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Navy Exonerates Submarine Captain After 56 Years

Aired July 13, 2001 - 16:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: A story from World War II now, one of tragedy, courage and finally, some closure. The Navy has exonerated the late captain of the USS Indianapolis, sunk by a Japanese submarine in the last days of the war. It was the worst sea disaster in U.S. Navy history.

Captain Charles Butler McVay III was court-martialed for failing to evade the submarine attack. Only 315 of the nearly 1,200 sailors on board were able to survive, and they suffered horrible conditions: five days adrift at sea, many died from shark attacks, from dehydration or drowning. But that's only part of this extraordinary story.

Joining us now on the telephone line from Lake Ann, Michigan, is Doug Stanton, who is the author of "In Harm's Way." It is a current bestseller on the Indianapolis and the tragedy there. Can you talk to us a little bit more about the circumstances that allowed Captain McVay to be the one who became blamed for this?

DOUG STANTON, AUTHOR, "IN HARM'S WAY": Sure. You remember that just after their rescue, finally the war ends, they were rescued August 3, and the war is over by the 14th and 15th of August. You have our greatest victory, and also in that short period of time our worst disaster at sea, so there is an outcry from the public to really find out just what went wrong, what went wrong, and place blame on somebody, and McVay's number came up, and all of the blame was solely placed on his shoulders.

CHEN: When really the situation was, I mean, the Navy did have some idea that there might be submarines in this area, right?

STANTON: Before I started the book, I mean, I didn't know in fact that there was an intelligence report available to Captain McVay that was not given to him that said clearly this certain Japanese submarine, which ended up sinking the ship of some 1,200 men, was in the area, and it was not given to him.

It was a series of very strange kind of cosmic dominoes that fell just in the wrong way for this ship, and so that after the delivery of the atomic bomb components, a historic mission on their part, they are completely forgotten by the military command.

CHEN: Let's get some questions now from our Web chat audience right now. Taking a look here. Can we see the question? "What caused the Navy to change its position on Captain McVay?" That's from Bev Dendys.

STANTON: I think they finally realized that it was the right thing to do, and kudos must go to Senator Bob Smith as well, and Navy Secretary Gordon England. When you look at the facts of the case, you basically realize the justice went out here.

Before I started the book, I didn't -- I hadn't read the Navy inspector-general report, and it says point-blank that McVay was lulled into a false sense of security by all the things he was told before his last voyage. Therefore, they were pointing fingers at other people, and -- but they ended up pointing their worst finger back at McVay.

CHEN: Doug, I have to ask you, because we've made some reference to how difficult it was, but the survival for those days at sea was incredibly tough on these men?

STANTON: This is -- this drama is one of the most horrific in our history. And when you meet these fellows -- and this is a happy, happy day for them and for me -- they've worked awfully hard -- Giles McCoy in particular of Florida, started this in 1964, this very effort, and they have worked long and hard.

They are -- by the time they are rescued on August 3, they are resembling skeletons, another day they would have been dead, by their own admission, and their rescue felt like resurrection. And they came back into the American society. When they came home to San Diego to the parade, no one was there really to meet them. And ever since then, they've lived with this court-martial over their heads as some kind of stain.

CHEN: So, they all felt responsible, even though it was the captain who actually took the hit for it?

STANTON: They didn't feel responsible, no.

CHEN: But they felt blamed, in any case?

STANTON: Yes, you have to think -- you know, this is the quarterback of the Fifth Fleet. This ship is a big deal and it had delivered the atomic bombs that landed on Hiroshima, which they didn't even know what they were delivering, but ironically that hastened the end of the war, and it was the very end of the war that overshadowed their own suffering and tragedy.

The news of the day buried it on page three. And so, then with the court-martial itself, no one was asking many questions, and they weren't much interested in talking.

CHEN: Doug Stanton's book is "In Harm's Way" about the terrible tragedy of the Indianapolis. We saw one of the Web chatters asking, Josh Compton asking when they were going to make that into a movie, Doug, it's certainly an important and interesting report. We appreciate your talking with us more about the situation with Captain McVay. Thanks very much.

STANTON: Thank you.

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