Washburn (AKA 108) - Naval Cruise Book

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1 li st iii tajn's Cap X gan., M Personnel xi.. A, Inspection I 'Q 1 ,Fr '25 s ,....g .Steer-wi-1-' World War. lust recently, the largest ship in the world, RIZU MARUH, an oil tanker, weighing 130,000 tons, was completed. Cther than ship-building then, Sasebo is known tor little else. The Takeshirna Pearl farms, not too far from Sasebo, use tiny irritants to agitate oysters, thereby creating 1apan's renowned pearl industry. In nearby Arita, the Fukagawa Company displays some of the world's finest handpainted chinaware. Nagasaki, one of the larger cities in the area, located three hours from Sasebo, is a popular tourist attraction. It is the oldest trading port in lapan, dating back to 1750. Here can be seen the atom-bomb site ot World War Two, Madame Butterfly's home, and the oldest Catholic church in lapan. V- 'f ' r- - , an f, - 1 l A ,M , , r f' ' , , 1, iv g V , 'A lf! ' ' . Commodore Bullen and Captain Reilly Business was unusually good 15

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'Sf Q , I ., .L ., -' I ...v-'EZ- 1 xl' V 565520 Sasebo was the first lapanese port we visited. After 12 days at sea we came to The Land of the Rising Sun , many of us for us for the first time. Sasebo was to be our home for two weeks and all of us were anxious to discover what it was like, especially those of us who had never been to lapan before. Sasebo is located on the north-western tip of KYUSHU, a major island on the southern end of the lapanese chain. It guards the important narrows between Korea and Japan, known to us as the CHOSEN and TSUSHIMA straights, which separate the lapan Sea from the East China Sea. The harbor is shaped like a huge clover leaf and the bay, which extends way inland, is formed by a sea valley and shaped by surrounding hills and sharp mountains. From a naval standpoint it is an outstanding base and it is the southern most naval base in lapan for the defense of Asia, China and Korea. Historically, Sasebo has served as a catch basin for the overflow of commerce from the industries of Nagasaki and the encompassing manufac- turing complex. Since being used as a naval port, Sasebo has grown to considerable size with over 200,000 inhabitants. Today it is the home for one of our two major U. S. Naval bases in lapan and also the home for one of lapan's four naval bases. In the past few years, particularly since the Korean War, considerable industrial development has taken place, solely for the construc- tion and maintenance of lapanese vessels. The world's largest battleship, the Q' Yamato and the Musashi another Japanese battleship, were both built in Sasebo during the Second 14

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i Our first visit began 28 November 1961. It was early winter and the weather was excep- tionally nice. The major purpose of our stay was for voyage repairs and maintenance, and of course, the much deserved rest and relaxation, better known as R5zR . We had two personnel inspections, one by Captain Reilly to the tune of Hlingle Bells , and a second by Commodore Bullen. When December 'Yth approached, we could not fail to remember the significance of that day, especially since this year was the twentieth anniversary of the Second . World War. Time is certainly a great healer of wounds. We found the town very exciting and soon became familiar with the customs and habits k I of the Japanese people. They made our stay interesting and it was fun to shop in their stores and dine in their intriguing restaurants. There were many naval facilities for us to enjoy on the base and in Sasebo, most of which have been built since the Korean War. The Navy Exchange, the Fleet Display Room, and the Ship's Store Afloat, which later became another Navy Exchange, were all fabulous sim. fFf3r ' ' 1 CDC Ei' ., W , I t Q 1 3. 5: r-rr L. . 5 f' N ,' 'qqdfirw 4 l 'T g 16