GCV2FF Indy (Traditional Cache) in California, United States created by Bric

This cache has been archived.

Nomex: Hi Bric,

As you may know, there has been a rash of encounters at caches that are illegally placed on private property without permission. As such we are now asking that all caches placed on private property, such as this one appears to be, have the permission of the owner of the property. This is to protect you as the cache hider, as well as future finders of the cache. Geocachers have been accosted by angry property owners and also have been detained and charged by the police for trespassing.

Please let me know if you have permission and who the permission was granted by, so I can add it to the cache page. If no permission was obtained before placing the cache you can either attempt to get permission for placing it there from the property owner, or you can go ahead and remove the cache and find new location that is hopefully not on private property for it.

Don't hesitate to email me via the link on my Profile if you have any questions. [red]Please be sure to include the cache name and GCxxxx number, or better yet, the URL of the cache page.[/red]

Thanks for your cooperation!
Nomex
Northern California Volunteer Cache Reviewer

GCV2FF ▼

A cache by Bric Message this owner

Hidden : 3/21/2006

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

The cache is a black-painted Altoids tin (thank you, Altoids Company). There’s a Sacajawea dollar for First To Find.

Note: See Team Alamo's log entry for 4/12/06. Security is tight here, but I saw no signs forbidding entry. I have been harrassed by security or police officers at three caches on Mare Island, but have not been ordered out. I propose leaving this cache active and leaving it up to individual cachers if they want to take the chance. We all make our own decisions about the risks and rewards in this life.

This cache is placed here at Mare Island to honor a great ship and the brave men who served in her, the USS Indianapolis. It was at this dock that the world’s first atomic bombs were loaded aboard and she set sail for the Pacific War. She never returned.

The heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was one of the most beautiful and beloved ships in the Navy. She was President Franklin Roosevelt’s favorite ship and he used her several times as his “Ship of State.” In 1936 (with my father, Yeoman 3rd class Kenneth Crawford aboard), she carried President Roosevelt on a goodwill tour of South America, the first time a serving president visited outside North America. Everywhere she went, she was seen as a symbol of America’s pride, technology, and power. The Indy’s keel was laid down in Camden, New Jersey, on March 31, 1930. She was 610’ feet long and displaced nearly ten thousand tons.

She was stationed at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941, but was away on exercises. It was one of the few battles in the Pacific Theater she missed. She helped to retake the only American territory occupied by the Japanese, Attu and Kiska Islands in the Aleutians. She supported Marine landings on Rabaul, Salamaua, Tarawa, Makin, Kwajalein, Iwo Jima, and Chichi Jima. She fought in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. On March 31, 1945 (her fifteenth anniversary), she was nearly lost while supporting the invasion of Saipan. She was struck by a kamikaze plane, which also succeeded in dropping a bomb that went all the way through the ship and out the bottom, killing nine men and nearly sinking her. Although her propeller shafts were bent, her fuel tanks ruptured, and her fresh water system destroyed, she managed to sail all the way home unaided, arriving here at Mare Island in late April 1945.

She received emergency orders to accelerate her refit and to be prepared to return to the western Pacific immediately. In the early morning hours of July 16, shrouded in security and secrecy, but with a huge assembly of Admirals, Generals and many technicians at pier-side looking on, the atom bomb components were loaded aboard Indianapolis. Several large wooden crates were stowed in one of the ship's hangars, and guards were placed to keep all inquisitive souls away. The “heart” of two bombs, uranium-235, sealed in a lead-lined metal container, was lashed to cleats which had been tack-welded to the deck in the Admiral’s Cabin. Orders were given that should the ship come under attack and find herself “in extremis” the lead container was to be immediately thrown over the side. Even given the strangeness of this particular order, the nature of the cargo itself was kept secret from all aboard - including Indianapolis’ Captain, Charles McVay. With repairs still under way, the Indy set sail at full emergency speed. They arrived at Tinian, 5,000 nautical miles from San Francisco, on July 26, 1945, in a record ten days. There the boxes were unloaded, again in secrecy. They contained the components for the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few days later.

After discharging her deadly cargo, she proceeded to Guam, and then was ordered to Leyte in the Philippines. Although the Navy knew that a Japanese submarine was operating in the area and had already sunk two other ships, they did not warn Captain McVay of the danger, nor did they provide the customary destroyer escort. On July 30, 1945, she was struck by two torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-58. One blew off her bow, and her 17-knot speed plowed her under before lifeboats could be launched. She capsized and sank in twelve minutes, throwing 1,199 men into the water.

Tragically, the message from Guam informing Leyte that the Indy was on her way was garbled and never received, so no alarm was raised and no search initiated. It was a purely accidental spotting by a scout plane three days later that revealed her fate, and five days before the last men were pulled from the water. By that time, the sharks had taken almost nine hundred men – only 316 were rescued. It was the worst loss of life in the history of the U.S. Navy. She was the last American ship sunk in the war.

The Navy, rather than admitting its failures (and over the strenuous objections of Admirals Nimitz and Spruance), court-martialed Captain McVay. His Admiral, his surviving officers and men, and even the commander of the I-boat who sank his ship testified that he had done his duty. But other witnesses and evidence were suppressed and crucial information was withheld from his inexperienced defense attorney. He was found guilty of failing to zig-zag to avoid attack, even though zig-zagging was purely at the captain’s discretion, rarely done at this stage of the war, never done in bad weather such as prevailed that night, and everyone agreed it was totally ineffectual. Although they found him guilty, nearly all the officers who sat in judgment of Captain McVay signed a petition requesting that his conviction be set aside. Admiral Nimitz later did so, promoting him to Rear Admiral and posting him to command of the New Orleans Naval District. Nevertheless, his disgrace led him to take his own life in 1968. In 2000, at the urging of his own crew, Congress voted to set aside his conviction.

Links: (visit link) The account of a survivor of the sinking.
(visit link) Pictures of the Indy
(visit link) The survivors’ web site

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Guvf vf vgf pheerag ybpngvba (bar cunfr bs vg). Zntargvp.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)