Charles Butler McVay and U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS Relief Act

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Charles Butler McVay and U.S.S. 
INDIANAPOLIS Relief Act''.

 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Shortly after midnight on the night of July 30, 1945, 
        during the closing days of World War II, the United States Navy 
        heavy cruiser U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35) was torpedoed and 
        sunk by a Japanese submarine.
            (2) Of the 1,196 crew members, only 316 survived the attack 
        and subsequent five-day ordeal adrift at sea, the rest of the 
        crew dying from battle wounds, drowning, shark attacks, 
        exposure, or lack of food and water, making the sinking of the 
        INDIANAPOLIS the worst sea disaster in United States naval 
        history.
            (3) Following the rescue of the surviving crew members, the 
        commanding officer of the INDIANAPOLIS, Captain Charles Butler 
        McVay III, who survived the sinking and the ordeal at sea, was 
        charged with ``suffering a vessel to be hazarded through 
        negligence'' and was convicted by a court-martial of that 
        charge, notwithstanding a great many extenuating circumstances, 
        some of which were not presented at the court-martial trial.
            (4) Captain McVay had an excellent record throughout his 
        naval career before the sinking of the INDIANAPOLIS, beginning 
        with his graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 
        1919 and including an excellent combat record throughout World 
        War II that included participation in the landings in North 
        Africa and award of the Silver Star for courage under fire 
        earned during the Solomon Island campaign.
            (5) Assuming command of the INDIANAPOLIS on November 18, 
        1944, Captain McVay led the ship during her participation in 
        the assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. During the latter 
        assault, the INDIANAPOLIS suffered a damaging kamikaze attack, 
        but was skillfully returned by Captain McVay and her crew to 
        San Francisco for repairs.
            (6) Following completion of those repairs, the INDIANAPOLIS 
        was given the mission of transporting to the island of Tinian 
        the vital parts for the two atomic bombs used in ending the war 
        against Japan, a mission which was completed successfully on 
        July 26, 1945, at a record average speed of 29 knots.
            (7) Following the accomplishment of that mission, the 
        INDIANAPOLIS sailed from Tinian to Guam and from there embarked 
        for Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, to join with the fleet 
        assembling for the assault on Japan.
            (8) Before that last voyage, the headquarters of the 
        Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC), failed to inform 
        Captain McVay of intelligence in its possession concerning the 
        activities of four Japanese submarines sighted along the route 
        the INDIANAPOLIS would be sailing and where a Japanese 
        submarine had sunk the U.S.S. UNDERHILL just days earlier. 
        Nevertheless, Captain McVay was instructed to sail a direct 
        route from Guam to Leyte, although this route brought the ship 
        to the crossroads of the Guam-Leyte and Palau-Okinawa routes, 
        an area that Japanese submarines would likely have heavily 
        targeted due to the greater chance of spotting United States 
        naval traffic there.
            (9) Because the INDIANAPOLIS did not have the capabilities 
        to detect enemy submarines, Captain McVay in Guam requested a 
        destroyer escort for the voyage to Leyte Gulf, a request which 
        was denied, making the INDIANAPOLIS the first United States 
        heavy warship to make that crossing unescorted during World War 
        II.
            (10) After the INDIANAPOLIS was sunk, various Navy shore 
        offices compounded the previous errors which had led to the 
        ship being placed in jeopardy by failing to report the ship's 
        overdue arrival, thus leaving the approximately 950 members of 
the crew who survived the sinking of the ship adrift for four days and 
five nights until by chance the survivors were spotted by a routine air 
patrol.
            (11) Because the news of the sinking of the INDIANAPOLIS, 
        coinciding with the end of the war in the Pacific, threatened 
        to detract from the Navy's role in that victory and from its 
        desire for prominent status in the post-war military 
        establishment, the Department of the Navy court-martialed 
        Captain McVay, who thus became the first United States Navy 
        commanding officer brought to trial for losing his ship in 
        combat in World War II, despite the fact that over 700 ships 
        were lost during World War II, including some under 
        questionable circumstances.
            (12) A court of inquiry to investigate the sinking, 
        convened on August 13, 1945, just two weeks after the sinking 
        and 9 days after the survivors were rescued (a date so soon 
        after the sinking that Captain William Hillbert, the Navy judge 
        advocate for the inquiry, admitted that the inquiry was so 
        rushed that they were ``. . . starting the proceedings without 
        having available all the necessary data''), recommended that 
        Captain McVay be issued a Letter of Reprimand and that he be 
        court-martialed.
            (13) The court-martial charge against Captain McVay was 
        entirely predicated upon his failure to order that the ship 
        maintain a zigzag course even though (A) standing orders stated 
        that zigzagging was not necessary during poor visibility 
        (reported to have been at best ``patchy'' that night), (B) 
        Mochitsura Hashimoto, the Japanese submarine commander who sank 
        the ship, testified at the inquiry that it would not have made 
        any difference if the ship were zigzagging or not, and (C) the 
        headquarters staff of CINCPAC concluded that the rule requiring 
        zigzagging would not have applied in any event since Captain 
        McVay's routine orders gave him discretion on the matter and 
        took precedence over all other orders (a point that was never 
        made by Captain McVay's attorney).
            (14) The headquarters staff of CINCPAC disagreed with the 
        recommendation of the court of inquiry that Captain McVay 
        receive a Letter of Reprimand and that he be court-martialed, 
        stating that in not maintaining a zigzag course Captain McVay 
        at worst was guilty only of an error in judgment and not gross 
        negligence.
            (15) Captain McVay was convicted on February 23, 1946, of 
        the charge of ``suffering a vessel to be hazarded through 
        negligence''.
            (16) Following his court-martial conviction, Captain McVay 
        remained on active duty until mandatory retirement on June 30, 
        1949, upon completion of 30 years of active naval service, with 
        a final promotion, in accordance with then-applicable law, to 
        the grade of rear admiral, effective upon the date of his 
        retirement.
            (17) Rear Admiral Charles Butler McVay III (retired), died 
        on November 6, 1968, without having been exonerated from 
        responsibility for the sinking of the INDIANAPOLIS.
            (18) Since the late 1980s, Navy documents have been 
        declassified that show that Captain McVay was not given 
        intelligence information in the possession of the Navy that 
        would have been instrumental in avoiding the disaster and that 
        that information, which was considered to be Top Secret, was 
        not made available for use in Captain McVay's court-martial, 
        where it would have been critical to his defense in showing 
        that he was court-martialed on ``super-technical'' charges 
        which nevertheless were unfounded.
            (19) In 1993, Congress, in section 1165 of the National 
        Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (Public Law 103-
        160; 107 Stat. 1765; 16 U.S.C. 431 note), recognized the 
        memorial to the U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35) in Indianapolis, 
        Indiana, as the national memorial to that historic warship and 
        to her final crew.
            (20) In 1994, Congress, in section 1052 of the National 
        Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 (Public Law 103-
        337; 108 Stat. 2844), stating that it was acting on behalf of 
        the grateful people of the United States--
                    (A) recognized the invaluable contributions of the 
                U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS to the ending of World War II; and
                    (B) on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of her 
                tragic sinking, and the dedication of the national 
                memorial in Indianapolis on July 30th, 1995, commended 
                that ship and her crew for selfless and heroic service 
                to the United States.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL EXONERATION.

