October 13, 1945

13- _____ Had inspection this morning in dress blues _ another Jap mine sweeper pulled in with soldiers & left after unloading them _ same was (Sweeper) a Jap hospital ship pull in at 17.00 Jap ship yards here a starting to work again building ships. three transports have been completed. Liberty this afternoon at 1245 to 16[4]0.
(224 days out of states)
__________

1640 - I put the 4 in brackets because it looks like a 3 with a 4 written over it.

At the war's end, the Japanese needed to evacuate their armies from the islands they'd taken over. Many Japanese ships had their guns removed and were converted to transport ships. The painting shows the IJN Soya, an ammunition ship converted to a transport in September of 1945.