Dashiell (DD 659) - Naval Cruise Book

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Captain, who had previously commanded another iighting'PaciIic destroyf er, would take the DASHIELI. on her triumphant return to the States. In company with her Division and three carriers the 659 left Pearl on 1 October and passed through the Canal on the 14th. Two hec4 tic days were spent in the incredible city of Colon. Then came the last leg of the voyage, and on 21 October the DASHIELI.. moored in Char- leston, S. C. Her Navy Day port was Wilmington, N. C., where she af- forded great interest to thousands of visitors and was honored by the presence of her gracious sponsor, Mrs. Robert B. Dashiell, who was ac- companied by her daughter, Mrs. Thomas Catch, for the festivities on the 27th. Shortly afterwards, her complement already cut to peacetime size, the ship returned to Charleston for honorable retirement to the fleet reserve. Each of the hundreds who have served aboard the 659 has at some time wished he might be reassigned to the Atlantic or to a shore station. But now that the guns are silenced and the smoke of battle has cleared there is not a man of her company who is not glad and proud to have served on this gallant vessel under the most trying conditions and through the bitterest fighting of the war. The DASHIELIIS crew have stood together for a common cause againts common danger-against suicide planes, coastal batteries, ty- phoons. They have been to sea for months at a time, months of scorch- ing heat, numbing routine, and ever impending threat of attack. And what respite was there from the confining decks and bulkheads of a small steel ship? Two cans of warm beer per man on a sun-baked, Cod- forsaken atoll. These are the things that breed an association which is deeper, more lasting even than friendship. The DASHIELI.. may crumble away in 'cRed Lead Rowv. We prayerfully hope that her guns will never again be called upon to bring order to a world gone mad. It is not in steel and rivets that the 659 will be perpetuated. It is in the hearts of the men who have sailed her and fought her. And in the hearts of their sons. And of the sons of their sons. ' Now the log of the UNITED STATES SHIP DASHIELL is written. Her tale is told. End of cruzse. Dashzell passes River Bridge, approaching

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the fury of America's carrier-based air power. Then the unexpected, the incredible, the impossible happened. On the night of the 10th word was received that Japan was prepared to accept the surrender terms of the Potsdam Conference. It's hard to celebrate on a small destroyer steam- ing under a wartime condition of readiness. There are no chorus girls, no ticker tape, no champagne. But even on a destroyer you can feel your heart swell up with joy and thankfulness till you think it's going to burst. And right then, on the night of 10 August, that was all the cele- bration that three hundred men on the U. S. S. DASHIELL wanted to ask for. - On 13 August, while the negotiations were still going on, there was another strike on the Tokyo plains area - just to let the Japanese know we meant business. It was not unopposed, either, for during the day twenty enemy planes were shot down by the Force's combat air patrol. There was a further strike on the 15th, but just as the planes had the enemy coast in sight news was received that the surrender had been consummated, and all were recalled. During the next weeks the 3659 cruised off the homeland with her task group. A landing force and a prize crew were organized but neither was used. On the 27th the DASHIELL and the Murray were detached to accept the surrender of an enemy submarine which was re- ported surfaced and flying a black flag. With the 3659 standing by to cover her, the Murray placed a prize crew on the sub which mustered the Japanese on deck and replaced the black flag with the U. S. colors. The DASHIELL then rejoined her group, and the Murray escorted the underseas craft to port. The climax to the U. S. S. DASHIELUS wartime career came on 6 September when the ship sailed proudly past graceful Fujiyama, past the unmanned shore batteries, past Yokosuka Naval Base, and anchored off Yokohoma in Tokyo Bay itself. H That evening she was again under- way. The war was over. The DASHIELL was going home. Gun watch- es were secured, and at night the running lights were turned onhand the ship's company saw movies on deck. Yes, the war was over. After a stop in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, where she took ab r ninety sailors eligible for discharge, the '6659 , streaming her 245-foot home- ward-bound pennant, reached Pearl Harbor on 20 September. Here her last change of command took place when Commander Cordiner was relieved by Lieutenant-Commander John E. Wicks, Jr., USN. The new 6 A f'

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