USS ASTORIA CA-34
The Official Home of 'Nasty Asty'
The Saito Cruise 1939
In March 1939, Hirosi Saito died in Washington D.C. At a time when American-Japanese relations were badly strained, President Franklin D. Roosevelt elected to honor the personal friend who had worked so hard to maintain diplomatic relations for the past four years. Saito was cremated in Washington, and FDR selected an American cruiser to carry the Ambassador's ashes back to Japan. Richmond K. Turner was his captain of choice, and USS ASTORIA was hand-picked as the ship to make the trip.
This April 1939 American political cartoon, reprinted here in a Japanese publication, shows Hirosi Saito continuing to bridge the gap between the two countries as ASTORIA begins her mission to Japan.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Upon learning of the Saito mission, USS ASTORIA made a speed run to Norfolk Navy Yard for painting and a quick overhaul. The ship would be a glistening jewel of the U.S. Navy upon her mission to Japan.
-photo reproduced from Jones ed., USS ASTORIA (CA-34) and the Men Who Sailed Her
Hirosi Saito's funeral cortege from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, 18 March 1939.
-photo from Naval History and Heritage Command collection NH 71641
The launch Anita Clay delivers Saito's ashes to USS ASTORIA in the Severn River, 18 March 1939.
-photo from Naval History and Heritage Command collection NH 71641
Philatelic collector's envelope posted from USS ASTORIA at Honolulu en route to Japan, 4 April 1939.
-from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA fires a 17-gun salute as she enters Yokohama harbor on 17 April 1939. Japanese sailors man the rail of the cruiser IJN KISO, which returned the salute.
-IJN photo from Brent Jones collection
CAPT Richmond K. Turner salutes Japanese counterpart Captain Yagi Hidetsuna while paying a visit aboard IJN cruiser KISO on 17 April 1939.
-IJN photo from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA sailors carry the ceremonial urn containing the ashes of Ambassador Saito to a launch waiting to go ashore, 17 April 1939.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Taken at the exact moment of the previous photo, a Japanese photograph of Hirosi Saito's urn being carried off ASTORIA to the waiting motor launch.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA sailors load the ceremonial urn containing the ashes of Ambassador Saito into a launch waiting to go ashore.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
Ashore at Yokohama, American sailors carry the ceremonial urn of Hirosi Saito's ashes on 17 April 1939. USS ASTORIA lies at anchor in the background.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Hirosi Saito's family waits as his ashes are brought ashore.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Captain Richmond K. Turner and the ASTORIA honor guard assemble for Saito's funeral procession.
-photo reproduced from Jones ed., USS ASTORIA (CA-34) and the Men Who Sailed Her
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Captain Turner leads the ASTORIA honor guard in Saito's funeral procession.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Hirosi Saito's ceremonial urn in his funeral procession. The event was widely covered by Japanese media, partly in an attempt to paint U.S.-Japanese relations in a positive light regarding expansionist policies in China.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Captain Richmond Turner at a social function. ASTORIA's week at Yokohama was packed with official dignitary events.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Captain Richmond Turner speaks before a combined Japanese and American Navy audience. Photos of these events were given to ASTORIA shipmates as souvenirs before the cruiser left port.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
American flags and smiles were present at all events ASTORIA Sailors attended. While the Japanese people expressed genuine gratitude and sentiment over the respects paid to Hirosi Saito, both governments viewed the event with their own complex agenda.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA Sailors attend an event at Yokohama. Each Sailor and Marine was given a souvenir badge and ribbon to commemorate the event.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA Sailors being driven to an event in local tram cars. The cars were steam-driven, as gasoline was reserved for the war effort in China.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Above and below: USS ASTORIA Sailors and Marines in a Japanese open market during their week at Yokohama.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
-photo from Brent Jones collection
-photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
USS ASTORIA officers and men attend a Japanese garden party where the "saki flowed freely."
-photo from Brent Jones collection
An ASTORIA Sailor smells the cherry blossoms, in bloom during the ship's April 1939 visit.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Upon departing Japan, USS ASTORIA made ports of call in Shanghai and Hong Kong (pictured above) in late April and early May 1939.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
In late May, following a stop in the Philippines, USS ASTORIA conducted a search for the Sea Dragon, a Chinese junk that disappeared with American adventurer Richard Haliburton aboard. Haliburton had taken the ship to sea in an attempt to sail from San Francisco to Hong Kong. After searching 162,000 square miles, the search was abandoned. Haliburton was never found.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
The Asiatic Cruise of USS ASTORIA was conducted over 158 days, by far her longest period away from her home port.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
The diplomatic visit of Captain Turner and his ship made headlines and magazine covers across Japan.
-from Brent Jones collection
A surviving example of the souvenir badges given to ASTORIA Sailors and Marines.
-from Brent Jones collection
A souvenir pennant from the Asiatic Cruise of USS ASTORIA in 1939.
-from Brent Jones collection
Sources
Jones, Brent. Private photo and document collection.
Jones, Pat (ed.) The USS ASTORIA (CA-34) and the Men Who Sailed Her. USS ASTORIA Reunion Association. Privately printed, 1992.
