The memoir recalls an order for ships to be 300 miles from the Inland Sea before a special weapon was used on 6 August 1945. Even officers receiving Ultra intelligence were not told enough to understand that an atomic bomb was about to be dropped on Hiroshima. Operations continued after Hiroshima and Nagasaki until the emperor's surrender broadcast brought the cease-hostilities signal. A kamikaze still crashed into the sea near the fleet while that signal was being hauled down. Halsey's warning that Japanese aircraft should still be shot down captures how formal surrender did not instantly remove the operational danger.
Notable Point · 2:54:54-2:56:22
Atomic-bomb secrecy and danger after the ceasefire
The British Pacific Fleet received only a warning to clear the target area before Hiroshima, then remained under attack even as the ceasefire signal was hoisted.