    The Congress hereby--
            (1) exonerates the late Rear Admiral Charles Butler McVay 
        III, United States Navy (retired), from responsibility for the 
        sinking of the U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35) on July 30, 1945, 
        while under his command;
            (2) expresses the sense of the Congress that the subsequent 
        court-martial conviction of Rear Admiral McVay (while in the 
        grade of captain) for ``suffering a vessel to be hazarded 
        through negligence'' was a grave injustice; and
            (3) urges the President to grant a posthumous pardon to 
        Rear Admiral McVay.

SEC. 4. PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that the 
President should award a Presidential Unit Citation to the final crew 
of the U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35) in recognition of the courage and 
fortitude displayed by the members of that crew in the face of 
tremendous hardship and adversity after their ship was torpedoed and 
sunk on July 30, 1945.
    (b) Waiver of Time Limitation.--A citation described in subsection 
(a) may be made without regard to any provision of law or regulation 
prescribing a time limitation that is otherwise applicable with respect 
to recommendation for, or the award of, such a citation.

Summary: Charles Butler McVay and USS. INDIANAPOLIS Relief Act - Exonerates the late rear admiral Charles Butler McVay III, United States Navy (retired), from responsibility for the sinking of the USS. INDIANAPOLIS on July 30, 1945, while under his command. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the subsequent court-martial conviction of McVay was a grave injustice. Urges the President to grant McVay a posthumous pardon. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should award a Presidential Unit Citation to the final crew of the INDIANAPOLIS in recognition of their courage and fortitude displayed in the face of tremendous adversity after their ship was torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese navy.