In the early morning hours of 16 July 1945 the USS Indianapolis left San Francisco on a high speed run to the island of Tinian making only one stop at Pearl Harbor for refueling. Before sailing that morning she had received a radio message with orders directly from the President of the United States – “Indianapolis Under Orders Of Commander-In-Chief And Must Not Be Diverted From Its Mission For Any Reason.” - the reason for rush and the presidential order was the cargo the Indianapolis was carrying – major components for Fat Man – the second atomic bomb.

The Indianapolis made her run, delivered her cargo, and then was ordered to sail on to the Philippines. She departed Tinian. On the night of 30 July, to the west of Guam, she was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. For a variety of reasons her failure to appear in the Philippines when expected was overlooked. The end result – of the 1200-man crew approximately 800 made it into the water and then waited for 5 days under a scorching sun in shark infested waters before searchers found and retrieved the 316 who were still alive. Fatal Voyage is the story of the sinking, the bureaucratic mistakes, and the aftermath of the loss of the Indianapolis but primarily it is the grim story of the fate of the 800 men who went into the water on that dark night and the 316 crewmen who were pulled back from the dead five days later.

Author Kurzman does an excellent job of conveying to the reader the horror of the watery ordeal of the Indianapolis survivors. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history of any kind. The book includes maps, photographs, a bibliography, an index and a list of members of the crew – there are asterisks next to the names of those who survived. ( )