Crimes of Command
1945 - 1965
USS Indianapolis
Many Americans know her story, not from history, but instead from popular film via an emotional monologue delivered by a grizzled and scarred shark hunter in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster “Jaws.” Robert Shaw played Quint, a hardened fisherman drafted to help coastal New England sheriff Brody (played by Roy Scheider) and shark scientist Matt Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss). While on their mission to find and kill a shark terrorizing their summer resort town, Hooper asks Quint about his various scars, now faded and dim from exposure to sun and salt. Hooper and Quint end up playing a game of one-upmanship over scars and the mood starts out light, with all three men laughing as the two tell their tales.
Hooper points to a scar on Quint’s left arm. Learning it was the scar from a removed tattoo he jokes that the tattoo was likely “Mother.” Quint is suddenly still and distant. “You know what that is? That’s the USS Indianapolis.”
Hooper is immediately silent, then incredulous. “You were on the Indianapolis?” he asks. Brody, now a clear outsider asks “What happened?” Over the next three minutes Quint tells the USS Indianapolis’s story.
Two days out of Guam and only a day from the Philippines, steaming in uneventful, seemingly pacified and calm seas, Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes fired from the Japanese submarine I-58 shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945; she sank in less than 15 minutes. Quint summarizes the story of the next four days: “1100 men went in the water, 316 come out. The sharks took the rest.” Their mission was so secret, and the Pacific theater so large, that no one noticed Indianapolis was late arriving in port; on August 3rd a passing seaplane chanced upon survivors and sent out the distress call. The rescue and recovery operations went on for five days. Indianapolis’ loss was the single greatest loss of life in U.S. Navy history.
Read more about USS Indianapolis:
USS Queenfish
Four months before USS Indianapolis went to the bottom, a different submarine sank a different large ship and a different American captain was court-martialed for his actions in command. The eventual results, however, differed significantly.
Japan’s rapid thrust into the Pacific left thousands of American, British, and Australian citizens behind enemy lines. Allied forces worked through neutral Switzerland and transferred thousands of tons of relief supplies behind Japanese lines to assist the detainees. This practice continued through 1943 but halted in 1944, and there were no exchanges for over twelve months.
In early 1945 the Japanese, perhaps recognizing the impending end, agreed to restart relief deliveries. 2,000 tons of Red Cross packages were delivered to Soviet Siberia and loaded on two Japanese merchant ships: Hoshu Maru and Awa Maru. The Japanese freighter Hoshu Maru safely transported 275 tons to Shanghai. The second ship, Awa Maru, carried the remaining 1,725 tons of supplies and took a more circuitous route leaving Japan in mid-February, traveling to Singapore, then returning via Hong Kong, Taiwan, Saigon, Indonesia before sailing for Japan. The ship had special markings identifying her as a non-combatant and her route was provided to the Allies — detailed with expected positions, port call times, and speed of travel. The Allies, in turn, guaranteed Awa Maru’s safety. Pacific Fleet command sent orders to all ships and submarines in the Pacific Theater detailing Awa Maru’s intended transit times and locations, admonishing that anyone attacking her violated the laws of warfare. But, not all guarantees are infallible, and this was the case for Awa Maru.
Read more about USS Queenfish, Awa Maru, the Pacific Submarine war:
Many Americans know her story, not from history, but instead from popular film via an emotional monologue delivered by a grizzled and scarred shark hunter in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster “Jaws.” Robert Shaw played Quint, a hardened fisherman drafted to help coastal New England sheriff Brody (played by Roy Scheider) and shark scientist Matt Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss). While on their mission to find and kill a shark terrorizing their summer resort town, Hooper asks Quint about his various scars, now faded and dim from exposure to sun and salt. Hooper and Quint end up playing a game of one-upmanship over scars and the mood starts out light, with all three men laughing as the two tell their tales.
Hooper points to a scar on Quint’s left arm. Learning it was the scar from a removed tattoo he jokes that the tattoo was likely “Mother.” Quint is suddenly still and distant. “You know what that is? That’s the USS Indianapolis.”
Hooper is immediately silent, then incredulous. “You were on the Indianapolis?” he asks. Brody, now a clear outsider asks “What happened?” Over the next three minutes Quint tells the USS Indianapolis’s story.
Two days out of Guam and only a day from the Philippines, steaming in uneventful, seemingly pacified and calm seas, Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes fired from the Japanese submarine I-58 shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945; she sank in less than 15 minutes. Quint summarizes the story of the next four days: “1100 men went in the water, 316 come out. The sharks took the rest.” Their mission was so secret, and the Pacific theater so large, that no one noticed Indianapolis was late arriving in port; on August 3rd a passing seaplane chanced upon survivors and sent out the distress call. The rescue and recovery operations went on for five days. Indianapolis’ loss was the single greatest loss of life in U.S. Navy history.
Read more about USS Indianapolis:
- Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic
- In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton
- Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis by Pete Nelson and Hunter Scott
USS Queenfish
Four months before USS Indianapolis went to the bottom, a different submarine sank a different large ship and a different American captain was court-martialed for his actions in command. The eventual results, however, differed significantly.
Japan’s rapid thrust into the Pacific left thousands of American, British, and Australian citizens behind enemy lines. Allied forces worked through neutral Switzerland and transferred thousands of tons of relief supplies behind Japanese lines to assist the detainees. This practice continued through 1943 but halted in 1944, and there were no exchanges for over twelve months.
In early 1945 the Japanese, perhaps recognizing the impending end, agreed to restart relief deliveries. 2,000 tons of Red Cross packages were delivered to Soviet Siberia and loaded on two Japanese merchant ships: Hoshu Maru and Awa Maru. The Japanese freighter Hoshu Maru safely transported 275 tons to Shanghai. The second ship, Awa Maru, carried the remaining 1,725 tons of supplies and took a more circuitous route leaving Japan in mid-February, traveling to Singapore, then returning via Hong Kong, Taiwan, Saigon, Indonesia before sailing for Japan. The ship had special markings identifying her as a non-combatant and her route was provided to the Allies — detailed with expected positions, port call times, and speed of travel. The Allies, in turn, guaranteed Awa Maru’s safety. Pacific Fleet command sent orders to all ships and submarines in the Pacific Theater detailing Awa Maru’s intended transit times and locations, admonishing that anyone attacking her violated the laws of warfare. But, not all guarantees are infallible, and this was the case for Awa Maru.
Read more about USS Queenfish, Awa Maru, the Pacific Submarine war:
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