Daly (DD 519) - Naval Cruise Book

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Her Adventures fcontinuedl 1 Sun Diego, Back Again--This Time for Keeps -Here was Japan. The fight was over, and from now on' it would be all routine duty. There would be no more ubogeyv-no more suicide attacks- and all firing would be just Mpracticen. We showed movies topside-in a Japanese harbor. HDarken ship was a thing of the past, and it was a relief. All hands began guessing as to the date Mthe 5l9 would be released and allowed to return to 4'Stateside ' once more. Scuttlebutt reached new highs, until, finally, none believed any of the 'cstraight dope that occasionally found its way out. Everyone had adopted the plan of waiting to see what would come and of taking nothing for certain' until it had been given out by the Skipper. There was still work to be done. On 23 September, the DALY stood by for possible fire support during the occupation of Sasebo, a Japanese naval base of importance. After an uneventful day, the support ships returned to Nagasaki. I On the 24th, the DALY and other ships of DesRon 24 left Nagasaki, es- corting a cruiser and an escort carrier to Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. There the Mighty D was granted tender availability for minor repairs to her engines. 4 Later we were sent to Yokosuka, at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. Liberty was more enjoyable at Yokosuka than at any other place in Japan. The city was more modern, and the controlling command had established facilities for liquid refreshments. The use of cigarettes and other personal items as exchange for barter was strictly forbiddeng and, with sky-high prices, there was a marked decrease in the number of souvenirs brought aboard. By now, little was said about when we were to return to the States Almost everyone had adopted a resolution to Walt it out before building their hopes again S zxty two J

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Her Adventures fcontinuedj After refueling, the force again left Okinawa for their second sweep of the East China Sea. This sweep took the DALY and accompanying ships to the region of the mouth of the Yangzte River. Once again, the only shipping encountered was small craft. The third sweep was started when the force left Okinawa on 1 August. This ship, in company with destroyers and cruisers, proceeded independently to make a close sweep of the entrance approaches to the Yangzte River. Sweeps were made each day until the 6th, when the force returned to Okinawa. The news of the first atomic bombing of Japan brought new hope, and prayers for an early end of the war rose among the men. In the days following the first announcement, and then the second bombing, there was a sense of an- ticipation of something big about to happen. Then came the electrifying news that Japan had offered to surrender. The first report of this from Japan came in just after dark. All hands were skeptical at first, then a wave of hilarity and celebration, colored with shouts, whistles, horns, bells, and gunfire and tracers and searchlights, spread over Buckner Bay, making a spectacle long to be remembered. So it had finally come-the end that we had paid for so dearly' and fought for so long and so hard. The days of waiting for confirma- tion from the Allied Powers were diflicult to bear out, but, at last, that became a reality, too. On 9 September, we left Okinawa en route to' Nagasaki, Kyushu, Japan, in company with escort carriers, cruisers and other destroyers, to participate in the occupation of Nagasaki and the evacuation of Allied prisoners of war from that area. The DALY entered the outer harbo-r of Nagasaki Ko just be- fore noon of the 14th and moored in the inner harbor in mid-afternoon. p At Anchor in Sasebo, Kyushu, Japan A S lxty one

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