USS Indianapolis

Before recounting and offering insight to one of the saddest episodes in Naval history that occurred in the closing days of World War II, a brief backdrop of the incident.
On a clear moonlit night, the American naval vessel USS Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Seas. The ship sunk in the Marianna Trench, the deepest place on planet earth at c. 39,000 feet.
The initial explosion killed 300 sailors and cast 900 more into the shark-infested waters. Over 580 of the seamen either drowned or were killed by sharks that harassed the floating men for four days and nights. By all accounts the sailors had clung on floating debris, some with the support of life vests in the sea for this period of time were found and rescued quite by accident when a cargo plane discovered the men bobbing in the sea below. Because of radio silence, the secretive mission and the swiftness of the sinking, no one knew of the incident or the exact location of the ship. The loss of life was the worst from a single incident in Naval history.
The Indianapolis was on a top-secret mission under the command of Captain Charles B. McVay. She was unaccompanied, without effective submarine imaging equipment, and under orders to maintain radio silence. The ship was to deliver parts and the uranium projectile for the atomic bomb “Little Boy” to Tinian, a small island in the Mariannas group that was close enough to mainland Japan that airplanes could reach inland targets and return without refueling. The bomb was to be assembled on Tinian, loaded on the Enola Gray, and later dropped on Hiroshima. After delivering its secret cargo, the cruiser was ordered back to Guam and subsequently to Leyte. Underway, with standing orders to zigzag in waters where enemy submarines might be located, the ship’s captain, Charles B. McVay failed to implement this maneuver. Two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine commanded by Mochitsura Hashimoto struck the ship, causing massive damage, loss of life and subsequently sinking the American vessel.
Captain McVay was court-marshaled for disobeying orders and gross negligence by the Navy for failing to evade enemy fire. Despite support from many men under his command and the supportive testimony of the Japanese submarine commander, McVay was convicted and demoted. He committed suicide in 1968. He was exonerated in 2000 by Congressional resolution that declared “the American people should now recognize Captain McVay’s lack of culpability for the tragic loss of the USS Indianapolis and the lives of the men who died.”
Now a strange twist evolves regarding the tragedy (detailed in an article in the Smithsonian, by Jennifer Drapkin and Sarah Zielinski, April 2009 issue).
Donald Olson, an astrophysicist at Texas State University has applied his expertise to solving numerous historical mysteries, such as whether the “yellow orb” in the famous painting, Girls on the Pier, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch represents the moon or the sun, and why the object is not reflected in the water along with other images in the painting, the exact location of where Julius Caesar’s fleet landed during the invasion of Britain in 55 B.C., or why U. S. Marine landing craft despite extensive research and planning were stranded on a reef 600 yards off the coast of Tarawa leading to the deaths of 1,000 marines that were forced to wade ashore under withering enemy fire, and many other historical ambiguities.
When Dr. Olson applied his vast knowledge of astrophysical phenomenon, and his considerable intellect to the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, he concluded after reading survivors’ accounts, researching weather conditions and analyzing astronomical data at the time of the attack, that the submarine had located its target precisely when the cruiser was in the glittering path of the moon’s reflection, allowing the Japanese to see it silhouetted from ten miles away, but obscuring the submarine from the Americans. And as mentioned above, the ship had no effective submarine detection devices. Olson maintains that once the Indianapolis was seen in such conditions, it was doomed, regardless of any maneuvers Captain McVay might have employed. This position was corroborated by testimony from the Japanese submarine commander who said that once the ship was spotted there was no way it could have escaped.

Sources:
Smithsonian Magazine April 2009 Issue
Wikipedia Encyclopedia