We woke up this morning to a beautiful sea.

Soon after breakfast, a vessel that looked like a large naval ship appeared on the horizon, and we all gave it a curious eye during the early morning. P.H. guessed it was a U.S. Navy helicopter carrier.

At 9:30 a.m., we called the mysterious ship and invited its crew members to visit us as we prepared to dive on Yamato. They graciously accepted and extended an invitation for us to visit their vessel in return. It was a shock, however, when they identified their ship as the USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) — a name that has special meaning for many of us on board the Ocean Voyager.

Commissioned in 1978, the Belleau Wood is the namesake of the aircraft carrier USS Belleau Wood (CVL 24), which was commissioned on March 31, 1943. The original Belleau Wood was a major force in the Battle of Okinawa, and her 24 Avengers and Helldivers played a critical role in the sinking of Yamato on April 7, 1945.

Everyone on our Japanese team recognized the Belleau Wood’s name, and it stirred up painful images.

P.H. recognized her name, too — for different reasons. After World War II, the ship was transferred to the French navy in Toulon, in the south of France where P.H. grew up. The navy's diving school was on board the Bois de Belleau — French for Belleau Wood — and he visited the school a number of times during his early teenage years. These visits to the original Belleau Wood ultimately led P.H. into his 25-year naval career.

At 10:30 a.m., our guests from the Belleau Wood arrived on board the Ocean Voyager. We took them on a tour of the submersibles, and they watched Jules begin a dive. They also toured the bridge and visited with Mr. Aihara to view the Yamato's recovered artifacts.

In exchange, P.H. and I — along with an Asahi TV film crew and four others — traveled on the Belleau Wood's launch to see the U.S. navy ship.

She is a big vessel. With a length of 820 feet, she is almost as long as the Titanic and Yamato,and her width of 141 feet is greater than that of both legendary ships. We climbed up a rope ladder into a steel cavern that could easily contain the Ocean Voyager, along with Jonah and the whale. The Belleau Wood can carry 30 helicopters in her immense hold, with living quarters for two thousand personnel above.

The bridge was a shock; it was extremely similar in size, style and ambiance to the bridge of the Yamato. The control room, however, was pure Star Trek.

What impressed us most, though, was that the Belleau Wood looked like — but didn’t feel like — a warship. It felt like a peace ship or, at its most aggressive, a defensive ship. At its core is a hospital that would do thousands of small cities proud — four operatories, a blood bank with 500 units good for three years, doctors who inspired confidence, a patient care center that could handle 300 people — and its Captain T. A. Parker extended the warmest hand of hospitality to every single member of our team. He expressed his respect for Yamato, recalling that he had a model of her as a young boy, and he applauded her advanced technology to our attentive group.

As we continued our tour, we were met with disarmingly warm hospitality throughout the ship. The Belleau Wood, it turns out, is stationed out of Sasebo naval base in southern Japan, and its sailors and marines feel very much at home in Japanese culture. The ship's social ambience reflects this Japanese bond, especially in the galley — or the Samurai Café, as it's called on the Belleau Wood. The café's signage depicts samurai warriors, and the placemats are decorated with traditional Japanese cherry blossoms and pagodas. The café also looks a lot like a large McDonald's, another sight that is very common in Japan.

By now, the mood of our Japanese teammates had changed noticeably; instead of suspicion, there was a sense of trust and respect in the air.

I regretted, though, that Yamato survivor Masami Hashimoto had left our expedition by a transfer boat and was not able to join us, back on the Ocean Voyager, for our closing moments with the crew of the Belleau Wood. At the end of their visit — on the same helipad where Masami and Sokichi Shibagaki had stood just days before to bless the sea — stood the new Belleau Wood's executive officer, U.S. Navy Commander Beulah Galvin and her staff, as well as our expedition’s chief director, Kazuo Kobayashi. Together, they shared a prayer for all the brave men of Japan and the U.S. who died on April 7, 1945. Commander Galvin then reminded Mr. Kobayashi that 54 years ago the Pacific was divided by war, paid for by the bravery and blood of the fine young men of both our countries who died here and elsewhere throughout the Pacific.

Commander Galvin concluded, "It must be our duty and committed bravery to insure that the Pacific and our two nations will never be divided again."

Director Kobayashi spoke last. He explained that Japan came here to this sacred place in the season of Obon — when the Japanese honor their dead — to understand how Yamato sank and to conclude a great naval chapter of Japan's history. He spoke of all the men lost — not just the Yamato crew and the Americans, but the Yahagi crew, the Hamakaze crew and the men of all of the escorts who saw such terrible battle that day. He explained how our team, with its members from France, America, England and other nations, is helping to answer these questions and bring home objects in memory of those who lost their lives. He stated his opposition to war and reconfirmed our common duty to be vigilant warriors of peace.

The day ended with personal reflection — a quiet time, as at the blessing of the sea, on the waters far above the devastation of Yamato's wreck.