USS San Francisco (CL/CA-38), a , was the second ship of three of the United States Navy named after the city of San Francisco, California. Commissioned in 1934, she was one of the most decorated U.S. ships of World War II, earning 17 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation.

Like most of her sister ships, she saw extensive action during the Guadalcanal campaign. San Francisco survived the battle of Cape Esperance without damage and helped to sink the heavy cruiser Furutaka and the destroyer Fubuki and cripple the heavy cruiser Aoba, before partaking in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, during which she was heavily damaged and her captain and admiral killed. Earlier in the battle she mistakenly fired on the light cruiser , causing serious damage and inflicting numerous casualties.

Decommissioned immediately after the end of the war, she was sold for scrap in 1959.

Her bridge wings, damaged during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and removed during repairs, are now mounted on a promontory in Golden Gate National Recreation Area. They are set on the great circle course from San Francisco to Guadalcanal.

Construction and commissioning

San Francisco was laid down on 9 September 1931 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, under the supervision of Naval constructor Charles W. Fisher Jr.; launched on 9 March 1933; sponsored by Miss Barbara M. Bailly; and commissioned on 10 February 1934, Captain Royal E. Ingersoll in command.

The New Orleans-class cruisers were the last U.S. cruisers built to the specifications and standards of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Such ships, with a limit of 10,000 tons standard displacement and 8-inch caliber main guns, may be referred to as "treaty cruisers." Originally classified as a light cruiser before she was laid down due to her thin armor, she was reclassified as a heavy cruiser because of her 8-inch guns. The term "heavy cruiser" was not defined until the London Naval Treaty in 1930.

Inter-war period

After an extensive shakedown cruise – which included operations off Mexico, in Hawaiian waters, off Washington and British Columbia, and a voyage to the Panama Canal Zone – the cruiser returned to the Mare Island Navy Yard. Gunnery installation and conversion to a flagship took her into 1935. In February, she joined Cruiser Division 6 (Crudiv 6) at San Diego. In May, she moved north and participated in Fleet Problem XVI, then returned to southern California. A few weeks later, she was back off the northwest coast for fleet tactics, and in July, she steamed farther north to Alaska. In August, she returned to California and, through the end of 1938, San Francisco continued to range the eastern Pacific, cruising from the state of Washington to Peru and from California to Hawaii.

In January 1939, she departed the west coast to participate in Fleet Problem XX, conducted in the Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles. In March, she became flagship of CruDiv 7 and commenced a goodwill tour of South American ports. Departing Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in early April, she called at ports on the east coast of that continent, moved through the Strait of Magellan and visited west coast ports, then in early June, transited the Panama Canal to complete her voyage around the continent.

World War II

On 1 September 1939, World War II started, and on 14 September, San Francisco moved south from Naval Station Norfolk to join the Neutrality Patrol. The cruiser carried freight and passengers to San Juan, Puerto Rico, thence sailed for a patrol of the West Indies as far south as Trinidad. On 14 October, she completed her patrol back at San Juan and headed for Norfolk, where she remained into January 1940. On 11 January, she headed for Guantanamo Bay, where she was relieved as flagship by , where she returned to the Pacific.

Transiting the Panama Canal in late February, she called at San Pedro and, in March, continued on to her new home port, Pearl Harbor, where she rejoined CruDiv 6. In May 1940, she steamed northwest to the Puget Sound Navy Yard for an overhaul, during which she also received four guns. On 29 September, she returned to Pearl Harbor. In early May 1941, she became flagship of CruDiv 6; and, at the end of July, she moved east for a cruise to Long Beach, California, returning to Hawaii on 27 August. In September, the flag of CruDiv 6 was hauled down; and on 11 October, San Francisco entered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for an overhaul which was scheduled for completion on 25 December.

