APRA HARBOR, Guam, Aug. 7 — Searchers today prepared to sail into the Philippine Sea for the second time this summer, hoping within the week to find the sunken cruiser USS Indianapolis, torpedoed during the closing days of World War II in the U.S. Navy's worst wartime disaster.
On July 30, 1945, the Indianapolis was hit by two Japanese torpedoes and sunk en route from this Guam harbor to Leyte in the Philippines. Almost 300 crew members went down with the ship, which sank in 12 minutes. Another 900 sailors survived the attack, but then faced 4½ days in the open ocean fighting exposure, hunger, thirst and sharks. Most had no life rafts. Only 316 men ultimately survived.
Deep-sea explorer Curt Newport is leading a team of marine experts hoping to find the ship, which could be three miles below the surface on the ocean floor. The Discovery Channel is funding the Indianapolis search and planning a documentary to air next year. If found, the wreckage will be filmed by cameras attached to an unmanned remotely operated vehicle, but the ship and its artifacts will not be touched or disturbed, Newport said.
In June, Newport led an initial investigation of the area with sidescan sonar equipment. That expedition revealed "targets" on the ocean bottom promising enough to warrant this close-up look with an unmanned sub and camera equipment.
During its June expedition, the team searched 500 square miles of ocean after narrowing the search by examining records of rescue workers who helped save survivors. They also took into account how long the ship traveled after being hit, as well as ocean currents and winds, in calculating where the ship’s remains would have settled.
Several days before being destroyed, the Indianapolis completed a secret mission, racing from San Francisco to the island of Tinian in the western Pacific, where it dropped off key components of the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima.
The Indianapolis has been in the news this year. A joint resolution now in Congress would clear the name of Indianapolis Capt. Charles McVay, court-martialed after the ship was sunk. McVay was convicted of "hazarding" his ship by failing to take evasive maneuvers, but is the only Navy captain so blamed for the loss of his ship during wartime.
Many Indianapolis survivors have long sought to overturn McVay's court-martial conviction and have been lobbying for congressional action.
