The Final Storm - Jeff Shaara [202]
Tibbets returned the salute, said, “Spit it out, Sergeant. What’s up?”
“Sir, I’ve been told that you wanted to know when the ship arrived. It’s docking now, sir.”
Downey said, “What ship? Something I can ask about?”
Tibbets stood, stuffed the pipe in his shirt pocket.
“You can now. It’s hard to hide a cruiser.” He looked at the MP again. “You sure, Sergeant? The ship I asked about?”
“Yes, sir. It’s the Indianapolis.”
After absorbing the brutal effects of a Japanese dive-bomber in the waters off Okinawa, the aging cruiser had been sent to Mare Island, northeast of San Francisco, for refitting and repairs. But her service was not yet complete. On July 16, the ship was ordered back to sea, this time with two special passengers and a shipment of cargo that was not even detailed to the ship’s captain. Tibbets knew the two men, and also knew the cargo. The first atomic weapon designated to be used over Japan was still an assemblage of parts, and putting all of those components in one place was considered far too hazardous, and far too great a security risk. The largest component was a cannonlike device that would be the bomb’s core, a mechanism that would fire a piece of enriched uranium into a similar piece at the far end of the bomb, creating a sufficient amount of the material to trigger the chain reaction that would result in the atomic explosion. That cannon and one part of the nuclear material had been placed aboard the Indianapolis, guarded twenty-four hours a day by the two men, whose sole mission was to deliver the pieces of the bomb to Tinian. The men, Robert Furman and James Nolan, had accompanied the cargo without ever revealing their identities or their mission. Disguised as army officers, neither was in fact army at all. Furman was an engineer from Princeton, and Nolan a physician who specialized in radiation treatment. Their journey had begun in Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the authority of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, the chief physicist for the Manhattan Project. Flanked by a convoy of heavy security, they made the first leg of their journey to Albuquerque, where the two men and their cargo were placed aboard a C-47 cargo plane. Escorted by two additional C-47s, they were flown to San Francisco. With an armed escort now in tow, the two men had accompanied their cargo to the wharf where the crew of the Indianapolis waited, none having any idea what their next assignment might be. Once on board the cruiser, Furman and Nolan had no other duty but to take turns standing watch over the lead bucket that held the enriched uranium. If the ship had gone down, there was no danger that the uranium would go anywhere else. The lead was welded to the steel deck of their cabin. Outside, the cannon device was housed in a crate that was lashed securely to the deck of the ship, guarded by continuous shifts of heavily armed Marines.
As the Indianapolis sailed for Tinian, the remaining components of the bomb were shipped by air on a four-engine C-54 transport plane, the big brother to the smaller C-47. With the uneventful arrival of the Indianapolis to the wharves at Tinian, all the pieces of the bomb had been gathered into a single location, put into secure facilities alongside the men whose job it would be to fly it to a target in Japan, a target they still did not know.
28. HAMISHITA
BASEMENT DUNGEON,
HIROSHIMA CASTLE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN
AUGUST 1, 1945
The men huddled together, one man attending the wounds of another, a torn shirt for a bandage.
“There, Doctor. I suppose you should take a look at that one. The others do not appear to have serious injury, though they are too stubborn to admit to anything. If they insist on keeping their pain to themselves, I will not object. They should suffer for their crimes.” The captain turned away with a curt wave of his hand. “Do what you must, Doctor.”
Hamishita moved through the open gate of the cell, the American prisoners watching him with emotionless eyes. The injured man was lying flat on the earthen floor, and one of the