Indianapolis had arrived at Mare Island on October 29, 1944 for repainting and an overhaul. December 28, 1944 Captain E. R. Johnson is transferred. Captain Charles B. McVay III took command. (1)

Indianapolis sailed to Hawaii on January 20, 1945 to become the flagship for Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Commander of the Fifth Fleet.

On March 31, 1945 a single kamikaze pilot, volunteering as a human bomb, achieved his suicide mission by barreling into Indy on March 31st leaving heavy destruction and ending the lives of 9 crew. (Read The Kamikaze Attack)

After the Kamikaze attack Admiral Spruance and his staff left Indianapolis April 5th being transferred to USS New Jersey. (2)

Through patchwork repairs Indianapolis, declared seaworthy, began the slow voyage from Guam for extensive repairs. Indianapolis limped under the Golden Gate Bridge May 5th into the Navy yard, Mare Island at Vallejo, California.

While sailing from Guam to Mare Island the crew learned of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt --April 12, 1945. As is protocol Harry S. Truman assumed the presidency and responsibility for America's involvement in World War II.

Truman would make a decision that would seal the fate of Indianapolis.

Returning to Mare Island Captain McVay had been told by Admiral Spruance to handle the repairs quickly. However, Indianapolis was not expected to leave Mare Island, not return to combat, but remain at Mare Island several months. The Germans had unconditionally surrendered May 8th. The war in the Pacific would certainly end soon.

Upon docking at Mare Island seasoned crew were reassigned off Indy to positions on other ships needed for Allied invasion of Japan, called Operation Downfall, planned for November 1945 and Operation Cornet in March 1946. Neither would occur.

The experienced crew was replaced with 225 untested crew who reported to Captain McVay. Training would need to be scheduled in preparation for returning to sea duty - if Indy returned to combat.

Facilities at Mare Island were prepared for crew to welcome their families expecting to stay several months. "Villages" of Quonset huts sprang up with names like Coral Sea Village. Marine barracks were set up where the unmarried Marines and Navy men would sleep in "racks". The army called them "bunks".

To the crew's relief and surprise, Captain McVay issued a much needed 22-day leave-- LIBERTY -also known as "shore leave", an authorized time away from duty for sailors - on dry land.

Sailors headed home.

Eldridge Bowles, S1 reunited with his wife in Indiana in time for the birth of his daughter, Sandra. (See biography of Eldridge Bowles)

Lt. Commander Earl Henry traveled to Mayfield, KY rather than have his wife Jane make the grueling trip to Mare Island. Jane was to deliver their first child soon. (See biography of LCDR Earl Henry)

Young sailors stayed at Mare Island planning to enjoy LIBERTY DAYS- the days when young sailors get to spend time on shore. For these Indy sailors Mare Island was unknowingly their LAST Liberty.
Click or tap to enlarge Many sailors, as young men away from home, participated in excess.

Some became melancholy
Click or tap to enlarge when suddenly they experienced free time alone with loved ones and family far away.

Knowing that repairs would take several months, many crew sent word to their wives to join them.

Both recently married, Theodore Ott (Y1) contacted his wife Peggy (L); LCDR Kasey Moore contacted his wife Catherine (R).

Click or tap to enlarge

During her stay on Mare Island, young Peggy Ott sent a letter to her mom providing insight into life at Mare Island during the kamikaze repairs.

Postmarked June 16, 1945 Monday Eve
June 11, 1945

Dearest Mom,
Deanie brought your letter home this evening. Sure glad to get it. . . . I'm alone tonight otherwise I probably wouldn't be scribbling this off to you tonight. I'd wait til morning. Deanie has duty tonight and wasn't sure if he'll get home before morning or not. . .
We have a lot of time together. He goes to the ship at 8:00 each morning and comes home for lunch at 11:00. Goes back at 1:00. On liberty days (about every other day) he gets home at 3:30, otherwise from 4:00 to 5:00. He gets a 48 hour leave every other weekend. He had it this weekend. He's home then from 3:30 Sat til 8:00 Monday morning.
As I told you Mom we're living in a little hut in the Navy Yard* here at Mare Island. It's really a very cozy little comfortable place. Have one large room with a studio couch & chair, one floor lamp, a stand with another lamp, coffee table, sort of a built in book case in one corner and also in this room is a table with chairs like a dinette has. Have a gas heater too. The kitchenette has a nice stove, large Philco frig, and built in cupboards. Off the kitchenette is the bathroom. No tub but a shower. There are two bedrooms. Ours has twin beds (of course one bed is enough for us). Have a nice big closet & a chest of drawers. The other bedroom is the same only it has a single bed. Ginny & Gene Killman, the couple we share the hut with have it. Gene is Deanie's buddy off the ship.
All the furniture is new. Everything is furnished. Laundry is called for if you want to pay for it, milk is delivered every day. There's a canteen for the village a few doors away. They have bread & milk, ice cream, candy and hamburgers, etc.
The yard bus goes right in front of our door. Runs every 12 minutes.
The commissary is the yard marketing place or grocery store. I go on the average of every other day. Of course I have a yard identification card & also a pass for the commissary. Every time you enter or leave the yard you show your card at the gate.
The commissary has about everything. You can get any kind of meat, if you have the points. We're running awfully low now but will get more the 21st. Getting a good taste of housekeeping again Mom & sure loving every minute of it. Meal planning is my big trouble but my hubby never complains. How I love that man!
Deanie's ship isn't more than five blocks away. It's in dry dock. Gee, what a beauty of a ship! I meet him sometimes at 3:30. I feel so strange, standing along side the ship. It's really big.
I wouldn't give anything for the things I've seen these last three weeks. Tomorrow will make my third week here. How the time flies.
I go over to Vallejo, a little waterfront town. Usually go by ferry. 5¢ each way.
San Francisco is about 35 miles away. We went yesterday for dinner & a show. We don't go often as it's a long tiresome trip. Have to go by bus. . .in Vallejo & on the buses. That isn't pronounced Valley-joe, it's Va-lay-oh.
Ginny & Gene are on a 22 day leave so they are at Long Beach. We are all alone. Really heavenly too. Wished we didn't have to think of Deanie leaving again but I am so very thankful & happy over all the time we're having together.
There are three theaters in the yard. We go almost every night. Only 5¢ and real good movies, too . . .
The news of Gib Harding killed was quite shocking. . .The old town is really feeling there's a war on isn't it? Quite a number of gold stars so far. So hard to understand it all isn't it Mom?

