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Naval History and Heritage Command

National Museum of the U.S. Navy

<p>NMUSN:&nbsp; Ships:&nbsp; USS Indianapolis (CA 35)</p>

USS Indianapolis (CA-35)

USS Indianapolis (CA-35)

The Portland-class heavy cruiser, USS Indianapolis (CA-35), was commissioned on November 15, 1932, at Camden, New Jersey.  For the next decade, she made several cruises in the Atlantic and the Pacific, occasionally hosting President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  During early World War II, Indianapolis served in the New Guinea and Aleutian Island campaigns.   Becoming the Fifth Fleet flagship in 1943, she took part in the Marshall and Mariana Islands campaigns while later taking part in the invasion of Peleliu Island in September 1944.   After covering the landings on Iwo Jima in February 1945, Indianapolis was hit by a kamikaze at the Ryukyus Islands on March 31 and later served as the flagship to Fifth Fleet during the Okinawa Invasion in April.    Following repairs in July, she transited atomic bomb components to Tinian.  On July 30, Japanese submarine I-58 torpedoed and sank the cruiser.   Due to communication issues, her loss went unnoticed until survivors were seen on August 2.    Only 316 of the 1,196 crew were saved.   On August 18, 2017, the research vessel RV Petrel  located wreckage from Indianapolis some 5,500 meters below the surface, resting on the floor in the mountain ranges of the North Philippine Sea.  

To read more about the loss of Indianapolis from the NHHC Online Library, please click here.   

Image:  80-G-463032:   USS Indianapolis (CA-35) entering Hudson River, New York City, New York, with the Statue of Liberty in the background, May 31, 1934.  Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.