Pearl Harbor attack

On 7 December 1941, San Francisco was in Pearl Harbor awaiting docking and the cleaning of her heavily fouled bottom. Her engineering plant was largely broken down for overhaul. Ammunition for her 5 in (127mm) and 8 in (203mm) guns had been placed in storage. Her guns had been removed to permit installation of four quadruple mounts, although the mounts had not yet been installed. Her machine guns were being overhauled. Only small arms and two machine guns were available. Moreover, a number of San Francisco's officers and men were absent.

At 0755, Japanese planes began dive-bombing Battleship Row near Ford Island. Off-duty signalman Ed Ifkin was relaxing on the signal bridge.

"I was reading the newspaper I'd just bought at the kiosk on the wharf, when an airplane buzzed over my head with that big red meatball on its side. I was trained to recognize foreign insignia and knew right away it was Japanese. I telephoned down to the bridge and told the duty officer. He said, 'Ifkin, you'll go on report for horsing around,' when BOOM! The first torpedo hit (USS) Oklahoma. Our guns were down, so a bunch of us climbed over to New Orleans. It was berthed right next us. We spent the next two hours feeding ammunition to the gunners."

Ifkin is recognized as the first U.S. sailor to report the Japanese attack.

With Aoba out of the fight, San Francisco, Helena, and Boise joined Salt Lake City in pounding the Furutaka. Fairly quickly, hits from the American cruisers detonated Furutaka's torpedo tubes and set the heavy cruiser ablaze before flooding her forward starboard and rear port engine rooms and disabling all of her guns, followed by a torpedo hit from the destroyer USS Bucanan which flooded her remaining engine rooms as San Francisco and others continued to poke holes below the waterline. Furutaka was hit over 90 times by gunfire from San Francisco, other cruisers, and escorting destroyers and sank by the stern over two and a half hours with the loss of 258 crew.

Immediately after ceasing fire on the disabled and sinking Furutaka, San Francisco noticed the Fubuki at point blank range. Recognizing the severe threat the destroyer's torpedoes posed, San Francisco blasted Fubuki at 1,650 yards (1,500 meters) and immediately shredded her bridge, foremast, and torpedo mount 1 by repeated 8-inch (203 mm) shell hits. San Francisco was shortly joined by Boise in pounding Fubuki, the destroyer was caught by surprise but managed to unload 4 torpedoes at her attackers, none of which hit. In turn, a flurry of 8-inch (203 mm) and 6-inch (152 mm) hits disabled torpedo mount 3 and the aft 5-inch (127 mm) gun turrets and set the ship ablaze. Fubuki fruitlessly fired her forward 5-inch (127 mm) guns before she rapidly shattered and sank just 5 minutes after the first hit with at least 78 lives lost.

However, the Americans took some losses when Kinugasa revealed herself and enacted a very impressive counterattack, helping to sink the destroyer USS Duncan (assisted by friendly fire), crippling Boise with an 8-inch (203 mm) hit to her forward turret barbettes, and wounding Salt Lake City with three 8-inch (203 mm) hits which damaged her boilers, steering machinery, and electrical gear and cut her speed to 25 knots while escaping with light damage. In spite of this, the Japanese losses were still far greater up to that point, followed later that morning by the sinking of the destroyers Murakumo and Natsugumo to American aircraft, concluding the battle of Cape Esperance in an American victory as San Francisco led the American fleet in retiring to Espiritu Santo.

On 15 October, San Francisco resumed operations in support of the Guadalcanal campaign. On the evening of 20 October, her group was ordered back to Espiritu Santo. At 2119, submarine's torpedoes were reported. Chester was hit amidships on the starboard side but continued under her own power. Three other torpedoes exploded: one off Helenas starboard quarter; a second between Helena and San Francisco; and the third about off San Franciscos port beam. Two others were sighted running on the surface.

San Francisco reached Espiritu Santo on the night of 21 October, but departed again on 22 October to intercept any Japanese surface units approaching Guadalcanal from the north and to cover friendly reinforcements. On 28 October, Admiral Scott transferred to Atlanta. The next day, San Francisco returned to Espiritu Santo, and on 30 October, Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan, the commanding officer of San Francisco when the United States entered the war, returned to the ship and raised his flag as Commander, Task Group 64.4 (TG 64.4) and prospective TF 65.

