As “Roosevelt’s chosen ship of state when it was commissioned in 1932,” (27) the USS Indianapolis was in the harbor awaiting it’s repairs, which was estimated to take up the next six weeks. The Indy was where Captain Charles Butler McVay III got his first assignment commanding a ship. It was to commence on a secret mission to Tinian to drop off the first atomic bomb the world has ever known, and ha

lf of the amount of uranium 235 that was in the US at the time. The Indy would be serving as a replacement for the USS Pensacola since it had failed its sea tests. Upon receiving this news McVay was nervous about his now 13-year-old ship that was considered to be “past its prime;” seeing as one ship had already proved its effort futile. However, on July 16, 1945 McVay rounded up his crew, many of which were inexperienced, and left San Francisco to carry out his part in the war against Japan.

On the auspicious day of November 6, 1968, in his own home named the Winvian Farm, the legendary Captain McVay took his own life at the age of 70. He lived there with his second wife, Vivian, and two stepsons, Winthrop Smith Jr. and Gordon Linke, in Litchfield Connecticut.

Some topics in this essay:
Indy’s SOS, Captain Hashimoto, USS Indianapolis, Ed Brown, Admiral Oldendorf, War II, USS Bassett, Navy McVay’s, American History, USS Pensacola, uss indianapolis, ship sunk, torpedo hit, received message didn’t, uranium 235, captain mcvay, received message, message didn’t, indy reporting, abandon ship, didn’t indy reporting, world war ii, boys ship,