: “Proceed to Guam, and then to the Philippines.” The war was ending, and the next order was perceived by the crew as an invitation to a sea voyage that did not involve any danger.

On the night of June 29, the cruiser sailed unaccompanied; not only, as if tempting fate, McVey refused to use the zigzag. According to established rules, in a war zone, surface ships must move in zigzags in order to avoid being attacked by enemy submarines. This is exactly how Captain McVey led his ships throughout the war, but the euphoria of victory that reigned around him played a cruel joke on him. Since there was no information about the presence of enemy submarines in the area, he neglected the usual precautions.

At 23.00 on July 29, a report was received from the I-58 hydroacoustic that the noise of the propellers of a target moving on a counter course had been detected. The commander ordered the ascent. The navigator was the first to detect the enemy ship visually, and a report immediately came about the appearance of a mark on the radar screen. Having climbed to the upper navigation bridge, Hashimoto was convinced personally: yes, there is a black dot on the horizon; yes, she's getting closer. “I-58” dived again - there was absolutely no need for the American radar to also detect the boat. The target's movement speed is decent, and the enemy can easily dodge. And if the enemy does not notice them, then a meeting is inevitable - the ship’s course leads directly to the submarine.

The commander watched through the periscope eyepiece as the point enlarged and turned into a silhouette. Yes, a large ship - very large! The height of the masts (with twenty cables this can already be determined) is more than thirty meters, which means that in front of it is either a large cruiser or even a battleship. Tempting prey! He immediately prepared the torpedo tubes, and also ordered one of the Kaiten pilots to take a seat in the torpedo. When the target approached a distance of 4000 m, the boat commander identified it as an Idaho-class battleship and decided to use conventional torpedoes. Meanwhile, the suicide bombers began to unanimously ask for permission to attack such a tempting target.

Hashimoto Motitsura at the periscope

Indeed, there are two attack options: either discharge the bow tubes at the American with a six-torpedo fan, or use Kaitens. The ship is moving at a speed of at least twenty knots, which means that, taking into account errors in calculating the salvo, one can hope to be hit by one or two, maximum three torpedoes, but the boat commander chose the first option. At 11 p.m. 32 min. Hashimoto fired a salvo of 6 torpedoes from a distance of 1200 m and scored two hits on the bow of the cruiser. Despite the claims of many authors, he did NOT use Kaiten in this attack. When the Indianapolis did not immediately sink after being hit by torpedoes, the pilots again began to persuade the commander to allow them to make the final blow. But this was not necessary: ​​after 15 minutes the cruiser capsized and sank. About 350 people died in the explosions.

Since the ship's radio station was damaged by the explosion and it was not possible to send a distress signal in time, the fleet command did not even suspect what had happened. On the island of Guam, where the cruiser was heading, his absence was explained by a possible change in course and they did not raise the alarm. As a result, four days passed before the planes in distress were accidentally spotted by an American bomber on patrol in the area.

Soon, two ships approached the scene of the tragedy - the destroyer USS Bassett and the hospital ship USS Tranquility, which took the survivors to Guam, where they received medical care. But only a few lived to see this day. In addition to thirst, hunger and hypothermia, sailors were faced with another terrible danger in the open ocean - sharks. During this time, 533 people died from cold and sharks. Of the 1,189 people on board, only 316 survived. It is not known for certain how many sailors became victims of sharks. But of those bodies that were recovered from the water, traces of shark teeth were found on almost 90. The death of the Indianapolis went down in the history of the US Navy as the most massive loss of personnel as a result of a single sinking.

It is curious that Hashimoto’s report to his command, indicating the coordinates of the attacked ship, was intercepted, but it spoke of the sinking of the battleship, so American intelligence took the radiogram for another Japanese trick.

Captain McVay, who had commanded the ship since November 1944, was one of the survivors of the ship's sinking. In November 1945, he was brought to justice by a military tribunal for the death of the ship. He was accused of "endangering the ship by failing to carry out anti-torpedo maneuvers." At the same time, Hashimoto was brought to Washington to testify at a naval tribunal in the case of the death of the Indianapolis; he was also accused of destroying the Indianapolis with the help of a suicide bomber, which was interpreted as a war crime. The Japanese honestly confirmed that McVey had put the ship in danger by not using the anti-submarine zigzag. At the same time, he argued that the ship’s performance of anti-torpedo maneuvers would not have brought any results, and it would still have been torpedoed. According to him, he fired 6 torpedoes at the cruiser from an extremely short distance. Hashimoto did not have a lawyer; he testified through an interpreter. He knew English, but not enough to answer the judges' intricate questions. However, he firmly defended his version of the non-use of Kaiten. In the end, the commander of the cruiser was found guilty, however, taking into account his old merits, he was not punished, but was quietly sent into retirement, and Lieutenant Commander Hashimoto was returned to Japan, without having been able to prove that he had committed a war crime.

There is a very widespread legend that Hashimoto’s torpedoes saved another Japanese city from the fate of Hiroshima, since there was supposedly a third atomic bomb on board the Indianapolis. However, this version has not received documentary confirmation.

After returning from Washington in 1946, Hashimoto continued to be in prison for some time, then was transferred to a prisoner of war camp and was filtered by the Americans. Again, of course, there were interrogations. There was no end to journalists who wanted to know whether Hashimoto used “Kaitens” against Indianapolis or not? Having been released from the camp, the former submariner became a captain of the merchant fleet, sailing on the ship almost the same route as on the submarines “I-24”, “PO-31”, “I-158”, “PO-44”, “I- 58": The South China Sea, the Philippines, the Mariana and Caroline Islands, it happened to go to Hawaii and San Francisco... After retiring due to his years of service, Motitsura Hashimoto became a monk in one of the temples in Kyoto, and then wrote the book " Sunk,” in which he continued to adhere to the version that he used conventional torpedoes against the Indianapolis.

