On July 26, 1945, the heavy cruiser Indianapolis steamed into port at the Pacific island of Tinian, carrying a cargo that would end World War II: the uranium that would be dropped on Hiroshima just three weeks later. Having delivered its load without incident, Indianapolis moved on toward the Philippines to join the great armada moving in on Japan. Though intelligence reports assured Captain Charles McVay that the route from Guam to Leyte was safe, there were Japanese submarines active in the area. On the night of July 29, having detected with sonar the clinking of dishes aboard the Indianapolis from a distance of more than a dozen miles, the submarine I-58 sank the American ship, killing nearly 900 sailors in the explosion and its terrible aftermath.

Captain McVay was quickly court-martialed for having failed to follow evasive maneuvers, "the first captain in the history of the U.S. Navy," Doug Stanton observes, "to be court-martialed subsequent to losing his ship in an act of war." Although the sailors under his command would insist that McVay had been scapegoated, and although I-58's commander testified before the court that "he would have sunk the Indianapolis no matter what course she was on," McVay was never able to clear his name. He committed suicide in 1968.

Stanton captures the drama of these events in his vigorous narrative, which augments and updates Richard Newcomb's Abandon Ship!. Stanton observes that although McVay was exonerated by an act of Congress in 2000, the conviction still stands in Navy records. Stanton's book makes a powerful case for why that conviction should be overturned, and why the captain and crew of the Indianapolis deserve honor. --Gregory McNamee


From Publishers Weekly
Given the stringent precision of the U.S. Navy and military during wartime, how could a WWII battleship carrying over 1,000 men be torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sink, leaving the survivors to bob in the Pacific Ocean at the mercy of elements and predators, without anyone realizing the loss for more than four days? Stanton not only offers a well-researched chronicle of what is widely regarded as the worst naval disaster in U.S. history, but also vividly renders the combatants' hellish ordeal during the sinking, and the ensuing days at sea as well as attempts to cope with the traumatic aftermath. Stanton documents the facts of the case, embellishing his story with lurid details gleaned from interviews with survivors. Though the ship's captain would become the first and only in U.S. naval history to be court-martialed for the loss of his ship, Stanton offers a solid body of evidence to justify the survivors' partially successful efforts to exonerate him. Stanton's omniscient narrative shifts among the individual perspectives of several principal characters, a successful technique that contributes to the book's absorbing, novelistic feel. Readers, of course, must trust Stanton and his research in order to be truly consumed, but the authority of his voice should win over all but the most obsessive skeptics. Illuminating and emotional without being maudlin, Stanton's book helps explain what many have long considered an inexplicable catastrophe. (May 21)Forecast: Following on the heels of the bestselling Abandon Ship, recently resurrected by Peter Maas, this book is unlikely to be ignored. A $150,000 marketing campaign includes a nine-city author tour, national print advertising, and target marketing to the military and naval market.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-On July 16, 1945, the battle cruiser USS Indianapolis left San Francisco for Tinian Island in the South Pacific. The secret mission, the identity of which was unknown to even Captain Charles Butler McVay, was to deliver parts for the atomic bomb "Little Boy" that was to be dropped on Hiroshima. After the delivery, the ship headed to Guam where it was to rejoin the fleet for the proposed invasion of Japan. It never made it. On July 29, 1945, the cruiser was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Stanton begins this harrowing true story with Captain McVay's suicide in 1968, and continues in a style that reads like an adventure novel. More than 1200 men were aboard the Indianapolis when it left San Francisco; approximately 300 were killed by the torpedoes. The rest were tossed into the South Pacific and remained there for nearly five days facing dehydration, starvation, exposure, and recurring shark attacks. Due to a series of tragic errors, no rescue operation was mounted. The 321 men who ultimately survived (four of whom subsequently died) were found purely by accident. Captain McVay, scapegoated by the Navy, was court-martialed and convicted of negligence, despite the ongoing protests of his remaining crew. At the time, their story was lost in the euphoria of Japan's surrender and the Navy's desire to ignore their errors. It is time their story is told and Stanton has done it magnificently, with meticulous research and great poignancy.Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VACopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Has anyone not yet heard of the tragedy of the USS Indianapolis? Several books, many articles, a TV movie, and constant replays on the History Channel have been dedicated to this fiasco. Journalist Stanton has written a compelling, eminently readable account of the Indianapolis for the nonspecialist. Just before the end of the war, the heavy cruiser was sent from San Francisco to Tinian in great secrecy, carrying the atomic bomb. After delivering her cargo, the ship was ordered to the Philippines and torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on July 20, 1945. Because of a foul-up at naval headquarters, no one realized that the ship was overdue, and a search was not organized. Consequently, survivors of the torpedoing were in the water for several days, and 600 died from exposure and shark attacks. Finally, after five days, the navy sent out rescue vessels, and 318 were saved. The navy high command decided to save its reputation by scapegoating Capt. Charles Butler McVay. At his court-martial, the jury of admirals was instructed to find him guilty, a verdict surviving crew members tried to overturn for 50 years. Last year, the navy finally admitted that McVay was not in any way responsible for the loss of his ship, though sadly it was too late for McVay; he committed suicide 20 years after his court-martial. Richard Newcomb first revealed this story in his Abandon Ship! (1958), which has recently been reissued by Harpercollins with an update by Peter Maas. Newcomb's book is more scholarly, and he had access to many survivors then still living. His book's coverage of the new trial held in 2000 is also more thorough than Stanton's. Both books are worth purchasing and should be in every public and college library. Stanley Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, NY Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
The USS INDIANAPOLIS, a WWII cruiser, was sunk by a Japanese submarine a few days before the war ended; the Navy took four days to discover the loss. Grover Gardner's clear and well-paced narration melts into the vivid images he portrays while recounting, without excitement, the death throes of the ship, the smell of burned flesh in fuel oil, the eating of survivors by sharks, and the madness of dehydration. Gardner's somber portrayal of the captain's suicide in the opening chapter sets the mood for a true story of military tragedy, survival, heroism, and courage, stained by the government's refusal to blame itself for the sinking. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
One of the more notorious snafus of World War II concerned the July 1945 sinking of the cruiser USS Indianapolis by a Japanese submarine, with the loss of almost 900 sailors. Richard Newcomb's Abandon Ship! (1958) successfully recounted the disaster, but Stanton's account isn't at all redundant. Superbly crafted, it benefits from sympathetic research on the Indianapolis survivors, the horror of their experiences, and their courage in surviving. After the 300 men who hadn't been blown up, burned, drowned, or devoured by sharks were rescued, it emerged that the disaster was exacerbated by the navy's having incompetently lost track of the Indianapolis, which delayed rescue. Yet only Indianapolis captain Charles McVay was punished, and his heroism after the sinking was officially ignored, albeit not by the men he encouraged to hang on during four days of drifting in the ocean and, for many, dying. That horrible ordeal Stanton renders vividly, thanks to the recollections of several living survivors and his evocative narrative style. Expect strong demand for this powerfully engaging book. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
How does a U.S. battle cruiser, torpedoed by a Japanese sub in the Pacific, go completely undetected by the Navy for five days? How did the 900 survivors of the blast -- thrown into the water and left to fight off hypothermia, sharks, and mounting despair -- get through the ordeal? In the compelling pages of In Harm's Way, Doug Stanton draws on previously unknown information and has conducted extensive interviews with the survivors of the USS Indianapolis in order to bring this amazing WWII tale of courage and sacrifice to the reader.

