A friend of mine served in the 60s aboard a destroyer that had been at Okinawa. He said that it had been relieved early from its duty station by another destroyer, that would be going home after its turn...the destroyer that relieved them was subsequently hit by two kamikazes and sunk.
Summer, 1955 and my ship was sailing through Okinawan waters, the crew just relaxing on the way to Hong Kong. Quietly 2 older guys, late twenties/early thirties, wearing their dress blues appeared. They walked to and stood by the starboard (right) life railings. It got very quiet.
Suddenly they snapped to ATTENTION and together saluted across the waters. 200 teen-age sailors wondered “What the H**l?” One kid asked a Chief, “What’s going on? Who are they saluting?”
The Chief’s voice, as always, carried across the decks, “They are saluting their old ship, a destroyer that is STILL on Picket Duty. You guys looking OUTWARD are wrong....you must look DOWN..’bout a half mile.”
Dead silence as a couple of hundred teen-age sailors stood to attention, facing starboard and saluting.