On July 30, 1945, at 12:05 A.M., four days after the U.S.S. Indianapolis, flagship of the massive Pacific Fifth Fleet, delivered the components of the Hiroshima bomb to Tinian, and just a few weeks before VJ Day, she was torpedoes by a Japanese submarine and sank within 15 minutes. Of the 1,196 men on board, approximately 400 went down with the ship and 800 safely abandoned her. Of these 800 men in the water, only 316 survived. This is the never-before-told story of what was America's greatest wartime sea disaster; of what really happened to the Indianapolis and her crew; why she should never have been sunk in the first place; why the U.S. Navy left her crew drifting in shark infested waters for four days even though they knew she was missing; and after heads were accidentally seen bobbing in the water why the Navy began a massive cover-up that lasted for over thirty years. Previously unavailable files obtained by the author reveal startling evidence that captains, commodores, and admirals were all involved in a conspiracy to conceal their massive blunders by using trumped-up evidence against the blameless captain of the Indianapolis, ruining his career, reputation, and life.

Lech, Raymond B.