 Three days after Japan's formal surrender in Tokyo Bay, Hashimoto was promoted to his final rank of commander. On 20 November, he was given command of the destroyer Yukikaze, among the few Imperial Navy ships to survive the war, and assigned to repatriation duties, returning troops to Japan from overseas. Before Hashimoto could begin his new duties, however, he was summoned by the United States military to be a witness for the prosecution in the court-martial against Indianapolis commander Captain Charles B. McVay III, who was on trial on charges of negligence leading to the ship's sinking. On 9 December 1945 he was transported from Tokyo to Oakland, California aboard an aircraft of the Naval Air Transport Service. Hashimoto was assured he would be treated as a naval officer instead of a prisoner of war or war criminal, but he remained under guard during his time in the United States and was not allowed to leave his hotel, as his appearance had been front page news that day in the New York Times and in other newspapers. The next day he arrived in Washington, D.C. where hearings were taking place. For the duration of his time in the United States, he spoke through translator Francis Earl Eastlake from the Office of Naval Intelligence.
