Abandoned Ship. - Review - book review

National Review, August 20, 2001 by Jeffrey Hart

The days of carnage were about to begin. Men (I prefer this to Stanton's "boys") went crazy, stabbed one another, deliberately drowned themselves, died of shock or from drinking too much seawater, and were cut to pieces and eaten by the sharks.

Capt. McVay found his way to a life raft, and later stood trial on Guam. Admirals Nimitz and Spruance had opposed a court-martial but were overruled by Adm. Ernest J. King (King's daughter later said that he was the most even-tempered man in the Navy: always in a rage). McVay was charged with not abandoning ship in a timely manner, and with failing to zigzag en route.

The first charge was transparently absurd. The ship sank within minutes. The second was more problematic, since McVay had been instructed that there was little chance of encountering a submarine. According to Navy rules, a captain need not zigzag if he judges it too dark to be spotted.

Hashimoto did spot him, under an occasional sliver of moon. Still, Hashimoto himself testified that zigzagging would have made no difference. At the trial, none of the Navy's botched responsibilities were admissible.

McVay was convicted on the zigzag count, lost all chance of making admiral, and was assigned to deskwork. Finally, on Nov. 6, 1968, at his Connecticut farm, after prolonged depression, he shot himself in the head. Lt. Cmdr. Hashimoto lived into his 90s, and died a Shinto monk in Kyoto.

This book fully deserves the acclaim it has received. Thinking again of John Erskine, the failure of practical intelligence here makes the deaths and suffering all the more poignant. Those responsible merit the Captain Edward Smith Award.