On 31 October 1942, the newly designated TF 65 departed from Espiritu Santo, the ships again headed into the Solomon Islands to cover troop landings on Guadalcanal. Bombardment missions in the Kokumbona and Koli Point areas followed. On 6 November, the transport group completed unloading, and the force retired, arriving at Espiritu Santo on 8 November. On 10 November, San Francisco, now flagship for TG 67.4, got underway again toward Guadalcanal.

The force arrived off Lunga Point on 12 November, and the transports commenced unloading. By mid-afternoon, an approaching Japanese air group was reported. At 1318, the ships got underway. At 1408, 21 Japanese planes attacked.

thumb|San Francisco (center) after being hit by a Japanese plane in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 12 November 1942. Ship at left is .

At 1416, an already-damaged torpedo bomber dropped its torpedo off San Franciscos starboard quarter. The torpedo passed alongside, but the plane crashed into San Franciscos control aft, swung around that structure, and plunged over the port side into the sea. 24 men were killed, 45 wounded, and one missing. Control aft was demolished. The ship's secondary command post, Battle Two, was burned out but reestablished by dark. The aft anti-aircraft director and radar were out, and three 20 mm mounts destroyed.

At about midnight, San Francisco, in company with heavy cruiser USS Portland, the light cruisers Atlanta, Helena, and Juneau, and 8 destroyers, entered Lengo Channel.

At 0125 on 13 November, a Japanese naval force was discovered about to the northwest, consisting of the battleships Hiei and Kirishima, the light cruiser Nagara, and 11 destroyers. Rear Admiral Callaghan's task group maneuvered to intercept, in what became the first engagement in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. At 0148, in almost pitch darkness, Hiei and the destroyer Akatsuki opened their searchlights and illuminated Atlanta. In response, San Francisco joined several American warships in blasting Akatsuki at 3,700 yards (3,400 meters) off her starboard beam, which San Francisco misidentified as an enemy cruiser. Heavy caliber shells immediately hit Akatsuki amidships and aft which destroyed the starboard engine room and set the destroyer on fire. Another wave of shell hits blasted the port engine room and crippled the steering gear as Akatsuki listed to port and tipped by the stern. Akatsuki rapidly capsized and sank at 1:55 with 223 killed, including Captain of destroyer division 6 Yamada Yusuke and the destroyer's commander Takasuka Osamu. At 1:51, San Francisco trained her guns on the destroyer Ikazuchi at off her starboard bow and hit her with three 8-inch (203 mm) shells which disabled her forward 5-inch (127 mm) guns and started a fire on her bow.

In exchange, Hiei fired at Atlanta and hit the light cruiser with up to thirteen 6-inch (152 mm) shells. Atlanta received as many as 49 hits in total, disabling her aft guns and setting her on fire before she was gouged by a torpedo from the Ikazuchi that disabled and sent her into the line of fire of San Francisco. In an attempt to locate other targets, San Francisco accidentally targeted Atlanta. San Franciscos gunfire caused extensive damage to Atlanta, killing Admiral Scott and most of Atlantas bridge crew. Belatedly, San Francisco realized she was firing on a friendly ship and ceased. The green dye that San Francisco used to distinguish her shells from those of other ships, was later found on Atlantas superstructure before she sank. Shortly thereafter, was sighted and taken under fire, at an initial range of only . At such a close range the Hieis armour was unable to withstand the incoming 8-inch gunfire, resulting in her steering mechanism being crippled.

