Indianapolis was a United States Navy ship that served in World War II (1939-1945). A Japanese submarine sank Indianapolis in the final weeks of the war, causing the worst loss of life at sea in U.S. Navy history. USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was a type of warship called a cruiser . USS stands for United States Ship. CA is the Navy’s designation for a heavy cruiser.
Indianapolis was at sea when the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , on Dec. 7, 1941. The ship then became active throughout the war in the Pacific Ocean . In July 1945, Indianapolis delivered key parts of the atomic bomb “Little Boy” to Tinian Island in the northern Mariana Islands . The bomb was later dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima .
On July 30, Japanese torpedoes struck Indianapolis while it was at sea between Guam and the Philippines . The cruiser quickly sank, along with about 300 of the 1,195 sailors on board. Many crew members escaped the ship and remained afloat with life jackets. A few were in life rafts. For days, the men lacked food and drinking water. They also faced the constant threat of sharks . On August 2, a passing aircraft spotted them and a rescue effort arrived later that day. However, of the roughly 900 crew members who escaped the sinking ship, only 316 finally survived. Most of the rest died from exposure or drowning. Some were killed by sharks.
The commanding officer of Indianapolis, Captain Charles McVay, survived. However, a general court-martial found him guilty of negligence (carelessness) in putting the ship at risk. McVay was deeply troubled by the experience and committed suicide in 1968. Many crew members felt the Navy had wrongly accused McVay and sought to clear his name. In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution that cleared McVay of any wrongdoing in the loss of Indianapolis. In 2001, the Navy placed the resolution in McVay’s service record.
For its wartime service, Indianapolis earned 10 battle stars. A battle star is awarded for a ship’s participation in a military campaign. The city of Indianapolis is now home to the USS Indianapolis National Memorial and the USS Indianapolis Museum.
