{"title":"USS Indianapolis (CA-35)","description":"\u003ch2\u003eUSS Indianapolis (CA-35): A Mission That Ended Everything\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSome ships carry history in ways that transcend the normal measure of battle stars and gun ranges. USS Indianapolis is one of them. Commissioned on 15 November 1932, she was the second Portland-class heavy cruiser and served with distinction throughout the Pacific War, earning ten battle stars across four years of combat. But she is remembered above all for a single classified mission in the summer of 1945, and for the catastrophic events that followed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIndianapolis began the Pacific War as flagship of the Fifth Fleet under Admiral Raymond Spruance, one of the most capable flag officers in American naval history. She was at Tarawa, at the Marshalls, at the Marianas, and at the Philippine Sea in June 1944, the \u003cstrong\u003eBattle of the Philippine Sea\u003c\/strong\u003e, nicknamed the \"Great Marianas Turkey Shoot,\" where American aviators shattered Japanese carrier aviation so thoroughly it never recovered. She was at Leyte Gulf, supporting the largest naval engagement in history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn March 1945, off Okinawa, a kamikaze crashed through Indianapolis' main deck and detonated beneath her keel. The explosion killed nine men and caused severe hull damage, forcing her back to Mare Island for repairs that lasted months. Those repairs, as it turned out, kept her available for the mission that would define her place in history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn 26 July 1945, Indianapolis departed Tinian Island having delivered the core components of \"Little Boy\", the uranium bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Her mission was completed. She was ordered to Leyte to join training exercises. She never arrived.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShortly after midnight on 30 July 1945, the Japanese submarine I-58 fired six torpedoes. Two hit Indianapolis. She sank in approximately twelve minutes, taking 300 men with her immediately. Approximately 879 men went into the water in the darkness of the Philippine Sea. Due to a catastrophic failure of communication, the Navy did not realize Indianapolis was missing for four days. When a patrol aircraft finally spotted survivors on 2 August, only 316 men remained alive. The rest had died of shark attacks, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, exposure, and drowning, the worst loss of life at sea in U.S. Navy history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe crew of Indianapolis served with honor, carried out their mission, and deserved a Navy that knew where they were. Captain Charles McVay III was court-martialed, the only U.S. Navy captain court-martialed for losing a ship in combat, a verdict Congress later overturned by a sense of congressional honor. The survivors fought for decades to clear their captain's name. In 2000, Congress passed a resolution exonerating McVay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTen battle stars. One mission that changed the world. An ending that should never have happened. Tactically Acquired's USS Indianapolis (CA-35) collection is a tribute to the crew of one of the most consequential ships in American history. Never forget.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"url":"https:\/\/tacticallyacquired.com\/collections\/uss-indianapolis-ca-35-merchandise.oembed","provider":"Tactically Acquired","version":"1.0","type":"link"}