USS Southerland DD/DDR743

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#669933" TEXT="#080000" background="041b85a3.jpg"> <div> <B>USS Southerland DD/DDR743</B></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#669933" TEXT="#080000" background="04205043.jpg"> <div> <B>HOME</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="04b18de0.jpg" border=0 width="280" height="222" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Historical Tidbits</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>U.S. Ships Enter Tokyo Bay</B></div> <div> The<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#330000" FACE="Times New Roman" > </FONT>entry of thr U.S. Navy into Tokyo Bay is a popular and lively discussion among WWJ II Navy vets. If we listen to all the sea stories, every ship was "first into Tokyo Bay." This is somewhat of a physical impossibility.</div> <div> Units of the U.S. 3rd Fleet (including the USS BOSTON CA69) and Britist Pacific Fleet actually entered Sagami Wan on August 27,m 1945, west of Miura Hanto. Tokyo Bay is northeast of Miura Hanto. To a sailor unfamiliar with the area, entering Sagami Wan could be easily mistaken for entering Tokyo Bay. Combine this with the passage of sixty five years and you have the opportunity for some distortion of fact. </div> <div> The first Allied shipos entered Tokyo Bay proper on August 28, 1945. The documented order of entrt, with actual time of anchoring, is chronicaledon: <U>http://web.wt.net/~geofact/ships.htm.</U></div> <div> It should not escape notice that the VERY FIRST Allied ship to enter Tokyo Bay following the surrender was the <B>USS REVENGE AM110</B>, a U.S.Navy minesweeper.</div> <bR> <div> The first ship to drop anchor in Tokyo Bay that day (offshore of the Imperial Japanese Naval Base at Yokosuka) was USS SOUTHERLAND DD743, a destroyer. (Following WW II the SOUTHERLAND was designated a target ship after a long career as a reserve fleet training vessel, to be sunk on August 2, 1997. (See details of sinking on SINKING DETAILS Link on Home page of website). The first ship to anchor the American flag in Tokyo Bay at the end of WW II, she was the last to lower her ensign, the last of the ships that entered Tokyo Bay on August 28 to serve her country.</div> <bR> <bR> <div>                                                                                                      Japanese Surrender Ceremony onboard USS Missouri</div> <bR> <div>                                                                                                         <IMG SRC="04d3ffc0.jpg" border=0 width="319" height="252" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>