The history of the cruiser Indianapolis again became a topic of discussion in 2000, when the US Congress passed a resolution on the basis of which McVeigh was completely cleared of all previously charged charges. This document was approved by the signature of American President Bill Clinton, and then a corresponding entry was made in the captain’s personal file, which was stored in the naval archives. On August 24, 2016, the premiere of the feature film “Cruiser” about the fate of the cruiser and crew took place in the United States. On August 18, 2017, the wreckage of the cruiser was discovered by a research team at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean at a depth of over 5,400 meters. However, the exact location of the wreckage has not been disclosed.

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I present to my colleagues my second completed model of a surface ship. This is a model of the American WWII heavy cruiser Indianapolis from the Academy.

Prototype:

The US Navy heavy cruiser Indianapolis (CA-35) belongs to the Portland class (2 units). The cruiser became notorious after her death with a large number of casualties on July 29, 1945 as a result of a torpedo attack by the Japanese submarine I-58.
Displacement: standard 11180 tons, full 15002 tons (for 1945). Length - 185.9 m, Width - 20.1 m, Draft 6.4 m.
Power point:
4 shafts, 4 Parsons TZA, 8 White-Forster boilers. Total power - 107,000 hp. Speed ​​- 32.5 knots. Cruising range - 8700 miles/15 knots.
Weapon: (at time of death)
9 (3x3) 203mm guns, 55 calibers long, 8 (8x1) 127mm guns, 25 calibers long, 24 (6x4) 40mm Bofors guns, 16 (8x2) 20mm Oerlikon guns
1 catapult, 3 SC-1 Seahawk seaplanes
Crew - 100 officers and 1092 lower ranks (as of 1945).

Laid down on March 31, 1930 at the New York Shipbuilding Company shipyard in Camden. Launched on November 7, 1931, and transferred to the fleet on November 15, 1932. The price of the ship was 11 million dollars in 1932 prices.
Indianapolis was originally built as the flagship of the Fleet Reconnaissance Force. He remained in this capacity for the main part of his career. I won’t bore you with the details of his busy service. I will note the main points of his career.
Before the war, the cruiser acted as a “presidential yacht” three times in 1933, 1933 and 1936. He spent the entire war as part of the US Pacific Fleet. During this time, it underwent repairs and modernization several times. Until the operation to capture Okinawa, fate protected the cruiser; it happily avoided battle damage. In the early morning of March 31, 1945, the cruiser was seriously damaged as a result of a kamikaze attack. Here is a diagram of the damage for clarity:

A more detailed damage report can be found here: USS Indianapolis damage report
On July 16-26, 1945, immediately after completion of repairs and modernization, the cruiser successfully completed the task of delivering atomic bomb components from San Francisco to Tinian Atoll. During the inter-base transition to Leyte on July 28, 1945, the cruiser was sunk by 2 torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-58. Of the 1199 people, only 321 survived after spending 4 days in the water. Approximately 300 sailors died directly from the torpedo explosions; the rest became victims of hypothermia, thirst and sharks. The reason for such a number of casualties was the slackness of the ship traffic warning service. The distress signal was received by three stations, but for various reasons they did not give it due importance.
During the war years, the cruiser earned 10 battle stars.

Model

The model was built based on the state at the time of death. The basis of everything is a set of plastic from the Academy. With the “top+bottom” division of the body not the most advanced, the set itself is more of a copy than the competitive set from Trumpeter. I also used sets of additions from Pontos for small things.

The plastic is of excellent quality: it doesn’t flake, it’s moderately soft. There were minor sink marks in the stem area on both halves of the hull.

The fit of the parts is very good; I don’t remember any particular problems other than the body halves. When assembling the body, there were steps in the places where the imitation of the armor belt began; the place was not very convenient for processing.

Sheets were imitated on the body using an auto primer, but I'm not entirely happy with the result yet, I need to get better at it.

Now about the alterations:

The set is not without its hardware flaws. The most noticeable “jamb” is the propeller shaft brackets: given one single, there should be two: one double and one single, fixed with plastic. At the same time I replaced the plastic shafts with metal ones.

The shape and size of the propeller blades, the original ones are smaller in diameter and their edge is not round, but slightly blunt. Well, I had to grind the blades themselves down to a more or less large-scale thickness.
Source:

Revision:

The anchor hawse, or rather the relative position of the side and deck hawse in the plastic, is incorrect; if left as is, the anchor rod will stick forward, which is too revolutionary.

We need to move them apart, but here I made a mistake and moved the deck ones (backward), but I should have moved the side ones (forward).

Colleague pnk66 helped me figure out this issue, but it was too late, somehow unexpectedly quickly I redid the fairleads on the deck.

Pontos suggests using an etched deck, there are a lot of segments, I must say that this caused me difficulties - I couldn’t really glue the steel etching to the plastic properly, I constantly had to glue the edges. What I liked were the etched stencils for applying “anti-slip”, a very convenient thing.

Having messed with the etched decks, I decided to abandon the wooden self-adhesive for the forecastle, especially since there was painted wood.
The seaplanes had to be modified; the original ones were very simplified. Pontos only gives etched screws. I made a skirt around the engine from thin plastic, tried to make an air intake from below, and made blinds from self-adhesive foil. The visible part of the engine was imitated from wire. I cut off the plastic representing the canopy, made a recess to imitate the cockpit, and covered it with etched binding on top. I picked up the decals with numbers from the “railroad workers” kit. Antenna stretchers made of beading thread.

Out-of-the-box “Bofors” and “Oerlikons” look very brutal, Pontos suggests replacing them completely, which is quite justified. The only remark is that the turned barrels of these systems at Pontos differ only in shape, the caliber is the same.
Here I compiled this unique table, it is clear that the barrels from the Master Model are beyond competition, and the Voyager is a very tough UG.

Used master's barrels. I blackened them before installing them to avoid staining. During the assembly process, I glued the bofors to the model too early, which doomed myself to constantly repairing them and searching for torn off barrels.
The rest of the modifications were minor: I replaced the original spotlights with resin ones from Arsenal, paravans from Northstar, and filled the completely bare navigation bridge with instruments and chairs in accordance with the drawing.

