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On July 26, 1945, the USS Indianapolis reached the tropical island of Tinian after traveling 2,000 miles in less than 75 hours at an average speed of 29.5 knots. His four-minute execution by . McVay retired from the Navy in 1949. Indianapolis had been steaming at 15.7 knots (29.1km/h). Fleetwood Mac Singer Christine McVie Cause of Death, Revealed The cruiser left its cargo on Tinian, an island in the Western Pacific, and was on its way to the Philippines when it was attacked. Thats when I happened to glance down in the water. Thomas Cooper/Getty Images North America/Getty Images. But a combination of incompetence, bureaucratic malaise and the crushing pace of operations as the Pacific war neared its climax would doom many men: The sun would rise four times before the Navy realized Indianapolis was missing. The testimony of the Japanese commander who sank his ship also seemed to exonerate McVay. She declared dead as soon as paramedics arrived on the scene. USS. We cut the engines on our boats and said, Who are you and what ship are you from? They come back and they still got fight in them, and yell, Just like a dumbass officer! USS Indianapolis - Nuclear Museum - Atomic Heritage Foundation He wasnt exonerated of any wrongdoing until 2000, after his death. Timothy McVeigh chose the poem Invictus, which means "Unconquerable" in Latin, to be his final statement. At first, it was once every five years, but as more and more crew passed, they decided to make it an annual affair held in the city for which their ship was named. Earlier in World War II, he was awarded the Silver Star for displaying courage under fire. On Nov. 6, 1968, at half past noon, McVay shot himself in the head with his service revolver outside his home in Litchfield, Conn. As the American ship drew closer, Lieutenant Commander Hashimotos heartbeat quickened. Others flopped into the water, face first. Though in each of these cases the commanders were not directly responsible, their failure to prepare the crew, ensure the safety of the ship, and to properly respond to operational demands made them accountable for those incidents. The captain assumed that it would maneuver out of the path of collision. Id see them swimming below me.. By that evening, rescue craft had arrived in full force and evacuated the victims. It was very miserable because of the sun burning the skin, one could not escape it. Some 900 other men, including the captain, Charles B. McVay III, leaped into the sea. Paul McGinnis, Signalman Third Class: While I was completely coherent, this was my thought: Keep struggling and stay alive. But in fact, it was only the beginning. The intelligence was shared with top brass, but they chose to disregard it. On Christine's official Instagram account on Nov. 30, 2022, her family posted a statement announcing her death. The majority of surviving sailors from the Indy regarded McVay as innocent of his conviction, saying he was not guilty of anything except the fortune or misfortune of war. McVay received hate mail every Christmas for the rest of his life, from the families of sailors who had died on board the Indy.