Boy, am I angry.....

[rwsmith]

Most of you know the story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis that was sunk at the end of WWII with few survivors. I just found out something very disturbing.

Captain McVay was court martialed, found guilty, penalized and finished his time in and retired in 1949. He killed himself in 1968.

There were many mistakes made that put the Indianapolis in a vulnerable position, such as no destroyer escort. Their overdue status was ignored until the survivors happened to be spotted by a passing seaplane. Apparently, the command chain, all the way to Washington, needed a scapegoat. The Captain was ordered to zigzag AT HIS DISCRETION to avoid an attack. When visibility became reduced at night, he gave the order to stop zigzagging. Soon afterward the ship was sunk. Anything that the defense put forward was ignored. They even brought in the JAPANESE SUBMARINE CAPTAIN who testified that he had the ship in his sights, regardless of zigzag. This was also ignored, as was any testimony given by the crew. McVay had a very distinguished record from Iwo Jima onward.

Over 50 years later, a 12-year-old schoolboy brought attention to the injustice. President Clinton signed an order in 2001 to clear McVay of any wrongdoing.

Thanks one hell of a lot those of you that command from the safety of your offices.

 

[Onomea]

Here is the original NYT article: Cruiser Sunk, 1,196 Casualties; Took Atom Bomb Cargo to Guam

 

[2hawk]

yep, growing up in Hawaii I well remember his son Kimo working to clear his dad's name. Shameful chapter...

ETA some more on the story: http://archives.starbulletin.com/1997/11/10/news/story3.html
and,
a slightly different version of how the exoneration came about: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/06/20/news/story03.html

 

[rwsmith]

The old saying.....

There's the old saying the "Captain always goes down with the ship". I would modify that to say "The Captain is always better off if he goes down with his ship."

 

[jaykellogg]

I assume this happens all the time in the Military and also happens in industry. In this case it was a bigger deal because of the lives lost. The bigger the screw up, the more need for a scapegoat.

 

[Rastoff]

It is the nature of leadership. Get it right and you're the hero. Not the hundreds of men who made it happen. Get it wrong, and get the blame. This happens all the time. I'm not saying it's right; it just comes with the territory.

Neither is it easy. I work in a place where I'm around hundreds of other workers. The vast majority of them complain about how their supervisors or other leaders do their jobs. If they were to ever actually do that job, they wouldn't be able to handle the pressure.