Special thanks to Pontos for the turned parts of the spar and the etched radar equipment; once assembled, it’s even a shame to paint it

Based on the photographs, I added signal lights and loudspeakers. The rigging was also carried out according to the photo. Flags - decal transferred to foil.
Painted with acrylic. The paint was eye-mixed for the lower hull, GSI H54 Navy Blue lower side, GSI H53Gray upper side and superstructure, Tamiya XF-50 Field Blue deck. I did a little wash and added a little drip.
Construction lasted one year with interruptions. It’s a long time, of course, but life doesn’t allow you to relax and other projects distracted you...
The ship stubbornly refused to be photographed; during the first attempt, I didn’t even have time to start photographing it when a poorly secured lamp collapsed on it; during the second, the rail at the stem was damaged, and the stubborn one was caught.

Add-on sets used:

• Pontos 35017F1 and Pontos 35017F1 Advaced Plus, (in principle, there is a set that unites them, 37017F1, but I didn’t find it, I had to take it “in bulk”).
• L "Arsenal AC 35077 “Navigation bridge equipment” there are three types of devices (target director, torpedo director, pelorus)
• L "Arsenal AC 35065 - 36in. searchlight and AC 35074 - 24in. searchlight, AC 35064 12in. signal lamps.
• NorthStar NSA350094 USN Medium paravane for U.S. Navy cruiser
• Turned Oerlikon and Bofors barrels from Master Model

Well, here's a photo of the finished work:

He who sows evil will end badly.
What is described in this material can be explained by only two things: either there is a higher justice, or there are some other reasons why the States themselves were interested in their secrets going to the bottom along with Indianapolis.
But in any case, first we must know the facts...

Damn cruiser. The true story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis

The sailors who delivered the “stuffing” for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered a terrible and painful death in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Pride of the American Navy

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb, called “Baby,” was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion of a uranium bomb led to the death of 90 to 166 thousand people. On August 9, 1945, the Fat Man plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing between 60,000 and 80,000 people. Diseases caused by radiation exposure even plague the descendants of those who survived the nightmare.

Until the very last days, the participants in the bombing were confident that they were acting correctly and did not suffer from remorse.

The curse of “Baby” and “Fat Man” affected those Americans who were involved in the history of the first atomic bombing, although they themselves did not know about it.

In November 1932, a new heavy cruiser of the Portland project, named Indianapolis, was included in the American fleet.

At that time, it was one of the most formidable warships in the United States: an area the size of two football fields, powerful weapons, and a crew of over 1,000 sailors.

Secret mission

During World War II, the Indianapolis took part in major operations against Japanese forces, successfully completing missions and remaining unharmed. In 1945, a new danger loomed over American ships - the Japanese began to use kamikaze pilots and torpedoes controlled by suicide bombers for attacks.

On March 31, 1945, Japanese suicide bombers attacked the Indianapolis. One of the kamikazes managed to ram the bow of the cruiser. As a result, 9 sailors were killed, and the ship itself was sent to San Francisco for repairs. The war was rapidly coming to an end, and the sailors of the Indianapolis even began to believe that it was over for them. However, when the repairs were almost completed, they arrived at the cruiser General Leslie Groves And Rear Admiral William Parnell. To the commander of the Indianapolis, Charles Butler McVeigh It was reported that the cruiser is tasked with transporting top-secret cargo that must be delivered to its destination quickly and safely. Captain McVeigh was not informed what the cargo was. Soon two people arrived on board with some small boxes.

"Stuffing" for atomic bombs

The captain learned the destination already at sea - the island of Tinian. The passengers were taciturn, rarely leaving their cabin, but they strictly monitored the safety of the boxes. All this led the captain to certain suspicions, and he said with disgust: “I didn’t think that we would end up in bacteriological warfare!” But the passengers did not react to this remark either. Charles Butler McVeigh was thinking in the right direction, but he simply could not know about the weapons that were carried on his ship - it was a closely guarded secret.

General Leslie Groves was the leader of the Manhattan Project, the work to create the atomic bomb. The passengers of the Indianapolis were carrying the “stuffing” to Tinian - cores for atomic bombs, which were to be dropped on the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On the island of Tinian, pilots from a special squadron assigned to carry out the first atomic bombings completed their training. On July 26, the Indianapolis arrived at Tinian, and its passengers and cargo went ashore. Captain McVey breathed a sigh of relief. He did not know that the most terrible page was beginning in his life and in the life of his ship.

Japanese hunting

Indianapolis received orders to sail to Guam and then to the Philippine island of Leyte. On the Guam-Leyte line, the commander of the Indianapolis violated instructions that prescribed zigzag maneuvers to avoid detection by enemy submarines.

Captain McVeigh did not perform these maneuvers. Firstly, this technique was outdated, and the Japanese adapted to it. Secondly, there was no information about the activities of Japanese submarines in this area. There was no data, but there was a submarine. For more than ten days, the Japanese submarine I-58, under the command of Captain 3rd Rank Matitsura Hashimoto. In addition to conventional torpedoes, it was equipped with Kaiten mini-submarines. In essence, these were the same torpedoes, only directed by suicide bombers.

The route of the last voyage of the Indianapolis. Source:

On July 29, 1945, at about 23:00, a Japanese acoustician detected a single target. Hashimoto gave the order to prepare for an attack.

There is still debate as to whether the Indianapolis was ultimately attacked by conventional torpedoes or Kaitens. Captain Hashimoto himself claimed that in this case there were no suicide bombers. The cruiser was attacked from a distance of 4 miles, and after 1 minute 10 seconds a powerful explosion occurred.

Lost in the ocean

The Japanese submarine immediately began to leave the attack area, fearing persecution. The sailors of I-58 did not really understand what kind of ship they had hit, and they had no idea what happened to its crew. The torpedo destroyed the Indianapolis's engine room, killing the crew members there. The damage turned out to be so serious that it became clear that the cruiser would remain afloat in a matter of minutes. Captain McVeigh gave the order to abandon ship.

