The thing about the Indianapolis incident that troubles me most is this:

Why wasn't the bomb -flown- to the departure location? The US had plenty B-29's available with very long range capability. The bomb would be flown to the target site and dropped... Maybe they were concerned about the barometric trigger or other facets of Fat Boy and more than one up and down in altitude change. Certainly the trigger mechanism was either removed or otherwise disengaged for transport.

I hate to be a 20-20 hindsight guy on this, but our air assets were thoroughly in command of the Pacific Theater by 1945. On the surface the IJN still had assets, particularly submarines on the prowl.

Did they not trust a B-29 to get it from New Mexico to the S. Pacific? They would have to trust it to make a nearly 1000 mile one way leg to deliver it on target. And at this point the early problems of the B-29 had been worked out and the very long range Burma to Japan bombardments had shown the B-29 to be very effective and after the engines were modified, the platform was quite reliable.

I will theorize that the Navy had to somehow get some of the glory of this new weapon, as the Navy and Air Force warred before, throughout WWII and after for their respective slices of the GDP for their funding. I can only figure the Navy had to have made some fraudulent case that they needed to deliver the bomb to the launch site, thereby securing their place in history in this historic weapon's use. It certainly fits the pattern of the Navy throwing McVay under the bus after he lost the Indianapolis.
The mood was not good in the US Navy immediately after VJ Day. The Army Air Force was making the case all over capital hill that with their long range bombers and these new nukes, Battleships, Aircraft carriers and the like were obsolete. They tried to prove it at the Bikini atoll with the blast on the derelict fleet at anchor.

This inter service rivalry wasn't resolved until it was determined that carrying the bomb around everywhere would not stop many of our enemies: e.g.: Korea/China. Conventional war survived ensuring the Navy would flourish as well.

I'm glad they exonerated McVay. He was responsible but did not deserve the General Courts Martial and sentence.

Man, you guys got me goin' here. Time to hit the rack...

Enola Gay and Bock's Car had to be specially modified to carry the bombs.

The real issues were security and the transport of support equipment.

quote:

The real issues were security and the transport of support equipment.

Understood. I still say since the B-29 dropped it on target. It certainly could have carried it to the departure point, with all necessary security, fighter escorts etc.