Stanton begins by presenting a look at Indianapolis captain Charles McVay, the only captain of a sunken ship to be court-martialed for "negligence." Stanton presents McVay as a precise and thoughtful commander who cared deeply for his crew -- and who wound up emotionally devastated by the sinking and its aftermath.

Ship's doctor Lewis Haynes is also profiled. When the ship is hit, Haynes's life is saved by an officer who warns him of imminent danger -- before being incinerated before Haynes's eyes by the force of an explosive flash fire. When the crew then abandons ship and winds up in the Pacific, Haynes does all he can to attend to the wounded while (literally) trying to talk them out of suicide.

Meanwhile Giles McCoy, a young marine private eager for some military action, finds his military toughness tested when he finds himself trying to herd the crewmembers -- scattered and drifting randomly through the oil-slicked waters -- together into a cohesive group.

Stanton alternates between relating the experiences of these three key men and detailing the frustratingly complex behind-the-scenes bureaucracy of the Navy. The Navy, amazingly, allowed the cruiser, which had just delivered the integral components of the "Little Boy" atomic bomb to Tinian Island in the South Pacific, to cross the Pacific unescorted -- a decision practically unheard of in wartime. The position of the Indianapolis was unknown to the Navy because of a series of snafus that defy belief -- each naval division, basically, thought another knew where the ship was!