After 12 minutes, the Indianapolis disappeared under water. About 300 of the 1,196 crew members went to the bottom with him. The rest ended up in the water and on life rafts. Life jackets and high water temperatures in this part of the Pacific Ocean allowed the sailors to wait for help for a long time. The captain reassured the crew: they were in an area where ships constantly cruised, and they would soon be discovered.

An unclear story has developed with the SOS signal. According to some sources, the cruiser's radio transmitter failed, and the crew was unable to send a signal for help. According to others, the signal was nevertheless sent and even received by at least three American stations, but was either ignored or perceived as Japanese disinformation. Moreover, the American command, having received a report that the Indianapolis had completed a mission to deliver cargo to Tinian, lost sight of the cruiser and did not show the slightest concern about it.

Surrounded by sharks

On August 2, the crew of the American PV-1 Ventura patrol aircraft was surprised to find dozens of people in the water who turned out to be exhausted and half-dead sailors of the US Navy. After the pilots’ report, a seaplane was sent to the area, followed by American military vessels. For three days, until help arrived, a terrible drama played out in the middle of the ocean. The sailors died from dehydration, hypothermia, and some went crazy. But that was not all. The crew of the Indianapolis was surrounded by dozens of sharks that attacked people, tearing them apart. The blood of the victims, getting into the water, attracted more and more predators.

It is not known for certain how many sailors became victims of sharks. But of those bodies of the dead that were managed to be lifted from the water, traces of shark teeth were found on almost 90. 321 people were raised alive from the water, five more died on board the rescue ships. A total of 883 sailors died. The death of the Indianapolis went down in the history of the US Navy as the most massive loss of personnel as a result of a single sinking.

Survivors from the Indianapolis on the island of Guam. Source:

Two captains

There were only a few days left before the end of the war, and the news of the death of almost 900 sailors shocked America. The question arose: who is to blame?

Captain Charles Butler McVeigh, who was among the survivors, was court-martialed. He was charged with failing to perform an evasive maneuver. The captured Matitsuru Hashimoto, who was accused of destroying the Indianapolis with the help of a suicide bomber, was also brought to trial, which was interpreted as a war crime.

On December 19, 1945, a military tribunal found Captain Charles Butler McVeigh guilty of "criminal negligence" and sentenced him to disgrace and discharge from the Navy. The fleet command, having made a “scapegoat” out of the captain, revised the sentence a few months later. McVeigh was reinstated in the Navy and rose to the rank of rear admiral, but finally resigned four years later. Captain Hashimoto was returned to Japan without proof that he had committed a war crime. After his release, he became a captain in the merchant fleet and for many years sailed peaceful ships.

After retiring, the former submarine captain became a monk and wrote a book about his life. Matitsura Hashimoto died in 1968. By coincidence, Charles McVeigh passed away that same year. He lived secludedly on his farm for many years. The relatives of the dead sailors from the Indianapolis sent him letters with curses and threats, not knowing that he himself was tormented by a feeling of guilt, which he would never be able to get rid of. In 1968, Charles Butler McVeigh committed suicide.

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb, called “Baby,” was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion of a uranium bomb led to the death of 90 to 166 thousand people. On August 9, 1945, the Fat Man plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing between 60,000 and 80,000 people. Diseases caused by radiation exposure even plague the descendants of those who survived the nightmare.

Until the very last days, the participants in the bombing were confident that they were acting correctly and did not suffer from remorse.

The curse of “Baby” and “Fat Man” affected those Americans who were involved in the history of the first atomic bombing, although they themselves did not know about it.

In November 1932, a new heavy cruiser of the Portland project, named Indianapolis, was included in the American fleet.

At that time, it was one of the most formidable warships in the United States: an area the size of two football fields, powerful weapons, and a crew of over 1,000 sailors.

Secret mission

During World War II, the Indianapolis took part in major operations against Japanese forces, successfully completing missions and remaining unharmed. In 1945, a new danger loomed over American ships - the Japanese began to use kamikaze pilots and torpedoes controlled by suicide bombers for attacks.

On March 31, 1945, Japanese suicide bombers attacked the Indianapolis. One of the kamikazes managed to ram the bow of the cruiser. As a result, 9 sailors were killed, and the ship itself was sent to San Francisco for repairs. The war was rapidly coming to an end, and the sailors of the Indianapolis even began to believe that it was over for them. However, when the repairs were almost completed, they arrived at the cruiser General Leslie Groves And Rear Admiral William Parnell.To the commander of the Indianapolis, Charles Butler McVeigh It was reported that the cruiser is tasked with transporting top-secret cargo that must be delivered to its destination quickly and safely. Captain McVeigh was not informed what the cargo was. Soon two people arrived on board with some small boxes.

Indianapolis, July 10, 1945. Source: Public Domain

"Stuffing" for atomic bombs

The captain learned the destination already at sea - the island of Tinian. The passengers were taciturn, rarely leaving their cabin, but they strictly monitored the safety of the boxes. All this led the captain to certain suspicions, and he said with disgust: “I didn’t think that we would end up in bacteriological warfare!” But the passengers did not react to this remark either. Charles Butler McVeigh was thinking in the right direction, but he simply could not know about the weapons that were carried on his ship - it was a closely guarded secret.

General Leslie Groves was the leader of the Manhattan Project, the work to create the atomic bomb. The passengers of the Indianapolis were carrying the “stuffing” to Tinian - cores for atomic bombs, which were to be dropped on the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On the island of Tinian, pilots from a special squadron assigned to carry out the first atomic bombings completed their training. On July 26, the Indianapolis arrived at Tinian, and its passengers and cargo went ashore. Captain McVey breathed a sigh of relief. He did not know that the most terrible page was beginning in his life and in the life of his ship.

Japanese hunting

Indianapolis received orders to sail to Guam and then to the Philippine island of Leyte. On the Guam-Leyte line, the commander of the Indianapolis violated instructions that prescribed zigzag maneuvers to avoid detection by enemy submarines.

