The Captain Stands Accused

The heavy cruiser Indianapolis was almost the last of the 437 combat ships lost by the U.S. Navy in World War II. Her loss led to the first general court-martial of a ship's commanding officer. In most cases where ships were sunk, routine reports were enough to show that negligence was not a factor; in others, courts of inquiry reached the same finding. Not so in the case of the cruiser which carried parts of the first atomic bomb to the Marianas, only to be lost a few days later on the way to Leyte, with the heaviest casualty list of any U.S. ship since the Arizona's at Pearl Harbor. The "Indy's" casualties: 880 dead or missing; 316 survivors, all of them injured.

This week, in an ordnance classroom at the Washington Navy Yard, Captain Charles Butler McVay III tensely fingered his class ring as he was arraigned before a seven-man court on two charges:

P: Negligence--in that he failed to steer a zigzag course through an area where enemy submarines might be met (the defense objected that this was conclusion-jumping).

P: Inefficiency--"many persons on board perished" because he failed to give timely orders to abandon ship.

Uniform of the Night. The proceedings would throw a legal searchlight on some, but not all, of the dark questions asked by hundreds of next of kin in angry letters to the Navy since the "Indy" was lost. The court-martial should show whether McVay, who was born to Navy tradition (his father is a retired admiral), was justified in steaming on a straight course at only 17 knots, especially as the ship had no submarine detection gear.

Skipper McVay was asleep in his sea cabin 20 feet from the bridge and wearing only his pajama tops when two torpedoes* struck the cruiser's starboard side, forward, and touched off a magazine. He ordered the navigator to send out a distress report, with the ship's position, then ran back to his cabin for his clothes.

By the time he was dressed, his senior subordinates were recommending that the ship be abandoned. Scrappy Captain McVay, who won the Silver Star for gallantry as second in command of the cruiser Cleveland in the Solomons, was not convinced at first. The court must decide whether his delay in issuing the order increased the ghastly loss of life.

The Lost Signal. Some of the other questions about the sinking of the Indianapolis are beyond the scope of the present court, may be answered later. It is known that her estimated arrival time at Leyte was sent out by radio from Guam. But was it ever received at Leyte, and if so, by whom? Were Leyte port authorities negligent in not reporting her overdue? Were there defects in the air searches (flown from three nearby bases) which failed to detect the cruiser's giant oil slick for three days after she sank?

Because hundreds (perhaps a majority) of the casualties got off the ship but were lost later, while wallowing for three days in the Philippine Sea, the answers to these questions were as important to Navy families as those to be answered in the court-martial of Captain McVay.

*Scuttlebutt reports that the Indianapolis ran into a minefield are ridiculed by Navy higher-ups.

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