Assumptions

I had the book for a while before reading it. The subject was vaguely familiar - I knew of the incident - but none of the particulars. On the back cover, Stephen Ambrose was quoted as saying of this book - "The most frightening book I've ever read."  

What makes this the most frightening book Ambrose ever read? Why are history books at times frightening? They are not written as SUSPENSE books or HORROR books, per se. But isn't it true - real life provides the most sobering, uncomfortable stories? Why is that? Consider the people in the story. Their humanity is not vastly different than our own. Often, the stories take place in situations in which we hope never to find ourselves - yet should events unfold for us as they did the protagonists, we could be in their shoes. That is part of the catch. No one hopes to be caught up in events which are horrific or impossible or overwhelming or disastrous. However, such is the stuff of history.

What was the frightening work picked up by Mr. Ambrose? The story is of a tragedy which occurred late in the Pacific war - July 30, 1945 - just as the war was nearly over. The book, In Harm's Way, by Doug Stanton (Henry Holt and Company; 2001), tells the story of "the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the extraordinary story of its survivors (from the front cover)."

Consider one of the frightening - and there are many - elements of this deeply disturbing tale. That of assumption.

Briefly, the USS Indianapolis was actually tasked to deliver Little Boy, one of the atomic weapons which would bring devastation to the Japanese homeland and usher in the end of the war as well as the dawn of the "nuclear age," to the island of Tinian and was on the return trip when it came under attack by the Japanese submarine, I-58. Two torpedoes carrying 1,210 pounds of explosives each slammed into Indy's hull and doomed the vessel and many men on it.

Certainly many ships were sunk during WWII with the loss of much life. What is it about this particular ship, the USS Indianapolis, which makes it such a compelling story? Certainly the number of men lost. The way in which they would perish. Captain Charles Butler McVay and his subsequent court martial. Many other elements. But let's consider the events which doomed the survivors (more than 580) - the assumptions made by those in the chain of command who received news of a distress signal from the Indianapolis and did nothing to save her crew. We can only surmise they assumed the call for help with corresponding coordinates must not have been legitimate. It may have been deemed illegitimate because the war was nearly over and the seas were assumed to be clear of Japanese naval activity including subs. Perhaps it was an aversion to negative reports. Perhaps it was a case of "If I didn't see it or hear of it - it cannot be true."  We don't know because these weren't investigated but consider these two accounts:

In a radio shack on the island of Leyte - 650 miles away - a sailor received word a message regarding the Indianapolis' having been torpedoed and quickly reported it to the sleeping Commodore Jacob Jacobsen. He asked for a reply. "No reply at this time," he said. "If any further messages are received, notify me at once." No effort was made to verify the report. Nothing was done. Why?

A message was received by an officer who responded by sending two fast Navy tugs from Leyte toward the site of the sinking. However, when Commodore Norman Gillette heard upon his return to the base that the tugs were dispatched without his authority, he recalled them though they had completed one-third of the journey by that time. No investigation was made.

A third record of the receipt of the Indianapolis' message is reported and it was forwarded "through channels."

I suggest one reason the story is frightening. We are all capable of making the same mistakes. Assuming something is not true - for any number of reasons (Dead Guys will explore other incidents from history illustrating this common flaw). Being angered that one's authority was not properly honored in a decision or anger at someone else's initiative...

These are common to man. It is frightening to realize that basic character flaws can cause catastrophe. It is frightening to think that those flaws are not unknown to me.