Captain McVeigh did not perform these maneuvers. Firstly, this technique was outdated, and the Japanese adapted to it. Secondly, there was no information about the activities of Japanese submarines in this area. There was no data, but there was a submarine. For more than ten days, the Japanese submarine I-58, under the command of Captain 3rd Rank Matitsura Hashimoto. In addition to conventional torpedoes, it was equipped with Kaiten mini-submarines. In essence, these were the same torpedoes, only directed by suicide bombers.

The route of the last voyage of the Indianapolis. Source: Public Domain

On July 29, 1945, at about 23:00, a Japanese acoustician detected a single target. Hashimoto gave the order to prepare for an attack.

There is still debate as to whether the Indianapolis was ultimately attacked by conventional torpedoes or Kaitens. Captain Hashimoto himself claimed that in this case there were no suicide bombers. The cruiser was attacked from a distance of 4 miles, and after 1 minute 10 seconds a powerful explosion occurred.

Lost in the ocean

The Japanese submarine immediately began to leave the attack area, fearing persecution. The sailors of I-58 did not really understand what kind of ship they had hit, and they had no idea what happened to its crew. The torpedo destroyed the Indianapolis's engine room, killing the crew members there. The damage turned out to be so serious that it became clear that the cruiser would remain afloat in a matter of minutes. Captain McVeigh gave the order to abandon ship.

After 12 minutes, the Indianapolis disappeared under water. About 300 of the 1,196 crew members went to the bottom with him. The rest ended up in the water and on life rafts. Life jackets and high water temperatures in this part of the Pacific Ocean allowed the sailors to wait for help for a long time. The captain reassured the crew: they were in an area where ships constantly cruised, and they would soon be discovered.

An unclear story has developed with the SOS signal. According to some sources, the cruiser's radio transmitter failed, and the crew was unable to send a signal for help. According to others, the signal was nevertheless sent and even received by at least three American stations, but was either ignored or perceived as Japanese disinformation. Moreover, the American command, having received a report that the Indianapolis had completed a mission to deliver cargo to Tinian, lost sight of the cruiser and did not show the slightest concern about it.

Surrounded by sharks

On August 2, the crew of the American PV-1 Ventura patrol aircraft was surprised to find dozens of people in the water who turned out to be exhausted and half-dead sailors of the US Navy. After the pilots’ report, a seaplane was sent to the area, followed by American military vessels. For three days, until help arrived, a terrible drama played out in the middle of the ocean. The sailors died from dehydration, hypothermia, and some went crazy. But that was not all. The crew of the Indianapolis was surrounded by dozens of sharks that attacked people, tearing them apart. The blood of the victims, getting into the water, attracted more and more predators.

It is not known for certain how many sailors became victims of sharks. But of those bodies of the dead that were managed to be lifted from the water, traces of shark teeth were found on almost 90. 321 people were raised alive from the water, five more died on board the rescue ships. A total of 883 sailors died. The death of the Indianapolis went down in the history of the US Navy as the most massive loss of personnel as a result of a single sinking.

Survivors from the Indianapolis on the island of Guam.

April 17th, 2013

Summer nights over the ocean in the tropics are especially dark, and the moonlight only emphasizes the thickness and viscosity of this darkness. The US Navy heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis sailed through the damp darkness of the night of July 29-30, 1945, carrying 1,200 crew members. Most of them were asleep, only those on watch were awake. And what could a powerful American warship fear in these waters long cleared of the Japanese?

After the crushing defeats of 1944 - near the Mariana Islands and the Philippines - the Japanese Imperial Navy, which once terrorized the entire Pacific Ocean, simply ceased to exist. The overwhelming majority of its combat units lay on the bottom, and the few surviving large ships were finished off by aircraft from the aircraft carriers of the 5th Fleet right in the harbor of the Kure naval base. The beauty and pride of Japan, a symbol of its naval power and the entire nation, is the magnificent Yamato, the most powerful of all battleships created by mankind, was sunk by the aircraft of Admiral Mark Mitscher on April 7, 1945, during the battleship’s last voyage to the shores of Okinawa. The Yamato was saved neither by its unusually thick armor, nor by its design features, which made the ship very difficult to sink, nor by two hundred anti-aircraft guns, which turned the sky above the battleship into a continuous curtain of fire.

As for the Japanese Air Force, no one took them seriously anymore. Veterans who defeated Pearl Harbor died at Midway and the Solomon Islands; and fledgling novice pilots became easy prey for the much more experienced and much better trained pilots of numerous American fighters. The war inexorably rolled towards its victorious conclusion for America.

Cruiser Indianapolis (photo 07/10/1945)

True, there remained kamikaze pilots, fearlessly ramming ships, but through air combat patrols and dense anti-aircraft fire only a few made it to the target, so the impact of these weapons was, rather, purely psychological. One such suicide bomber crashed into the deck of the Indianapolis during the battles for Okinawa, but so what? There was a fire (which was quickly put out), some things were destroyed or damaged... and that was it.

There were casualties, but the crew reacted to this with the indifference of seasoned soldiers - after all, as a result of this attack, the cruiser went for repairs to San Francisco, where it remained for two months away from the war. It's much nicer to drink whiskey on the beach than wait for the next crazy Japanese to fall on your head. The war is about to end - and dying at the end of the day is doubly offensive.

It was also possible to run into some rogue enemy submarine - according to intelligence data, a certain number of these lone sea wolves were still prowling the waters of the Pacific Ocean in search of unprotected targets for attack - but for a high-speed warship the likelihood of such an encounter is very small (much less than the risk of getting hit by a car when crossing the street in New York).

However, such thoughts occupied few people on board the Indianapolis - let the head of these problems hurt the one who is entitled to such an illness according to the state. Captain McVeigh, for example.

Cruiser commander

The cruiser's commander, Captain Charles Butler McVeigh, at forty-six, was an experienced sailor who deservedly found himself on the command bridge of a heavy cruiser. He met the war with Japan with the rank of commander, being the chief mate of the cruiser Cleveland, and participated in many battles, including the capture of the islands of Guam, Saipan and Tinian and the largest battle in the history of naval warfare at Leyte Gulf; earned the Silver Star. And that night, despite the late hour - eleven in the evening - he did not sleep. Unlike most of his subordinates, McVeigh knew much more than any of them, and this knowledge did not at all add to his peace of mind.