At about 0200, San Francisco trained her sights on . At the same time, she became the target of off her starboard bow and of a destroyer that had crossed her bow and was passing down her port side. The Japanese battleship joined the cruiser and the destroyer in firing on San Francisco whose port battery engaged the destroyer but was put out of action, except for one mount. The battleship put the starboard battery out of commission. San Francisco swung left while her main battery continued to fire on the battleships which, with the cruiser and the destroyer, continued to pound San Francisco. A direct hit on the navigation bridge killed or badly wounded all officers, except for the communications officer, Lieutenant Commander Bruce McCandless. Command fell to the damage control officer, Lieutenant Commander Herbert E. Schonland, but he thought his own efforts were needed to keep the ship "afloat and right-side up", so he ordered McCandless to stay at the conn. Steering and engine control were lost and shifted to Battle Two. Battle Two was out of commission by a direct hit from the port side, and control was again lost. It was reestablished in the conning tower, which itself soon received a hit from the starboard side. Steering and engine control were temporarily lost, and all communications were now dead.

Soon thereafter, the Japanese ceased firing. San Francisco followed suit and withdrew eastward along the north coast of Guadalcanal.

86 men, including Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan and Captain Cassin Young, had been killed. Captain Young, like the San Francisco, was a veteran of the Pearl Harbor attack and was a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions at Pearl Harbor. 85 had been wounded. Of seven missing, three were subsequently rescued. The ship had taken 45 hits. Structural damage was extensive, but not fatal. No hits had been received below the waterline. Twenty-two fires had been extinguished.

Post-war

On 28 August 1945, the cruiser departed Subic Bay for the China coast. After a show of force in the Yellow Sea and Gulf of Pohai areas, she covered minesweeping operations, and on 8 October anchored at Inchon, Korea. From 13 to 16 October, she participated in another show of force operation in the Gulf of Pohai area, then returned to Inchon, where Rear Admiral Jerauld Wright, Commander, CruDiv 6, acted as senior member of the committee for the surrender of Japanese naval forces in Korea.

On 27 November, San Francisco headed home. Arriving at San Francisco in mid-December, she continued on to the east coast on 5 January 1946, and arrived at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for inactivation on 19 January. Decommissioned on 10 February, she was berthed with the Philadelphia Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until 1 March 1959, when her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. On 9 September, she was sold to the Union Mineral and Alloys Corp., New York, and scrapped at Panama City, Florida, in 1961.

War memorials

thumb|right|Removed bridge wings at Lands End

During the December 1942 repair at Mare Island, it was necessary to extensively rebuild the bridge. The bridge wings were removed as part of that repair, and are now part of a memorial to the ship on a promontory in Lands End, San Francisco at Golden Gate National Recreation Area overlooking the Pacific Ocean. One wing has extensive battle damage from the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. They are set on the great circle course from San Francisco to Guadalcanal. The old ship's bell is housed at the Marines Memorial Club in San Francisco.

Awards

{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"

|colspan=3|

|-

|

|-

|

|}

thumb|[[Herbert E. Schonland|Schonland left, Nimitz center, McCandless right, on board San Francisco, December 1942.]]

San Francisco was among the most decorated US Naval vessels of World War II. San Francisco earned 17 battle stars during World War II, and when combined with the crewmember's awards of Medals of Honor, Navy Crosses, Silver Stars, etc., she is the second most decorated US ship of World War II after USS Enterprise, CV-6. For her participation in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and Battle of Cape Esperance, she was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation with star. For the same action, three members of her crew were awarded the Medal of Honor: Lieutenant Commander Herbert E. Schonland, Lieutenant Commander Bruce McCandless, and Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Reinhardt J. Keppler (posthumous). Admiral Callaghan was also awarded the Medal of Honor (posthumous).

References

Citations

General sources

:

  • First-hand account of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal by the captain of the Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze.
  • Cook, Charles O. (1992). The Battle of Cape Esperance: Encounter at Guadalcanal (Reissue ed.). Naval Institute Press. ISBN <bdi>1-55750-126-2</bdi>.
  • history.navy.mil/photos: USS San Francisco
  • history.navy.mil/danfs: USS San Francisco
  • hazegray.org: USS San Francisco
  • USS San Francisco Damage Report for Guadalcanal action
  • Cruiser Scout, by Paul A. McKinley An account of Service on the ship from 1937 to 1942.