Astoria carries Ambassador Saitō home to Japan

Astoria repaid Japan's earlier return of an American ambassador by carrying Hiroshi Saitō's ashes and family to Yokohama under Captain Richmond Kelly Turner. Japanese destroyer escorts, half-masted flags, a twenty-one-gun salute, and shore ceremonies made the voyage a full diplomatic operation. Lavish Japanese hospitality and the memorial pagoda later placed at the US Naval Academy preserved the mission's symbolic importance. A fast heavy cruiser conveyed respect and urgency without the lesser status of a destroyer or the delay imposed by a slower battleship.