June 14-

Sorry dear, a few days have passed since I started writing this. I'll try & finish it tonight.
I just can't settle down to writing when Deanie's home. . .
About this time seven months ago Deanie and I were standing in front of Rev. Langford. We were married seven months ago tonight. Does it seem possible? Not to me. The end of the first year will soon be here. I hope we will always be as happy as we are now.
I've been away from home a long time haven't I Mom? Seems terribly, terribly long sometimes. . Well my dear bye for now. We're always thinking of you. Be a good girl, ha?
We love you,
Yours kids
Peg & Deanie

Note: The tragic story of Theodore G. Ott and Peggy can be read in Chapter 10: The Cost of War written by Dawn Ott Bollhoefer, granddaughter of Theodore G. Ott.

Officers aboard Indianapolis invited their wives to join them at Mare Island. Accommodations and activities were different from those of enlisted men.

At his invitation Katherine Moore joined her husband LCDR K. C. Moore, damage control officer. Since V-E Day, May 8th marking the end of WWII in Europe, the states had gone crazy with celebrations. Using her resourcefulness, Katherine nabbed a train ticket to San Francisco arriving the 10th of May.

Katherine describes her time with K. C. on Mare Island in her book Goodbye Indy Maru :

Kasey welcomed Katherine into their Quonset hut home in the Navy Yard. Everything was furnished. However, the first task upon arrival for Katherine was a visit to Lt. Commander Dr. Earl Henry aboard Indianapolis to get her tooth fixed. He had waited for her to arrive. Dr. Henry, the ship's dentist, was ready to fly home to see his wife, Jane, due to deliver their first child in late June.

The Moore's spent their first night together listening to their favorite music Schubert's 5th Symphony and just being together, a very leisurely Sunday. Later in the week, they were invited to Captain McVay's party - formal dress required - so Katherine wore "stockings" which she had brought along - silk hose could not be purchased in the ship's store; only make-up for applying to legs to mimic silk hosiery.

Katherine sent a photo to her sister of their half of the Quonset hut describing their living room with an eating area, small kitchen, a very small bathroom with shower - no tub, and two decent size bedrooms with closets. The walls, she wrote, were so well insulated you cannot hear the family sharing the hut. The huts, she wrote, will be dismantled after the war since they are built on the Officer Golf Club course. Katherine planned to secure one to rebuild somewhere in Knoxville, TN.

Katherine noted that cameras were not allowed on Mare Island but that K. C. who had been one of McVay's photographers had escaped that rule taking a picture of our "house".

Katherine also noticed that rank influenced housing assignments and tasks. Higher rank officers lived in the village closer to an Admiral. Captain McVay's meals were prepared by a Stewards Mate who also did housework and shopped for the family at the commissary.

Although Katherine enjoyed being with her husband, she sensed his concern for the repairs of his beloved ship - which Katherine called "the other woman".

Then on July 12 McVay received devastating news. Being in charge of all repairs Kasey was informed --Indy would sail July 16th, that Pensacola failed its speed run, and Indy will carry a weapon that will end the war. (3)

(1) Goodbye Indy Maru, A Navy Wife Remembers, The War Diaries 1942-1945, Moore, Katherine, April, 1991, p 211.

(2) Goodbye Indy Maru, A Navy Wife Remembers, The War Diaries 1942-1945, Moore, Katherine, p. 214.

(3) Goodbye Indy Maru, A Navy Wife Remembers, The War Diaries 1942-1945, Moore, Katherine, p. 138.