Abandon Ship! / Richard F. Newcomb / USS Indianapolis CA-35 / Submarinebooks.com

Sailing across the Pacific, the battle-scarred heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) had just delivered the worlds first atomic bomb, a top-secret cargo that would trigger the end of World War II. Heading westward on a solo cruise, she was suddenly sunk by the Japanese submarine (I-58). In just twelve minutes, some 300 sailors went down with the vessel. More than 900 others spent four horrific days and five nights in the ocean with no food or water. Savaged by the hot summer sun and swarms of hungry sharks, many more needlessly perished. Incredibly, no one knew they were there until a Navy plane accidentally discovered them floating in the Pacific. How could this have happened––and why? This new updated edition of "Abandon Ship!" with an Introduction and Afterword by Peter Maas, supplies the chilling answer. A harrowing account of military malfeasance and human tragedy, "Abandon Ship!" also scrutinizes the role of the U.S. Navy in the disaster, especially the court-martial of the ship's captain, Charles B. McVay III. Peter Maas reveals facts previously unavailable to author Richard Newcomb and chronicles a forty-year crusade to right a wrong, a crusade "Abandon Ship!" inspired.
New softbound edition. 326 pages with 20 B/W photographs, 1 map, a USS Indianapolis crew roster and an index.

Just $13.95

The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster

by Richard F. Newcomb

Introduction and Afterword by Peter Maas

New Softbound edition (8 by 5 1/4 inches)

326 pages, 20 B/W photographs, 1 map

New $13.95

BOOK REVIEWS

"As a teenager in the early sixties I caddied for Charlie McVay frequently at the Litchfield Country Club, in Litchfield, CT. We thought then that we knew the story of the sinking of the Indianapolis, and we thought then that we knew the man who had been held responsible for the tragic loss of life, hours before the end of World War II. But it wasn't until Richard Newcomb's "Abandon Ship!" that any of us who knew McVay were able to understand the Admiral's profound pathos. The military's bungling, its cover-up, its stonewalling, its court martial of an innocent man, culminating in its gross miscarriage of justice, are more often the stuff of fiction. But it wasn't fiction, and Newcomb gives us every damning detail to prove it. Peter Maas provides an afterward showing how McVay was eventually exonerated, 32 years too late to save the Indianapolis' last victim, my old friend, Admiral McVay, who shot himself to escape his grief. "Abandon Ship!" is for anyone who values truth, and who is engaged by tragedy." Ralph White
"This book reveals the story of the USS Indianapolis and the tragic events that lead to her sinking and the aftermath. The story was little known to me, other than the famous speech by Quint in Jaws, but this book opened my eyes to how traumatic this incident was. I became interested in the ship's story after beginning to teach Marine Biology and wanted to learn more about the incident in order to use it as a discussion when the class is dealing with sharks and although the book dealt very little with the actual shark attacks, I was still mesmerized by the story and how it affected the Navy, the captain and all those recovered from the ocean. Great read!" Joe McDonald