...It all started in San Francisco. The ship's repairs at the Mar Island shipyard, about twenty miles from the city, were nearing completion when McVeigh was unexpectedly called to the headquarters of the California naval base. The order received was brief: “Make a ship for the voyage.” And then an order was received to move to another shipyard, Hunter Points, and wait for the arrival of high-ranking guests from Washington. Soon, General Leslie Groves, the head of the secret “Manhattan Project” (and McVeigh, naturally, had no idea what the essence of this very project was), and Rear Admiral William Parnell appeared on the cruiser.

High-ranking officials briefly outlined the essence of the matter to the captain: the cruiser must take on board a special cargo with accompanying persons and deliver it safe and sound to its destination. They didn’t say where, the commander had to find out from the package handed to him from the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander of the US Armed Forces, Admiral William D. Leahy. The package was decorated with two impressive red stamps: “Top Secret” and “Open at Sea.” The captain was also not informed about the nature of the cargo; Parnell said: “Neither the commander, nor, especially, his subordinates are supposed to know about this.” But the old sailor instinctively understood: this damn special cargo is more expensive than the cruiser itself and even the lives of its entire crew.

Part of the cargo was placed in the seaplane hangar, and the other part - probably the most important (packed in a package reminiscent of an impressively sized women's hat box) - in the commander's cabin. The silent accompanying officers settled in the same place. Noticing the emblems of the chemical forces on them, Charles McVeigh thought with the disgust of a real soldier accustomed to honest methods of combat: “I really didn’t expect that we would end up with bacteriological warfare!” However, he did not say anything out loud - many years of service in the navy taught him to be able to keep his mouth shut in appropriate situations. But the captain didn’t like this whole story from the very beginning - there was something too sinister in it...

Fatal cargo

The heavy cruiser Indianapolis was laid down on March 30, 1930. The ship was launched on November 7, 1931 and commissioned on November 15, 1932. The ship's total displacement is 12,755 tons, length 185.93 m, width 20.12 m, draft 6.4 m. The cruiser reached a speed of up to 32.5 knots with a turbine power of 107,000 hp. The ship's armament consisted of nine 203 mm guns in three turrets, eight 127 mm guns and 28 anti-aircraft guns of various calibers. The ship had two catapults and four aircraft. The ship's crew in 1945 was 1,199 people.

The cruiser Indianapolis took an active part in the war with Japan. On the evening of February 20, 1942, the cruiser took on its first battle, when a formation of American ships was attacked by eighteen Japanese bombers. In this battle, fighters from the aircraft carrier and anti-aircraft fire from the escort ships shot down sixteen Japanese aircraft, and later two seaplanes tracking the American ships. On March 10, 1942, the 11th Operational Command, which included Indianapolis, attacked Japanese bases in New Guinea. They managed to inflict heavy damage on Japanese warships and transport ships. After this battle, the cruiser escorted a convoy to Australia and underwent repairs and modernization.

From August 7, 1942, the cruiser took part in operations near the Aleutian Islands. In January 1943, Indianapolis destroyed the Akagane Maru transport loaded with ammunition with artillery fire. After undergoing repairs on Mar Island, the cruiser returned to Pearl Harbor, where she became the flagship of the 5th Fleet commander, Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance. On November 10, 1943, Indianapolis took part in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. On November 19, Indianapolis, as part of a detachment of cruisers, bombarded Tarawa Atoll and Makin Island. On January 31, 1944, the cruiser took part in the shelling of the islands of Kwajelein Atoll. During March and April, Indianapolis participated in attacks on the Western Carolinas. In June, the cruiser took an active part in the invasion of the Mariana Islands. After undergoing regular repairs at the Mar Island Naval Shipyard, on February 14, 1945, the cruiser became part of Vice Admiral Mark Mitscher's fast aircraft carrier formation. From February 19, the formation provided cover for the landing on the island of Iwo Jima. On March 14, 1945, Indianapolis took part in the capture of Okinawa. On March 31, the cruiser's signalmen noticed a Japanese fighter that began an almost vertical dive onto the cruiser's bridge. The plane was damaged by anti-aircraft fire, but a Japanese suicide pilot dropped a bomb from a height of eight meters and crashed into the aft part of the upper deck. The bomb, having pierced all the decks of the cruiser and the bottom, exploded, damaging the bottom of the ship in several places. Several compartments were filled, 9 sailors were killed. Indianapolis reached the shipyard on the island of Mar under its own power.

The crew and passengers (army and navy officers were returning to Hawaii on board the Indianapolis) showed keen curiosity about the mysterious “hatbox.” However, any attempts to find out anything from the silent sentries were a complete failure.

At 0800 on July 16, 1945, the heavy cruiser Indianapolis weighed anchor, passed the Golden Gate and entered the Pacific Ocean. The ship set course for Pearl Harbor, where it arrived safely after three and a half days - almost the entire time at full speed.

The stay on Oahu was short - only a few hours. The cruiser dropped the left anchor and, having worked with the engines, poked its stern into the pier. The passengers disembarked, and the ship hurriedly took on fuel and provisions and left Pearl Harbor just six hours after arrival.

The Indianapolis arrived at the island of Tinian in the Mariana archipelago on the night of July 26. The moon, rising above the ocean, flooded with its deathly ghostly light the endlessly rolling strings of waves, decorated with white plumes of crests, towards the sandy shore. The primeval beauty of this spectacle did not delight Captain McVeigh at all: because of the waves and depths it is impossible to get close to the shore, and then this damned moon hangs overhead like a huge flare, turning all the ships on the island roadstead into ideal targets for night torpedo bombers. US aircraft completely dominated the skies over the Marians, but McVeigh had already sufficiently studied the desperation of samurai and their penchant for adventurous antics.

A few days later, on the bomb being dropped, the crew of the Enola Gay aircraft made an ominous and mournful inscription “A gift for the souls of the dead Indianapolis crew members”!

