divers on 18 September 1945. While still waiting to move to the rear area, Southard was wrecked on another reef about southwest of Tsuken Shima on 9 October 1945 during Typhoon Louise. On 10 October 1945, her officers and crew, save the commanding officer and a skeleton crew, were removed. Decommissioning and disposal Southard was declared a total loss, and on 5 December 1945 she was decommissioned. She was struck from the Navy list on 8 January 1946. A demolition crew destroyed her wreck on 14 January 1946. Awards American Defense Service Medal with "FLEET" clasp Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 10 battle stars World War II Victory Medal In popular culture During the Okinawa campaign, after May 1945, Herman Wouk, author of The Caine Mutiny, served aboard Southard as her executive officer. Like the protagonist of his novel, he had been recommended to command Southard on her voyage home before she was wrecked on 9 October 1945. He also named a minor character in the novel after Southard. Other parts of the novel are loosely based on Wouk's earlier experiences from 1943 to 1945 as a lieutenant aboard , another Clemson-class destroyer minesweeper that had duty in the Marshall Islands and the Mariana Islands like Wouk's fictional ship USS Caine. References External links history.navy.mil: USS Southard navsource.org: USS Southard hazegray.org: USS Southard combinedfleet.com: Japanese Sub I-73 Clemson-class destroyers World War II mine warfare vessels of the United States Ships built by William Cramp & Sons Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean 1919 ships Maritime incidents in October 1945 Maritime incidents in 1946