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We arrived in Sagami Bay at 1700 in the afternoon almost at the foot of Mt. Fujiyama. The volcano is very beautiful and late in the afternoon as the clouds cleared away we could see it distinctly. We were at general quarters all the way in but nothing developed and we secured as soon as we anchored.
We had all our small arms where we could get them easy and there were 6 armed sentries pacing the deck just in case anything developed.
The Emperor told the Japanese people that the blackout in Japan was over and the night the lights began to flicker on in the cities near the coast for the first time in a long while.
We went to evening alert once more in the afternoon and secured after dark. Nothing happened during the night and everything was quiet.
We got underway early the next morning and with the Wedderburn and Twining leading, headed into Tokyo Bay followed by the Southerland (2200-DD) and the cruiser San Diego (AA). The mine sweeps cleared the channel and we steamed up to Yokosuka, the big naval base. We anchored here for the first time. We could see the battleship "Nagoto" two cruisers and a destroyer which were all damaged. One destroyer was beached and you could see the searchlight and guns and a couple large bomb craters where our boys dropped their calling cards.
The harbor is very large and full of refuse, trash, and filth. The water is a dirty green and is swift. The tides are really rugged and one can, the Southerland, had to change anchorage as she was dragging anchor.
There are many large guns setting in the hills and this place is well fortified and a regular fortress. Our planes have really knocked the hell out of factories and installations.
All day the planes from carriers as well as B29’s flew over. The super forts had large V’s for victory painted on their tails.
All ships is the harbor flew large ensigns both fore and aft and the little mine sweeps continues sweeping the rest of the harbor.
A Japanese pilot was riding is the San Diego and was guiding us through the channel and when asked by a news commentator what affect the carrier plane raids had on Tokyo he replied that they had hit hospitals, temples, schools and churches. When the question was repeated he just grinned and said wait and see. The Japanese really hate our carriers and I doubt if any of the big ones will be in for some time to come.
All day the Japanese envoys were coming out to the flagships (San Diego) for conferences. The small tug carried a Japanese flag nearly half as big as the boat itself.
We remained in Tokyo Bay that night and the next morning we hauled our anchor up and steamed back down to Sagami Bay.
We remained in Sagami Bay all day and carried out regular in port routine. That night we had movies on the fantail and all ships were lit up like peace time. The two hospital ships were well lighted and they were still standing by ready to take sick prisoners of war aboard. One was American and the other was a Dutch ship. The ship belonging to the Dutch was manned by the Australians and staffed by English doctors and nurses.
The next morning August 30 we went back to Tokyo Bay leading the troop transports. They steamed in single file and there were 16 LSM’s following them. All during the day we were cruising around covering the beaches in case of trouble. We were ready to fire at a moments notice. All morning waves of small craft steamed ashore with waves of soldiers, marines and sailors, as well as loads of equipment.