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06/30 Sat. Naval vessels on hand (all types) 67,952.
Personnel: Navy.............3,383,196;
Marine Corps.......476,709;
Coast Guard........171,192.
Total personnel...4,031,097.
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As the end of the war approached In 1945, Japanese -Unit 731- embarked on its wildest scheme of all. Codenamed Cherry Blossoms at Night, the plan was to use kamikaze pilots to infest California with the plague. Toshimi Mizobuchi, who was an instructor for new recruits in Unit 731, said the idea was to use 20 of the 500 new troops who arrived in Harbin in July 1945. A submarine was to take a few of them to the seas off Southern California, and then they were to fly -in a plane carried on board the submarine and contaminate San Diego with plague-infected fleas. The target date was to be Sept. 22, 1945. It Is unclear whether Cherry Blossoms at Night ever had a chance of being carried out. Japan did indeed have at least five submarines that carried two or three planes each, their wings folded against the fuselage like a bird. But a Japanese Navy specialist said the navy would have never allowed Its finest equipment to be used for an army plan like Cherry Blossoms at Night, partly because the highest priority in the summer of 1945 was to defend the main Japanese islands, not to launch attacks on the United States mainland. If the Cherry Blossoms at Night plan was ever serious, it became irrelevant as Japan prepared to sur-render in early August 1945. In the last days of the war, beginning on Aug. 9, Unit 731 used dynamite to try to destroy all evidence of its germ warfare program, scholars say.
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7-3-45 Left Kerama Retto in company with 3 BB, 6 CA, 4 CVE's, 10 DD's for China Sea.
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3 July joined Task Group 32.15 acting as support ship for mine sweeping operations in East China Sea. From 3 July until 26 July during which the BOYD sighted and sank four enemy mines the ship acted as a screening unit for task group covering mine sweeps.
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7-9-45 Still East China Sea with BB's CA's CVE's. Many mines. Made run on sub. Possible. So far few boggies reported.
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She then rejoined the 3rd Fleet for strikes against the Japanese home islands (10 July-7 August).
07/10 Tue. Aircraft from fast carrier task force (Vice Adm. J. S. McCain) attack airfields on the Tokyo plain, Japan.
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7-17-45 Buckner Bay - Okenewa.
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07/17 Tue. Aircraft from fast carrier task force (Vice Ad. J. S. McCain) and British fast carrier task force (Vice Adm. H. B. Rawlings, RN)attack airfields in the Tokyo area, Japan. Battleships, cruisers, and destroyers (Rear Adm. O. C. Badger) bombard industrialized Mito-Hitachi area, Honshu, Japan.
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7-18-45 Left Buckner Bay with 3 BB, 6 cruisers, 4 CVE's.
7-19-45 Of Formosa - East China Sea. Heavy storm.
7-21-45 Buckner Bay. Saw New Alaskan + Guam - CB. News of my sisters wedding. Best of luck to you and Harry.
7-22-45 Left Buckner Bay. In the Okenewa Operation there were about 15 cans sunk and 64 hit. God was good to us.
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National Archives in Washington, D. C.,
now declassified, still bear the stamp "Top Secret."
"On July 25th, President Harry Truman approved the report of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, which called for the initiation of Operations "Olympic" and "Coronet." On July 26th, the United Nations issued the Potsdam Proclamation, which called upon Japan to surrender unconditionally or face "total destruction." "
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On 27 July the group conducted a shipping sweep off of the China Coast, and returned to Buckner Bay on 31 July.
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National Archives in Washington, D. C.,
now declassified, still bear the stamp "Top Secret."
"Three days later, on July 28th, DOMEI, the Japanese Government news agency, broadcast to the world that Japan would ignore the proclamation of Potsdam and refuse to surrender. During this same time period, the intelligence section of the Federal Communications Commission monitored internal Japanese radio broadcasts, which disclosed that Japan had closed all schools to mobilize its school children--it was arming its civilian population and forming it into national civilian defense units, and that it was turning Japan into a nation of fortified caves and underground defenses in preparation for the expected invasion of their homeland. The naval forces scheduled to take part in the actual invasion consisted of two awesome fleets--the Third and the fifth. The Third Fleet, under Admiral "Bull" Halsey, with its big guns and naval aircraft, would provide strategic support for the operation against Honshu and Hokkaido in order to impede the movement of Japanese reinforcements south to Kyushu. The Third Fleet would be composed of a powerful group of battleships, heavy cruisers, destroyers, dozens of support ships, plus three fast carrier task groups. From these fast carriers, hundreds of Navy fighters, dive bombers and torpedo planes would hit targets all over the island of Honshu.
The plan for the final defense of Japan was called "Ketsu-Go" and a large part of that plan called for the use of the Japanese Naval and Air Forces in defense. Japan had been divided into districts, and in each of these districts hidden airfields were being built and hangers and aircraft were being dispersed and camouflaged in great numbers. Units were being trained, deployed and given final instructions. Still other suicide units were being scattered throughout the islands of Kyushu and elsewhere, and held in reserve; and for the first time in the war, the Army and Navy Air Forces would be operating under one single unified command. As part of "Ketsu-Go," the Japanese were building 20 suicide take-off strips in southern Kyushu, with underground hangers for an all out offensive. In Kyushu alone, the Japanese had 36 camouflage airfield and 9 sea plane bases. As part of their overall plan, these seaplanes were to be used in suicide missions as well. On the night before the invasion, 50 seaplane bombers, along with 100 former carrier aircraft and 50 land based army planes were to be launched in a direct suicide attack on the fleet. "
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8-1-45 Still operating China Sea.
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The sweep was repeated from 1 - 6 August.The BOYD went through routine maneuvers with the task group spending most of the time in port at Buckner Bay until 17 August.
08/06 Mon. Atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, Honshu, Japan.
Carrier aircraft from naval task group (Vice Adm. J B. Oldendorf) strike enemy shipping in Tinghai Harbor, China. Carrier aircraft bomb Wake Island.
08/07 Tue. United States naval vessel sunk: Submarine BULLHEAD (SS-331), Java Sea, (presumed date). Japanese naval vessels sunk: Submarine chaser NO. 66, by Army aircraft, near Truk, Caroline Islands, 07 d. 23'N., 151 d. 53'E. Coast defense vessel No. 39, by Army aircraft, Sea of Japan, 35 d. 06'N., 129 d. 03'E.
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8-8-45 Buckner Bay.
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