But everything worked out. At dawn, a self-propelled barge with big shots from the command of the local garrison approached the Indianapolis - there was an airbase on the island, from where the B-29 “superfortresses” flew to bomb the metropolis of the Japanese Empire. They got rid of the special cargo quickly - there was nothing left of it: a few boxes and the notorious “hat box”. The people worked quickly and harmoniously, spurred on by strict orders and an unconscious desire to quickly get rid of this mysterious piece of junk along with its gloomy, unresponsive accompaniments. Captain McVeigh watched the unloading with mixed feelings: the precise execution of the order pleased the heart of the old servant, but the feeling of fulfillment debt was mixed with something else, incomprehensible and disturbing. The commander suddenly caught himself thinking that he would give a lot to never see this stupid “hatbox” in his eyes... The diesel engine started knocking on the barge, the boatswain’s crew removed the mooring lines. Captain Parsons, who was in charge of the unloading (aka “Yuja” - all those accompanying him had nicknames, like Chicago gangsters), politely touched the visor of his cap and shouted to McVeigh from the departing self-propelled gun: “Thank you for your work, captain! Good luck!".

Strange order

The heavy cruiser remained for several more hours in the open roadstead of Tinian, awaiting further orders from the headquarters of the commander of the Pacific Fleet. And closer to noon the order came: “Proceed to Guam.”

And then, something incomprehensible began. Captain McVeigh quite reasonably assumed that his ship would be delayed in Guam: almost a third of the Indianapolis crew were fresh recruits who had not really seen the sea (let alone smelled gunpowder!), and for them it was urgently necessary to conduct full cycle of combat training.

And, in fact, where and why to send a warship of this class at the present time? Who to fight with? Where is the enemy who might be a worthy target for the eight-inch guns of a heavy cruiser? Later, perhaps, when the long-planned Operation Iceberg begins - an invasion of the islands of Japan proper - which is being talked about at headquarters (and not only at headquarters), then yes. The cruiser has already had to provide fire support to the landing party - its commander is well familiar with this work. But now? Why drive a ship from one point of the ocean - from the Mariana Islands to the Philippines - to another, burning fuel, if the presence of a cruiser in any Pacific region is equivalent from a military point of view?

However, it turned out that the logic of the senior naval commander of the area, Commodore James Carter, was somewhat different from the logic of Captain Charles McVeigh. Carter categorically told the cruiser commander that the ocean was spacious enough and you could study anywhere. McVeigh's references to the fact that already during the passage of the Indianapolis from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor it became clear that his team was unprepared to solve serious combat missions did not make any impression on the commodore. “The boss is always right!” - this aphorism is true everywhere.

Carter had the last word, and the cruiser’s commander silently held his cap. Nevertheless, McVeigh got the impression that they were trying to push his ship anywhere as quickly as possible, to get rid of him, as if a yellow quarantine flag was flying at the mast of the Indianapolis - like over a plague-ridden ship.

Moreover, the captain did not receive any information about the presence or absence of enemy submarines in the ship’s voyage area, there were not at least a couple of frigates or destroyers for escort, and in Leyte Gulf (where the cruiser was ordered to go) they did not expect him at all and did not even know him, that he was heading towards them at all.

...And now the Indianapolis rips open the dark surface of the night ocean, leaving behind the stern a white-foamed trail of breakers glowing in the darkness. Lag hurriedly counts down mile after mile, as if the ship is running away from what he has done - even if not of his own free will...

Marine kamikazes

The submarine "I-58" under the command of Captain 3rd Rank Motitsuro Hashimoto had been off the Mariana Islands for the ninth day. Here, the lines of many American communications were pulled together into a tight knot, and it is much more convenient to intercept their ships here than further in the ocean, where convoys and individual ships follow arbitrary courses, which sharply reduces the likelihood of detecting the enemy. True, this area is more dangerous - coast-based aircraft and anti-submarine Catalinas constantly fly over it - but such a risk is inevitable and acceptable for a true warrior.

Submarine "I-58" (photo 04/01/1946)

But it was precisely because of these damned seaplanes that the Yankees “I-58” a few days ago missed a great opportunity to attack the discovered large high-speed target, which was heading somewhere to the west, to Tinian. Thanks to the radiometricians - they spotted the patrol “flying boat” in time, and the “I-58” went to a saving depth. However, it turned out to be impossible to pursue the enemy in a submerged position - there was not enough speed - and Hashimoto regretfully abandoned the torpedo attack. The drivers of the Kaiten human-controlled torpedoes, who were eager to go into battle, were even more upset, burning with the desire to give their lives as soon as possible for the beloved Tenno - the emperor. There were six Kaitens on board the I-58. These torpedoes - the naval analogue of kamikaze pilots - looked more like miniature submarines than torpedoes in the usual sense of the word. They did not fit into the torpedo tubes, but were mounted directly on the deck of the submarine. Immediately before the attack - when such a decision was made - the drivers climbed inside their mini-boats through special transfer hatches, battened down from the inside, unhooked from the carrier boat, started the engine running on hydrogen peroxide and set off to meet their own chosen fate.

The human torpedo carried three times more explosives (compared to the conventional Japanese Long Pike torpedo), and therefore the damage it caused to the underwater part of the attacked ship was assumed to be much more significant. And it seems that this was actually the case. Luck smiled on the Japanese submariner just yesterday: “I-58” struck with two “Kaitens” (they were released one after the other) on a single large tanker. The attacked ship sank so quickly, as if its entire bottom had been torn out at once; and Hashimoto congratulated his crew on their first combat success. The I-58 commander was by no means deluded; he understood perfectly well that the war was lost, and that none of his efforts would save Japan from inevitable defeat. But a real samurai drives away such spirit-weakening thoughts: there is a warrior’s duty, which must be performed with honor, without allowing any unworthy hesitation. However, an airplane is too dangerous an enemy for a submarine, practically inaccessible for a retaliatory strike. You can only hide from him...

When a few days later the same surface target appeared on the I-58 radar screen, there was no interference for a successful attack...

