With diligent reporting and sharp writing, Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic have accomplished a daunting chore facing writers of historic nonfiction: take a story whose outline is known to the public and craft an account that is compelling yet comprehensive. The result, with a strong narrative style and well reasoned point of view, is Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man ... The heavy cruiser Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine in the waning days of World War II...Through negligence and bureaucratic incompetence, the Navy seemingly forgot about the Indianapolis for days and launched a rescue effort only when survivors were spotted accidentally by a Navy plane on routine patrol. In a brisk, fact-based narrative, Indianapolis mixes horror and scandal.

It is always a pleasure to read and review a publication that deserves one’s endorsement...even though the subject has been previously covered through many articles and books yet largely unfamiliar to the public, it not only includes some previously unavailable material but also updates the ongoing decades-old story to exonerate the ship’s captain for the alleged hazarding of his vessel ... the Indianapolis’ most important mission during World War II was the delivery to the Mariana Islands of some of the components for the atomic weapons that were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, weapons which effectively forced the Japanese to surrender. Its unescorted return to the fleet in the Philippines, its loss to a Japanese submarine, the horror at sea endured by the surviving crew members, and their rescue are all part of the story ... Extensively based on interviews with survivors, this is a much more personal, fact-and detail-oriented telling of this tragedy. Employed as well are many primary sources in government archives, documents, reports, and memoranda along with other books, articles, personal and other sources which co-authors Vincent and Vladic have weaved into an eminently readable narrative, as much from the American point of view as that of the Japanese.

...a gripping and engaging tale that features grievous mistakes, extraordinary courage, unimaginable horror, and a cover-up ... Vincent and Vladic spent years talking to the dwindling band of survivors and giving voice to their stories. Some parts of this wonderful book – especially those involving the sailors in the water waiting for rescue – make for painful reading. But this exhaustive and comprehensive assessment is as complete an account of this tragic tale as we are likely to have. It is compelling history.

For almost 20 years the tragedy that unfolded...was best told by Doug Stanton in In Harm’s Way (2001). A gripping writer and dedicated researcher, Mr. Stanton is a tough act to follow, but in Indianapolis Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic have done so admirably ... In the event, McVay became the only World War II captain court-martialed for the loss of his ship. His long-in-coming redemption is part of Ms. Vincent and Ms. Vladic’s story. The authors also write of the inexplicable circumstances in which a major warship could sink and go missing for almost a week without someone raising the alarm ... In a fitting epilogue, maritime archaeologists in 2017 located the final resting place of the Indianapolis, though the exact location beneath the Philippine Sea remains a secret.

Written by journalist and bestselling author (and Navy vet) Lynn Vincent and documentary filmmaker Sara Vladic, Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man is both exhaustive and, as the enormous subtitle hints, crusading ... This is a story that's been told in many books, and Vincent and Vladic go at their task with fresh energy and a consistent eye for the macabre ... 'if the ship had not sunk, and Captain McVay had entered port, would he have been court-martialed?” The answer is clearly no, and this book is the most emphatic statement of McVay's case ever made.

Anyone who has been captivated by the monologue delivered by Robert Shaw’s character, Captain Quint, in Steven Spielberg’s film Jaws, about his experience surviving the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945 should read Vincent and Vladic’s comprehensive, simply outstanding historical account. Sea battles, adventures, the secret mission to deliver materials for the assemblage of the atomic bomb to the Pacific Islands, tragedy, disaster, an epic ordeal—sharks included—in the open ocean, courtroom drama, political intrigue, and the uphill battle by the band of survivors to exonerate the ship’s captain will all have readers unable to put this book down.

...The Indianapolis will forever be known for its sinking at the hands of torpedoes from a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945. Nearly 900 of its 1,195 men perished, with the majority of them succumbing to exhaustion, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, drowning, or shark attack after the sinking. The survivors clung to life for four horrific days before their rescue. However, for Capt. Charles B. McVay III, the nightmare was just beginning ... Fittingly, Vincent and Vladic close their enthralling, thrillerlike, meticulously researched book with the discovery of the wreckage, bringing the 85-year-old saga of the Indianapolis to a close.

...a work that is simultaneously a gripping narrative, a convincing analysis, and a pitiless exposure of institutional mendacity ... This exposé will be valuable for scholars and general readers alike.