Indianapolis

USS Indianapolis moored in Pearl Harbor, 1937.

History

Design

USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was the second of two Portland-class heavy cruisers constructed by the US Navy. Under the terms of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, she could mass no more than 10,000 long tons; the final design managed to squeeze in at 9,950 tons. Like all treaty cruisers, she was a compromise between armor, speed, and armament.

Indianapolis’ predecessors of the Pensacola class sacrificed armor to achieve the main battery of ten (10) 8-inch barrels and a 32 knot top speed. It wasn’t realized until these ships began entering service in the late 1920’s that they were significantly under treaty weight limitations; subsequently, the Navy’s Bureau of Ships set about addressing the armor inadequacies of the design. Her belt and magazine armor were both substantially increased, and her armament was set at nine (9) 8-inch rifles in three triple turrets.

Service

Laid down on 31 March 1930 at the New York Shipbuilding Company in Camden, New Jersey, USS Indianapolis was commissioned into service on 15 November 1932. She was constructed with facilities befitting flag admirals and their staffs; this gave Indianapolis the unique honor of hosting and transporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt on three separate occasions during the mid-1930s, including state visits to several South American countries in late 1936.

At the outbreak of World War II, Indianapolis was on assignment at Johnston Atoll in the Central Pacific. She was reassigned to Task Force 11, seeing action during the Battle of the Coral Sea and, later, the re-capture of territory in the Aleutian Islands lost to Japan during the Battle of Midway. She reported to Mare Island, California for repair and refit in the summer of 1943; afterward, she returned to Pearl Harbor in August 1943 with a new assignment as the flagship of 5th Fleet under Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance.

Indianapolis flew Spruance’s flag for the remainder of 1943 and a significant portion of 1944, shepherding him through victories in the Marshall, Gilbert, and Marianas Islands campaigns. She participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the conquest of islands throughout the Central Pacific, including Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

She was gravely wounded at Okinawa in March 1945 by a Japanese kamikaze attack. When her repairs were completed in July, she was tasked with the top-secret mission of transporting components of the atomic bomb “Little Boy” to the island of Tinian. Indianapolis made the 5,000-mile journey in a record-breaking ten days. She was then ordered on to Okinawa by way of Leyte Gulf. It was to be her final assignment.

In the pre-dawn hours of 30 July 1945, the Japanese submarine I-58 put two torpedoes into Indianapolis. She sank in minutes, dumping more than three-quarters of her 1,200-man crew into the water. No distress call was received by Allied vessels; surviving crew spent more than three days adrift before they were discovered and rescued.

Between dehydration, fatigue, and shark attacks, there were only 316 survivors. Four days after their rescue, “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima, marking the final days of World War II and cementing Indianapolis’ place in history. In August 2017, her wreckage was located in the Philippine Sea, submerged beneath 18,000 feet (5,500 meters) of water and approximately 25 miles west of her last known position.

Historical Inaccuracies

• Indianapolis is depicted in 1944 condition. None of her early refits, including her original 1932 configuration, are represented.
• Indianapolis’ standard late-war Measure 22 camouflage is missing.
• Only one F4F Wildcat was converted into a floatplane and it was fitted with twin floats, not the single float configuration as shown in-game.
• Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane is missing. In 1945, Indianapolis was re-equipped with the Curtiss SC Seahawk, which is also missing.

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  USS Indianapolis (CA-35) moored in New York Harbor prior to World War II, date unknown.

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  USS Indianapolis, view of starboard bow underway, 27 September 1939.

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  Indianapolis underway in 1939.

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  Indianapolis in 1944 dazzle camouflage pattern.

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  Indianapolis off Mare Island, California, 10 July 1945.

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  Indianapolis's intended route from Guam to the Philippines.

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  Survivors of Indianapolis receiving medical treatment on Guam, August 1945.

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  Navy firing detail as part of a burial-at-sea in 2008 for one of the 317 survivors of the USS Indianapolis sinking on 30 July 1945.

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  USS Indianapolis National Memorial.