Submarine commander

Motitsuro Hashimoto became a submariner by vocation. At the naval school on the island of Etajima, according to tradition, the best graduates were sent to heavy artillery ships, and the average ones were sent to aviation and submarines. An amazing fact for the fleet, which was the first to create an aircraft carrier strike force, develop tactics for its combat use and apply theory into practice with amazing results! And underestimating the role of submarines led to irrational expenditure of the submarine forces of the Japanese Imperial Navy.

But even in such conditions, the Japanese achieved some success. It was the submarines that finished off the aircraft carriers Yorktown at Midway and Wasp at the Solomon Islands. The cherished dream of every submarine officer was to sink a battleship, and Hashimoto, who was the commander of several submarines, was no exception to this rule.

...At 23.00 on July 29, a sonar report was received: the noise of the propellers of a target moving on a counter course was detected. The commander ordered the ascent.

The navigator was the first to detect the enemy ship visually, and immediately received a report about the appearance of a mark on the radar screen. Having climbed to the upper navigation bridge, Hashimoto was convinced personally: yes, there is a black dot on the horizon; yes, she's getting closer.

“I-58” dived again - there was absolutely no need for the American radar to also detect the boat. The target's movement speed is decent, and the enemy can easily dodge. And if the enemy does not notice them, then a meeting is inevitable - the ship’s course leads directly to the submarine.

The commander watched through the periscope eyepiece as the point enlarged and turned into a silhouette. Yes, a large ship - very large! The height of the masts (with twenty cables this can already be determined) is more than thirty meters, which means that in front of it is either a large cruiser or even a battleship. Tempting prey!

There are two attack options: either discharge the bow tubes at the American with a six-torpedo fan, or use Kaitens. The ship is moving at a speed of at least twenty knots, which means, taking into account errors in calculating the salvo, we can hope to be hit by one or two, or maximum three, torpedoes. There were no homing acoustic torpedoes on board the I-58 - such weapons appeared too late in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Will a pair of Long Peaks be enough to break the back of a heavy cruiser?

"Kaiten" with its powerful charge is more reliable, and the man-guidance system is no less - if not more - effective than sophisticated technology. In addition, the Kaiten drivers, in a hurry to die with honor, behaved too expansively, unnerving the rest of the crew with their ardor. A real submariner must be cool and calm, because the slightest mistake of one can lead to the boat turning into one spacious steel coffin for everyone. Therefore, Hashimoto was not averse to getting rid of the suicide bombers as quickly as possible.

Looking up from the periscope, the I-58 commander said a short phrase: “Drivers “five” and “six” take their places!” Marine kamikazes - "Kaitens" - did not have names; they were replaced by serial numbers.

Retribution

When the water entwined with fire and smoke rose over the side of the Indianapolis, Charles McVeigh thought that the cruiser had been hit by a kamikaze again. The ship's commander made a mistake...

The plane and the Kaiten carried approximately the same amount of explosive, but the impact of the underwater explosion was much more powerful. The cruiser immediately sank, shuddering under the furious pressure of the sea rushing into the huge hole (the waterproof bulkheads closest to the point of impact were warped and burst). More than half of its crew - those who were in the engine room or sleeping in the cockpits - died immediately. But as it turned out later, their fate was not the worst.

More than five hundred people, including the wounded, ended up in the water. Blood got into the water, and what could be the best bait for sharks? And the sharks appeared and circled around the sailors in the water, methodically snatching out their victims. And still no help came...

While in Guam (where, as already mentioned, the cruiser was not expected at all) they learned that the Indianapolis had not arrived at its destination, while they sent ships and planes to search, while they found and picked up survivors...

Of the 1,199 people who were on the cruiser at the time of the I-58 attack, 316 were saved. 883 people died. It is unknown how many were from shark teeth, but 88 corpses picked up from the water were mutilated by predators, and many survivors had bite marks.

Indianapolis was the last major American warship sunk in the Pacific War, and much about the circumstances surrounding the cruiser's sinking remains mysterious. And the most interesting thing is the following: if the Catalina, which had accidentally deviated (due to a malfunction of the navigation equipment) from the usual patrol route, had not driven the I-58 under water, then the Indianapolis would have had every chance of ending up at the bottom a few days earlier, that is when on board there were components of two (or even three) atomic bombs. The same ones that were dropped on Japanese cities.

Two destinies

Captain Charles Butler McVeigh survived the sinking of his ship. He survived only to be put on trial on charges of “criminal negligence resulting in the death of a large number of people.” He was demoted and kicked out of the Navy, but the Secretary of the Navy later brought him back into service, appointing him commander of the 8th Naval Region in New Orleans. He retired from this post four years later with the rank of rear admiral. McVeigh led a bachelor's life on his farm until November 6, 1968, when the old sailor committed suicide by shooting himself. Why? Did he consider himself involved in the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and guilty of the deaths of almost nine hundred people from the crew of the Indianapolis?

The I-58 commander Motitsuro Hashimoto, who ended up a prisoner of war at the end of the war, was also tried by the Americans. The judges tried to get the Japanese submariner to answer the question: “How was the Indianapolis sunk?” More precisely, how was it sunk - by conventional torpedoes or by Kaitens? A lot depended on the answer: if Hashimoto used “Long Peaks”, then McVeigh was guilty of the death of his ship, but if human torpedoes were used... Then for some reason the charge of negligence against McVeigh was dropped, but Hashimoto himself automatically became a war criminal . It is clear that the Japanese did not smile at this prospect at all, and he stubbornly defended the version of sinking the American cruiser with conventional torpedoes. In the end, the judges left the stubborn samurai alone.

In '46, he returned to Japan, went through filtering and successfully withstood the pressure of journalists who wanted to know the truth about the night of July 29-30, 1945. The former submariner became a captain in the merchant fleet, and after retiring, became a bonzo in one of the Shinto shrines in Kyoto. The commander of the I-58 wrote the book Sunken, which tells about the fate of Japanese submariners, and died in 1968 - the same year as the former commander of the Indianapolis - without telling everything about the death of this ship.

Vladimir Kontrovsky

The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -