Fatal Voyage, Dan Kurzman
Fatal Voyage, Dan Kurzman
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Fatal Voyage
The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis

Author: Dan Kurzman

Narrator: Mark Bramhall

Unabridged: 11 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/31/2016

Synopsis

Shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945, the Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea. The ship had just left the island of Tinian, delivering components of the atomic bomb destined for Hiroshima. As the torpedoes hit, the Indianapolis erupted into a fiery coffin, sinking in less than fifteen minutes and leaving nine hundred crewmen fighting for life in shark-infested waters. They expected a swift, routine rescue, unaware that the Navy high command didn’t even realize that the Indianapolis was missing. Help would not arrive for another five days.

Drawn from definitive interviews with key figures, Fatal Voyage recounts the horrific events endured as the number of water-treading survivors dwindled to just 316. Each gruesome day brought more madness and slow death, from explosion-related injuries, dehydration, and, most terrifying of all, shark attacks. But the pain did not end when the men finally returned home: The Indianapolis’s commander, Captain Charles B. McVay III, was court-martialed for causing the clearly unavoidable disaster.

With a new afterword chronicling the fifty-five-year campaign by Indianapolis survivors and their supporters to win public vindication for Captain McVay, this classic is restored, along with memories of the Indianapolis crew.

About The Author

Dan Kurzman (1922 – 2010) was an American journalist and writer renowned for his military histories illuminating little-known incidents in World War II, as well as his exhaustively reported account of the first Arab-Israeli war. He received the George K. Polk Memorial Award for foreign reporting in 1965.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Rick on May 26, 2010

Should be required reading for EVERYBODY. After reading this account you will never have another bad day at work. An amazing story.......more

Goodreads review by P.S. on August 15, 2018

There have been a lot of books written about this tragic event. I like this telling that feels accurate and shares the story of an incident that never should have happened.......more

Goodreads review by Crbianfool on June 28, 2008

First rate research and retelling of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Great Uncle Captain McVay became the first captain to be charged with negligence resulting in the loss of the ship and 2/3rds of the crew during wartime. Conviction later stricken thanks to work of survivor's support groups. W......more

Goodreads review by Trisha on November 15, 2008

It's a book about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during WWII. I read it a long time ago. When we lived in Durham. It's really good, has pictures, and seems accurate--I haven't read anything else about this, so I have nothing to compare. It's a serious book and is sad in the end, but a great rea......more

Goodreads review by Chad on December 07, 2010

I really enjoyed this book. Well written. It is amazing what these sailors went through. Not the best book to read while on first deployment with the US Navy, but a great book to read when on dry land.......more

Quotes

"Mr. Kurzman’s description of the Indianapolis…lingers in the memory…A well-told–and disturbing–disaster story."
--New York Times Book Review

"Kurzman’s gripping book paints a…horrible scene. The sinking of the Indianapolis was–and remains–perhaps the most shameful naval disaster in American history."
--People

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