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In Harm's Way

the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors
Oct 12, 2016zipread rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
In Harm's Way. --- by. --- Doug Stanton. . Author Stanton has written a vivid narrative that would be unbelievable if it were a tale of fiction. But it is not. It is the story of a US naval vessel, the USS Indianapolis which at 12:05 am on July 30, 1945 was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Two of the four torpedoes the sub fired struck the Indianapolis. Within nine minutes the naval vessel sunk Of a crew of 1196, ultimately only 317 survived. Left adrift for four days after the sinking, naval incompetence finally realized a ship was missing. Military intelligence. The survivors were found more or less by accident before the navy even realized what had happened. One by one, the crew who had survived the sinking itself died of a variety of causes: hydration; sun and heat exposure; drowning; hallucination and predation by sharks. Fifty sailors were lost to sharks a night. The Sharks bumped up at the three life nets; they pulled sailors from their live preservers; they devoured them bit by bit. Gruesome to say the least. At the end of the war, the navy had to determine the cause of what it hadn't done to save the survivors. So they cast about for a scapegoat. They made one of the captain..Capain McVay was court martialed. Dishonoured though innocent he eventually committed suicide. Only much later did the navy admit its culpability. In 2000, an Act of Congress passed a resolution that Captain McVay's record should state that "he is exonerated for the loss of Indianapolis." President Bill Clinton signed the resolution. This book is not simply a story of recent history. It is a tale of incompetence at the highest level. It is a story about perseverance, of dedication and loyalty' It is a book both vivid and gripping. Hard to put down.