If you are a family member of one of the sailors of the USS Indianapolis Final Sailing Crew, please contact the USS Indianapolis CA35 Second Watch Organization. We are the descendants of these great heroes and our mission is to perpetuate the memory. Email address is IndySecondWatch@yahoo.com
Thank you,
Maria Eck Bullard
Daughter of USS Indianapolis Survivor Harold Eck
Chairman, USS Indianapolis Second Watch Organization
ussca35 said
Aug 20, 2017
This is moving and awe-inspiring. From what I can see, she still wears her coat of gray paint and is sitting upright on the ocean floor. I suspected she would be upright, since the USS Quincy, torpedoed and sunk at the battle of Savo Island, righted herself after she capsized.
ussca35 said
Aug 20, 2017
Correction: In a CNN video I saw what appeared to be a side scan sonar of the shipwreck, hence my comment about her being upright. But the pictures appear to be debris surrounding a piece of the Indy's bow, with the remainder of the wreck remaining to be located.
PFF said
Aug 20, 2017
If all the wreckage is photographed...can her sinking be reconstructed?
I still cannot make out what condition the ship is in, whether she is largely intact or in pieces. I hope she is largely intact, like the USS Quincy is. They are finding intact 40mm and 5 inch gun mounts on what appears to be at least pieces of the Indianapolis.
The image of the 5 incher reminded me of a view of an anti-aircraft gun on the wreck of the Bismarck.
ussca35 said
Aug 23, 2017
At least one of the Indianapolis's main 8-inch batteries is still intact and in place, still trained forward, as can be seen in the lead photo in this article:
More and more, I am reminded of the wreck of the USS Yorktown (CV-5). That gallant ship also rests three miles deep and is in remarkable shape as well. In fact, the hue of the two ship's paint schemes is remarkably identical. The Indy is also starting to seem a lot like another cruiser I keep referencing, the Quincy.
John Aldon said
Aug 27, 2017
There were numerous accounts of the discovery on the National news this past week. If you Google the ship, you will find some of the videos.
It's amazing that after 72 years, some of the parts like the anchor still look new. I hope they release more pictures or do a National Geographic special at some point.
ussca35 said
Sep 10, 2017
PBS is doing a live broadcast from the wreck site on September 13, 2017:
The live broadcast was fabulous. I watched it last night. The program had an exact model of the ship with all the details and the live images were amazingly clear from
the actual parts of the ship. They brought up facts that I was not aware of. Many men slept on deck in hammocks because it was so hot in the cabins.
Also I didn't know she carried 2 airplanes that could be lowered into the sea. Only one was on board at the sinking because the other compartment had the parts for the bomb.
Thanks for posting the PBS link.
SurvivorsDaughter said
Sep 14, 2017
Here is the full re-broadcast of the PBS LIVE discovery documentary:
You're welcome, John. The special was very tastefully done, but I am outraged that Richard Hulver dared to say Captain McVay "probably should have been zig-zagging." Doesn't he know McVay was allowed to zig-zag at discretion on the Indy's final voyage?! Hulver also does not seem to remember Captain Oliver Naquin caused the whole disaster to happen by not only failing to inform McVay of the Imperial Navy's "Tamon" submarine attack force but also of the sinking of the USS Underhill by one of those subs days before the Indy arrived in the Marianas. I am appalled some historians dare to speak against McVay in any way, shape, or form after his posthumous exoneration. Instead of musing over zig-zagging, Mr. Hulver, muse over why Naquin blundered so bad with that vital intelligence, a blunder that killed over 800 officers and men.
OsceolaS175 said
Sep 20, 2017
I watched the special, and my response is WOW. It was fantastic, well done, and respectfully. I was glued to the screen. The ship is in remarkable condition, her bulkheads intact. she didn't crush from the pressure at depth most likely due to her being filled with water through her bow damage. My uncle "Red" Scanlan was on her that day, he survived the sinking, ordeal in the water, and was rescued. He pasted in 1948 and I sadly never had the chance to spend any time with him. I had a copy of his statement on the sinking given at debriefing. as follows(best that I can remember)
"I was on watch at "Sky forward" when we were hit. The first explosion knocked me to the deck and the second threw me into the air and back to the deck. I checked in on my phones and was asked to see what the damage was. I said the bow had been blown off. They said to abandon ship, I took my phones off and walked off the ship. The deck was already awash"
If you are a family member of one of the sailors of the USS Indianapolis Final Sailing Crew, please contact the USS Indianapolis CA35 Second Watch Organization. We are the descendants of these great heroes and our mission is to perpetuate the memory. Email address is IndySecondWatch@yahoo.com
Thank you,
Maria Eck Bullard
Daughter of USS Indianapolis Survivor Harold Eck
Chairman, USS Indianapolis Second Watch Organization
This is moving and awe-inspiring. From what I can see, she still wears her coat of gray paint and is sitting upright on the ocean floor. I suspected she would be upright, since the USS Quincy, torpedoed and sunk at the battle of Savo Island, righted herself after she capsized.
