During World War II, on July 30th of 1945 there was a tragic event that took place, which was the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. The United States involvement in the war was sparked by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, which spiraled into a series of conflicts between the two countries. This lead to the Japanese using it’s military technology to torpedo the USS
Indianapolis, sinking it in just twelve minutes. Over a thousand men had to jump overboard but only 317 survived due to injuries sustained during the bombing and people who died due to sharks! We know how they died but the question is why did they die?
This tragic event came about from small mistakes made earlier in the mission which resulted in one huge catastrophe. To begin,…show more content… Another significant mistake the navy made was sending the Indianapolis on the Peddie route without an escort because they felt that no escort ship was needed, the war had moved far north of Guam, and most of the hostile actions were now concentrated in the waters off the
Japanese main islands. The Peddie route crossed what was called the “backwaters” of the war during that time but McVay wanted the escort ship because the USS Indianapolis was not equipped with sonar which meant the ship had no way to detect enemy submarines. If the USS
Indianapolis was equipped with sonar they could have the detected the submarine before they got torpedoed and could have evaded the the tragic event that took place.
Lastly, one of the greatest miscalculations leading up to the tragic event was the navy losing the Indianapolis in the middle of the ocean because of miscommunication, mechanical failure, human errors, innocent assumptions, and shortsighted policies that occurred very early in the mission. Also, if the ship had more time for repairs instead of rushing out for the next mission they wouldn't have to travel under “Condition Yoke Modified,” which had all the