Naval History and Heritage Command Photographic Section. http://www.history.navy.mil/
Continue to the Pineapple Fleet
BACK TO USS ASTORIA HOMEPAGE
In March 1939, Hirosi Saito died in Washington D.C. At a time when American-Japanese relations were badly strained, President Franklin D. Roosevelt elected to honor the personal friend who had worked so hard to maintain diplomatic relations for the past four years. Saito was cremated in Washington, and FDR selected an American cruiser to carry the Ambassador's ashes back to Japan. Richmond K. Turner was his captain of choice, and USS ASTORIA was hand-picked as the ship to make the trip.
This April 1939 American political cartoon, reprinted here in a Japanese publication, shows Hirosi Saito continuing to bridge the gap between the two countries as ASTORIA begins her mission to Japan.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Upon learning of the Saito mission, USS ASTORIA made a speed run to Norfolk Navy Yard for painting and a quick overhaul. The ship would be a glistening jewel of the U.S. Navy upon her mission to Japan.
-photo reproduced from Jones ed., USS ASTORIA (CA-34) and the Men Who Sailed Her
Hirosi Saito's funeral cortege from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, 18 March 1939.
-photo from Naval History and Heritage Command collection NH 71641
The launch Anita Clay delivers Saito's ashes to USS ASTORIA in the Severn River, 18 March 1939.
-photo from Naval History and Heritage Command collection NH 71641
Philatelic collector's envelope posted from USS ASTORIA at Honolulu en route to Japan, 4 April 1939.
-from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA fires a 17-gun salute as she enters Yokohama harbor on 17 April 1939. Japanese sailors man the rail of the cruiser IJN KISO, which returned the salute.
-IJN photo from Brent Jones collection
CAPT Richmond K. Turner salutes Japanese counterpart Captain Yagi Hidetsuna while paying a visit aboard IJN cruiser KISO on 17 April 1939.
-IJN photo from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA sailors carry the ceremonial urn containing the ashes of Ambassador Saito to a launch waiting to go ashore, 17 April 1939.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Taken at the exact moment of the previous photo, a Japanese photograph of Hirosi Saito's urn being carried off ASTORIA to the waiting motor launch.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA sailors load the ceremonial urn containing the ashes of Ambassador Saito into a launch waiting to go ashore.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
Ashore at Yokohama, American sailors carry the ceremonial urn of Hirosi Saito's ashes on 17 April 1939. USS ASTORIA lies at anchor in the background.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Hirosi Saito's family waits as his ashes are brought ashore.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Captain Richmond K. Turner and the ASTORIA honor guard assemble for Saito's funeral procession.
-photo reproduced from Jones ed., USS ASTORIA (CA-34) and the Men Who Sailed Her
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Captain Turner leads the ASTORIA honor guard in Saito's funeral procession.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Hirosi Saito's ceremonial urn in his funeral procession. The event was widely covered by Japanese media, partly in an attempt to paint U.S.-Japanese relations in a positive light regarding expansionist policies in China.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Captain Richmond Turner at a social function. ASTORIA's week at Yokohama was packed with official dignitary events.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Captain Richmond Turner speaks before a combined Japanese and American Navy audience. Photos of these events were given to ASTORIA shipmates as souvenirs before the cruiser left port.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
American flags and smiles were present at all events ASTORIA Sailors attended. While the Japanese people expressed genuine gratitude and sentiment over the respects paid to Hirosi Saito, both governments viewed the event with their own complex agenda.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA Sailors attend an event at Yokohama. Each Sailor and Marine was given a souvenir badge and ribbon to commemorate the event.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
USS ASTORIA Sailors being driven to an event in local tram cars. The cars were steam-driven, as gasoline was reserved for the war effort in China.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
Above and below: USS ASTORIA Sailors and Marines in a Japanese open market during their week at Yokohama.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
-photo from Brent Jones collection
-photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
USS ASTORIA officers and men attend a Japanese garden party where the "saki flowed freely."
-photo from Brent Jones collection
An ASTORIA Sailor smells the cherry blossoms, in bloom during the ship's April 1939 visit.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Upon departing Japan, USS ASTORIA made ports of call in Shanghai and Hong Kong (pictured above) in late April and early May 1939.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
In late May, following a stop in the Philippines, USS ASTORIA conducted a search for the Sea Dragon, a Chinese junk that disappeared with American adventurer Richard Haliburton aboard. Haliburton had taken the ship to sea in an attempt to sail from San Francisco to Hong Kong. After searching 162,000 square miles, the search was abandoned. Haliburton was never found.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
The Asiatic Cruise of USS ASTORIA was conducted over 158 days, by far her longest period away from her home port.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
The diplomatic visit of Captain Turner and his ship made headlines and magazine covers across Japan.
-from Brent Jones collection
A surviving example of the souvenir badges given to ASTORIA Sailors and Marines.
-from Brent Jones collection
A souvenir pennant from the Asiatic Cruise of USS ASTORIA in 1939.
-from Brent Jones collection
Sources
Jones, Brent. Private photo and document collection.
Jones, Pat (ed.) The USS ASTORIA (CA-34) and the Men Who Sailed Her. USS ASTORIA Reunion Association. Privately printed, 1992.
Naval History and Heritage Command Photographic Section. http://www.history.navy.mil/
Continue to the Pineapple Fleet
BACK TO USS ASTORIA HOMEPAGE