Correction: In a CNN video I saw what appeared to be a side scan sonar of the shipwreck, hence my comment about her being upright. But the pictures appear to be debris surrounding a piece of the Indy's bow, with the remainder of the wreck remaining to be located.
If all the wreckage is photographed...can her sinking be reconstructed?
Damage control party [Redcaps[?]
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/03/23/3CCF3B1400000578-4190178-image-a-94_1486164305918.jpg
Survivors photographs:
youtube of rafts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6U8xRBO2b0
Vessel 92 USS Register
rescued survivors photograph
https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/two-survivors-are-brought-aboard-the-cecil-j-doyle.jpg
survivor account
http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/a5656/uss-indianapolis-survivor/
usmc Detaachment
https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/537632196bb3f71e543c73bf-2775-2076/2.3%20marine%20guard%20under%20turret.jpg
9 survivors USMC detachment[?]
http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/537632cb69bedd414e1d770a-1200-1000/7.2%20nine%20marine%20survivors.jpg
http://public.media.smithsonianmag.com/legacy_blog/USS_Indianapolis-survivors_on_Guam611.jpg
http://m1.i.pbase.com/g4/80/287380/2/63845531.GPd6dqah.jpg
http://m0.i.pbase.com/g4/80/287380/2/63845530.HGDTv2n7.jpg
https://chicomiranda.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/cm_indianapolis_13.jpg
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=TG%2bO2u4m&id=B86A44ADD5EA8A5775EAF464C90699768EE4D447&thid=OIP.TG-O2u4mT8wInzyCEpFg8QEsCy&q=uss+indianapolis+survivors+photographed&simid=608038826748086722&selectedIndex=2&qpvt=uss+indianapolis+survivors+photographed&ajaxhist=0
-- Edited by PFF on Sunday 20th of August 2017 06:36:49 PM
-- Edited by PFF on Sunday 20th of August 2017 06:46:48 PM
Here is a news article with fresh video from the search:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-indianapolis-new-video-of-sunken-world-war-ii-ship/
I still cannot make out what condition the ship is in, whether she is largely intact or in pieces. I hope she is largely intact, like the USS Quincy is. They are finding intact 40mm and 5 inch gun mounts on what appears to be at least pieces of the Indianapolis.
The image of the 5 incher reminded me of a view of an anti-aircraft gun on the wreck of the Bismarck.
At least one of the Indianapolis's main 8-inch batteries is still intact and in place, still trained forward, as can be seen in the lead photo in this article:
https://news.usni.org/2017/08/23/navy-uss-indianapolis-wreckage-well-preserved-depth-undersea-environment
More and more, I am reminded of the wreck of the USS Yorktown (CV-5). That gallant ship also rests three miles deep and is in remarkable shape as well. In fact, the hue of the two ship's paint schemes is remarkably identical. The Indy is also starting to seem a lot like another cruiser I keep referencing, the Quincy.
There were numerous accounts of the discovery on the National news this past week. If you Google the ship, you will find some of the videos.
It's amazing that after 72 years, some of the parts like the anchor still look new. I hope they release more pictures or do a National Geographic special at some point.
www.pbs.org/uss-indianapolis/home/
The live broadcast was fabulous. I watched it last night. The program had an exact model of the ship with all the details and the live images were amazingly clear from
the actual parts of the ship. They brought up facts that I was not aware of. Many men slept on deck in hammocks because it was so hot in the cabins.
Also I didn't know she carried 2 airplanes that could be lowered into the sea. Only one was on board at the sinking because the other compartment had the parts for the bomb.
Thanks for posting the PBS link.
www.youtube.com/watch
You're welcome, John.
The special was very tastefully done, but I am outraged that Richard Hulver dared to say Captain McVay "probably should have been zig-zagging." Doesn't he know McVay was allowed to zig-zag at discretion on the Indy's final voyage?! Hulver also does not seem to remember Captain Oliver Naquin caused the whole disaster to happen by not only failing to inform McVay of the Imperial Navy's "Tamon" submarine attack force but also of the sinking of the USS Underhill by one of those subs days before the Indy arrived in the Marianas. I am appalled some historians dare to speak against McVay in any way, shape, or form after his posthumous exoneration. Instead of musing over zig-zagging, Mr. Hulver, muse over why Naquin blundered so bad with that vital intelligence, a blunder that killed over 800 officers and men.
"I was on watch at "Sky forward" when we were hit. The first explosion knocked me to the deck and the second threw me into the air and back to the deck. I checked in on my phones and was asked to see what the damage was. I said the bow had been blown off. They said to abandon ship, I took my phones off and walked off the ship. The deck was already awash"