Abandon Ship!: The Saga Of The U.S.S. Indianapolis, The Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster: Signed

by Richard F. Newcomb

Paper Book, 2001

Status

Available

Call number

940.54

Genres

Collection

Military, Home Security, Terrorism, World War

Publication

Harpercollins (2001), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 326 pages

Description

History. Military. Nonfiction. HTML: Sailing across the Pacific, the battle-scarred heavy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis had just delivered a secret cargo that would trigger the end of World War II. Heading westward, she was sunk by a Japanese submarine. In twelve minutes, some 300 men went down with her. More than 900 other spent four horrific days and five nights in the ocean with no water to drink, savaged by a pitiless sun and swarms of sharks. Incredibly, no one knew they were there until a Navy patrol plane accidentally discovered them. In the end, only 316 crewmen survived. How could this have happened�and why? This updated edition of Abandon Ship!, with an introduction and afterword by Peter Maas, supplies the chilling answer. A harrowing account of military malfeasance and human tragedy, Abandon Ship! also scrutinizes the role of the U.S. Navy in the disaster, especially the court-martial of the ship's captain, Charles Butler McVay III. Maas reveals facts previously unavailable to Richard Newcomb and chronicles a forty-year crusade to right a wrong, a crusade Abandon Ship! inspired..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member foof2you

Great story of the USS Indianapolis and the tragic story of survival and determination.

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LibraryThing member vguy

Harrowing enough story of disaster and subsequent scapegoating of the innocent and cover-up by a rule-bound hierarchy, (USNavy). Most fascinating is the postscript where a schoolboy hears a bit of the story while watching Jaws ( sharks were among the hazards of floating in the South Pacific after

the sinking). He got intrigued, then obsessed by the story and the injustice and eventually brought a tardy exoneration out of the Navy for Capt McVeigh, but too late: he'd put a bullet through his head at age 70.
The hearings and court martial procedures and witness statement are hard to follow; hard to make a narrative line through that kind of labyrinth. What stands out in that section is the calling of the Japanese sub captain as witness, in the face of much protest and against all precedent. Why the authorities called him is not illuminated. His testimony also exonerated the Captain (zig zag maneuvers would have made no difference) but the court found Capt M guilty anyway. Fiat justitia!

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LibraryThing member Mark-S

Good story well and simply told of the events underlying “the only court-martial in the history of the U. S. Navy of a commanding officer for loss of his vessel in wartime.”

LibraryThing member Greymowser

for my book club. Story about the death of the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis.

LibraryThing member gregdehler

Solid account of the USS Indianapolis sinking, with significant attention given to the investigation, courts-martial trial, and disciplinary actions in response to this tragedy. Newcomb is very critical of the Navy for its handling of the matter and how it scapegoated certain officers.

LibraryThing member kslade

Great true life story of survival during WW II. The story by the Capt. in "Jaws" is about it!

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