In 1945, Japan formally surrendered bringing to a close six years of world war. However, before the ceasefire signal had been received by all combatants, a Japanese torpedo bomber attacked Task Force 37 which was sailing off Honshu. This Task Force included the Royal New Zealand Navy cruiser HMNZS Gambia. A U.S. Navy Corsair fighter, from the carrier USS Hancock, engaged the Japanese plane and the anti-aircraft gun crews of HMNZS Gambia joined in. The Japanese plane was shot down with pieces of the aircraft falling on HMNZS Gambia.

 

The men from HMNZS Gambia claim that they fired the last shots of the Pacific War. A week earlier, on 9 August, HMNZS Gambia had been involved in the last naval bombardment of Japan when she shelled the steelworks at Kaimaishi – the same day the second atomic bomb was dropped, this time on Nagasaki.

With hostilities ended, shore parties from HMNZS Gambia secured the Japanese naval port of Yokohama and the ship represented the RNZN at the 2 September signing of the surrender in Tokyo Bay. Later that month, crew members from HMNZS Gambia assisted in the evacuation of Allied prisoners of war from Wakayma to hospital ships in Tokyo. Her duty over, HMNZS Gambia sailed from Japan on 11 October and arrived in Auckland on the 30th.

 

HMNZS Gambia had been Commissioned into the RNZN in 1943 following the damage to HMNZ ships Achilles and Leander in the Solomon Islands campaign. She was recommissioned back into the Royal Navy in 1946. At 169 metres long, with a 19m beam and a wartime complement of 920 officers and ratings, HMNZS Gambia remains the largest warship to have ever served with the Royal New Zealand Navy.