Abandon Ship The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis the Navys Greatest Sea Disaster

She was a ship of destiny. Sailing across the Pacific, the battle scarred heavy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolisem had just delivered a secret cargo that would trigger the end of World II. As she was continuing westd, her captain asked for a destroyer escort. He was told it wasnt necessary. But it was. She was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. In twelve minutes, some 300 men went down with her. More then 900 others spent four horrific days and five nights in the ocean with no water to drink, savaged by a pitless sun and sms of sharks. Incredibly, nobody knew they were out until a Navy patrol plane accidentally discovered them. Miraculously, 316 crewmen still survived. How could this have happened -- and why This updated edition of Abandon Shipem, with a new introduction and afterword by Peter Maas, supplies the chilling answer. Originally published in 1958, Abandon Shipem, was the first book to describe, in vivid detail, the unspeakable ordeal the survivors of the Indianapolisem endured. It was also the first book to scrutinize the role of the U.S. Navy in the Indianapolisem saga, especially in the cruel aftermath of the rescue when Captain Charles Butler McVay III was courtmartialed and convicted of hazarding his ship.