We will hold our annual Change of Watch meeting at the Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead, on Friday, April 21st, starting at 1800 (6 PM). 

Dinner will be a buffet. 

Our speaker, Bob Begin, will talk about the tragic lost of the USS Indianapolis.   She was a heavy cruiser.  President Roosevelt ,had a soft spot for her and used her for several voyages of state.  Launched in 1931 at a cost of about $11 million,she was 610' long, a beam of 66' and displaced 11,180 tons.  Her peacetime years were spent "showing the flag" in the Pacific and Atlantic. Once war broke out, she would spend all of 1942,43,44, and most of 45 In combat.  She was considered a "lucky" ship until March of 18 , when she was bombed by  Japanese plane and sent back to the yard for repairs. By mid July she was ready for assignment.  On July 16th he left San Francisco on a TOP SECRET mission that not even her Captain was aware of. The mission was to deliver the first atomic bomb to an island airbase for use against Japan. Having completed this mission Indianapolis was assigned to an invasion fleet in the Philippines.

Traveling alone, she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on July 30. In 12 minutes, she sank, Over 900 men went into the water.  Incredibly, they would not be discovered missing for almost 5 nights and 4 days. During this time they were subjected to numerous dangers; dehydration, exhaustion, hypothermia, dementia, and a most primal enemy....sharks. Of the 900 men who went in the water, only 317 were rescued. This tragedy was the largest single loss of life on any ship in the US Navy during WWII.  And the irony is that the war would be over in two weeks.  This is a tale of courage, sacrifice, lost hope, and  losses tht wrenched America.  It is a riveting story that warrants telling.