Maiden of the USS Indianapolis

Part five

During the next couple of years, we hopped from island to island, fighting naval battles and supporting air craft carriers. The Japanese has multiple island bases that we were tasked with destroying.
It was now 1945.
Many of my boys had grown into men. They could grow facial hair now, a fact that many of them were proud of. Military dress code required them to shave; however, occasionally one cocky man would grow his out slightly for shore leave, claiming it would attract the women. Their muscles and builds were more defined, having years of hard ship work behind them.
But not all of the growth had been positive. We had lost some crew members in past battles. New men came and went, either killed by Japanese Zeroes and Kates or assigned to another ship. Some of the original crew were also reassigned.
I never forgot any of their names.
In the summer of '45, the USS Indianapolis was given a secret assignment. We were currently undergoing repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard. The orders were sent from high up in the chain of command-we couldn't know the names because it would be too risky if we were ever caught.
In July, a large wooden cube shaped crate and a cylindrical metal object were delivered to the care of the Captain and placed onboard the ship.
The crate was strapped down in one of our seaplane bays, and the metal tube was welded onto the floor in the officer's lounge.
The crew was not allowed to look inside either container, and they were not allowed to have any prior knowledge of what was being transported, for fear of interrogation by the Japanese if the ship was taken.
The orders had us going to Tinian Island to deliver an object that could turn the course of the war.
Even though the crew didn't know what was contained within the crate and the tube, I knew. There had been whispers among my other sisters, and once the objects arrived on board I knew they were true.
America had developed a bomb, one that would destroy like no other previous bomb. Scientists called it the "atomic bomb" and the code name was "Little Boy".
I paced around the metal tube, my gut turning as I thought about what was inside. The container was less than two feet tall. It was hard to think that this little tube, along with the other components in the crate outside, could ever become so powerful that they could stop this aweful war.
This war that had been going on for half a decade now.
The war that had claimed so many of my Maiden sisters and their crew.
So many boys would not be returning home to their mothers, siblings, or lovers.
My stomach flipped. How could this have happened? And so soon after the last one? I barely remembered the Great War, but I had heard stories from the older Maidens. It had been terrible, and we had barely won.
I flicked the canister, pondering its ability to house such a destructive force inside such a small space. I got up and walked towards the door. Before I left the room, I paused and looked over my shoulder.
I hoped for the sake of all the boys still fighting that this bomb works.
I hoped that it will end the war and make the Japanese regret ever thinking about attacking the United States.
I hoped with all my heart that this bomb would mean that no more people would have to die.