The centerpiece of the book -- one that will chill every reader to the bone -- is the nearly five-day ordeal experienced by the 300 men adrift in the ocean: no food, no water, some burned so badly that their flesh hung off their bodies, some blinded, all at the mercy of hundreds of hungry sharks! It's an ordeal that is simply unthinkable and unbelievable -- but it happened.

After the rescue of the survivors -- only 317 out of the original crew complement of 1,196 survived -- came the court-martial of McVay, a man already consumed with grief and loss. What was the primary charge? "Failure to abandon ship in a timely manner." Since the ship had been torpedoed and sunk in a matter of moments, this was a bitter pill indeed. But McVay -- who would eventually take his own life -- felt responsible for the ship and his men, so he didn't contest his punishment. Based on Stanton's spellbinding account, however, it seems that it was the Navy itself which should have been on trial. (Nicholas Sinisi)

Nicholas Sinisi is the Barnes & Noble.com History Editor.

ANNOTATION

Drawing on new material and extensive interviews with survivors, In Harm's Way relates the tragedy of the USS Indianapolis not as a history of war, but as a portrait of men battling the sea. Interweaving the stories of three survivors - Charles Butler McVay, the captain; Lewis Haynes, the ship's doctor; and Private Giles McCoy, a young marine - journalist Doug Stanton has brought this astonishing human drama to life in a narrative that is at once immediate and timeless.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On July 30, 1945, after completing a top secret mission to deliver parts of the atom bomb "Little Boy," which would be dropped on Hiroshima, the battle cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained, undetected by the navy, for nearly five days. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to survive, fighting off hypothermia, sharks, physical and mental exhaustion, and, finally, hallucinatory dementia. By the time rescue -- which was purely accidental -- arrived, all but 321 men had lost their lives; 4 more would die in military hospitals shortly thereafter.

The captain's subsequent and highly unusual court-martial left many questions unanswered: How did the navy fail to realize the Indianapolis was missing? Why was the cruiser traveling unescorted in enemy waters? And perhaps most amazing of all, how did these 317 men manage to survive?

Drawing on new material and extensive interviews with survivors, In Harm's Way relates the tragedy of the USS Indianapolis not as a history of war, but as a portrait of men battling the sea. Interweaving the stories of three survivors -- Charles Butler McVay, the captain; Lewis Haynes, the ship's doctor; and Private Giles McCoy, a young marine -- journalist Doug Stanton has brought this astonishing human drama to life in a narrative that is at once immediate and timeless. The definitive account of a little-known chapter in World War II history, In Harm's Way is destined to become a classic tale of war, survival, and extraordinary courage.

SYNOPSIS

A harrowing, adrenaline-charged account of America's worst naval disaster at sea -- and of the heroism of the men who, against all odds, survived.

On July 30, 1945, after completing a top secret mission to deliver parts of the atom bomb "Little Boy," whichwould be dropped on Hiroshima, the battle cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained, undetected by the navy, for nearly five days. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to survive, fighting off hypothermia, sharks, physical and mental exhaustion, and, finally, hallucinatory dementia. By the time rescue -- which was purely accidental -- arrived, all but 321 men had lost their lives; 4 more would die in military hospitals shortly thereafter.

The captain's subsequent and highly unusual court-martial left many questions unanswered: How did the navy fail to realize the Indianapolis was missing? Why was the cruiser traveling unescorted in enemy waters? And perhaps most amazing of all, how did these 317 men manage to survive?

Drawing on new material and extensive interviews with survivors, In Harm's Way relates the tragedy of the USS Indianapolis not as a history of war, but as a portrait of men battling the sea. Interweaving the stories of three survivors -- Charles Butler McVay, the captain; Lewis Haynes, the ship's doctor; and PrivateGiles McCoy, a young marine -- journalist Doug Stanton has brought this astonishing human drama to life in a narrative that is at once immediate and timeless. The definitive account of a little-known chapter in World War II history, In Harm's Way is destined to become a classic tale of war, survival, and extraordinary courage.

FROM THE CRITICS

Mark Bowden

. . . powerfully-written account of a nightmare at sea, one of the most poignant tragedies and injustices of World War II . . .

James Bradley

. . . has done . . . a service by bringing the incredible yet almost-forgotten story of the USS Indianapolis to heart-pounding life . . . ￯﾿ﾽ

Rick Atkinson

A haunting story of valor, iniquity, and young men in peril on the sea . . . infuriating, mesmerizing, and heartbreaking . . .

Stephen E. Ambrose

. . . writes carefully and judiciously, with . . . timing and an eye for the right detail . . . the most frightening book I've ever read.

Mark Bowden