In June, she moved on to Leyte; whence, on 1 July, she sailed with TF 38, the Fast Carrier Task Force, for the fleet's final raids on the Japanese home islands.

From 10 July until the end of the war, she screened the carriers as their planes flew against military and industrial targets on the Tokyo Plain, in other parts of Honshū, on Hokkaidō, and in the Inland Sea.

Strikes on the Tokyo Plain scheduled for 15 August were cancelled as hostilities ceased, but the ships continued to cruise off the Japanese coast.

She was the first man of war to enter Tokyo Bay at the time of the signing of the surrender documents In January 1946, Southerland sailed for the United States.

Carrier escort and coastal patrol duty followed, involving night shore bombardment against enemy transport facilities, boat and troop concentrations, and gun emplacements.

In March, the destroyer conducted ASW exercises off Okinawa; and, in April, as the stalemate in the Panmunjom armistice negotiations continued, she returned to the combat zone.

Joining TF 77, she screened carriers, served as plane guard, and participated in shore bombardments - including a combined air/sea strike on Ch'ongjin on Easter Sunday.

Toward the end of the month, as interservice air strikes hit Communist power sources, Southerland again headed south for Taiwan Strait patrol duty.

At the end of December 1958, she joined the aircraft carrier Princeton and the destroyer Henderson in providing emergency relief — food, medicine, and trained medical personnel — for survivors of devastating floods in Ceylon; and she continued that work into January 1958.

In November 1963, Southerland, in WestPac and scheduled to participate in amphibious support exercises, was ordered to Vietnam for brief duty as hostilities there threatened American interests.

[1] During that period, her superstructure above the main deck was removed; berthing and messing areas were renovated; and her engineering spaces were reconditioned.

Departing on 6 March, she joined TF 77 in the South China Sea; and, as in Korea, she screened carriers and acted as plane guard while strikes were flown against Communist targets.

Briefly detached twice in late June, she provided gunfire support in the I Corps area and destroyed several Viet Cong buildings and communications points.

There, she again alternated carrier escort and plane guard duties in Tonkin Gulf with fire support activities off the southern coast of the divided country until mid-November.

She remained in the Far East until 5 December, plane guarding for the carrier Enterprise and visiting such oriental ports as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Subic Bay.

The capability of the Naval Reserve to augment the fleet on short notice was demonstrated by the airlift which brought in new groups of reservists at regular intervals once the deployment had begun.

Through September 1974, Southerland has continued to operate along the west coast out of San Diego, clearing that area only once in late February and early March to visit Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

En route to Hawaii she was accompanied by the British frigate HMS Jupiter, and conducted joint exercises including an exchange of crew members by highline transfer and return by helicopter.

After a brief stop in Mazatlan for fuel, Southerland continued on to Acapulco and spent three full days at anchor near the mouth of the harbor before returning to port in San Diego.

[citation needed] A planned transfer of Southerland to the Ecuadoran Navy fell through due to a fishing rights dispute.

Subsequently the ship was disposed of as a missile testing target and sunk at 13:49:30 PST on 2 August 1997 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 34°57′N 122°08′W / 34.950°N 122.133°W / 34.950; -122.133 ("USS Southerland (DD-743)).