USS Indianapolis (CA-35), 27 September 1939
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Indianapolis |
Namesake | City of Indianapolis, Indiana |
Ordered | 13 February 1929 |
Awarded | 15 August 1929 |
Builder | New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey |
Cost | $10,903,200 (contract price) |
Laid down | 31 March 1930 |
Launched | 7 November 1931 |
Sponsored by | Lucy M. Taggart |
Commissioned | 15 November 1932 |
Identification |
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Nickname(s) | "Indy"[1] |
Honors and awards | 10 × battle stars |
Fate | Hit by two torpedoes and sunk by Japanese submarine I-58, 30 July 1945. |
General characteristics (as built)[2] | |
Class and type | Portland-class cruiser |
Displacement | 9,950 long tons (10,110 t) (standard) |
Length | |
Beam | 66 ft 1 in (20.14 m) |
Draft |
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Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 32.7 kn (60.6 km/h; 37.6 mph) |
Range | 13,000 nmi (15,000 mi; 24,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
Complement |
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Armament | |
Armor |
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Aircraft carried | 4 × floatplanes |
Aviation facilities | 2 × Amidship catapults |
General characteristics (1945)[3] | |
Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 3 × floatplanes |
Aviation facilities | 1 × Amidship catapults (starboard catapult removed in 1945) |
USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was a Portland-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy, named for the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. Launched in 1931, it was the flagship for the commander of Scouting Force 1 for eight years, then flagship for Admiral Raymond Spruance from 1943 to 1945 while he commanded the Fifth Fleet in battles across the Central Pacific during World War II.
In July 1945, Indianapolis completed a top-secret high-speed trip to deliver uranium and other components for "Little Boy", the first nuclear weapon ever used in combat, to the Tinian Naval Base, and subsequently departed for the Philippines on training duty. At 0015 on 30 July, the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58, and sank in 12 minutes.
Of 1,195 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship,[4] and the remaining 890 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks while stranded in the open ocean with few lifeboats and almost no food or water.
The Navy only learned of the sinking four days later, when survivors were spotted by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. A U.S. Navy PBY flying boat crew landed to save those in the water. Only 316 survived,[4] and the sinking of Indianapolis was the greatest loss of Navy personnel from a single Navy ship lost at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy.[a]
On 19 August 2017, a search team financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen located the wreckage in the Philippine Sea lying at a depth of approximately 18,000 ft (5,500 m).[5] On 20 December 2018, the crew of Indianapolis was collectively awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.[6]
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