To avert the potential damage to morale from the loss of a battleship coming so soon after the string of recent setbacks in the war effort, Mutsu's destruction was declared a state secret. Mass cremations of recovered bodies began almost immediately after the sinking. Captain Teruhiko Miyoshi's body was recovered by divers on 17 June [1943], but his wife was not officially notified until 6 January 1944. Both he and his second in command, Captain Ono Koro, were posthumously promoted to Rear Admiral, as was normal practice. To further prevent rumors from spreading, healthy and recovered survivors were reassigned to various garrisons in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the survivors were sent to Truk in the Caroline Islands and assigned to the 41st Guard Force. Another 150 were sent to Saipan in the Mariana Islands, where most were killed in 1944 during the battle for the island.