Book: Fatal Voyage

I am still fascinated as heck with the USS Indianapolis. I just can't fully wrap my brain around the events.

It is still a relatively recent event too. We still have survivors around to tell the story. They were there, and they witnessed the events.

I picked this book up a couple months ago and I am glad I did. It gives a good description of the events before, during, and after. It also goes in to some detail about the crew of the Japanese sub that sunk the USS Indianapolis.

I do appreciate that perspective. I did not realize that the Japanese were so eager to sacrifice themselves. I did not know that some of those guys would literally beg to ride a torpedo into a ship, assuring death and, in their opinion, immortality. It was prestigious to die in that particular way.

The focus point of the book is Captain McVay, who was loved by some of his crew, but also hated by the families of some of the men who did not survive. After reading this book, it does seem that Captain McVay was treated unfairly, and was made a scapegoat. It seems that he did everything right to avoid detection with the information he was provided.

One of the more odd events in American history occurs during McVay's court martial. The US asks that Mochitisura Hashimoto, the commander of the Japanese sub that sunk the USS Indianapolis, to testify against McVay.

This is a great, easy to read book. I am still scratching my head trying to figure out why Hollywood hasn't capitalized on this great story more. Movies have been made and the story was referenced in Jaws, but it is still an unknown in general event.