Крейсер «Сан-Франциско» (CL/CA 38): История боевого пути

New Orleans class heavy cruiser

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 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, including the Battle of Cape Esperance and 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 Atlanta, 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.

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.

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.

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 Wichita, 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.

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. Some of the wounded were transferred to President Jackson, just before the approach of an enemy surface force was reported. The covering force escorted the transports out of the area, then reassembled and returned. At about midnight, San Francisco, in company with heavy cruiser USS Portland, the light cruisers Atlanta, Helena, and Juneau, and eight destroyers, entered Lengo Channel. At 0125 on 13 November, a Japanese naval force was discovered about to the northwest. 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, San Francisco opened fire on an enemy cruiser off her starboard beam. At 0151, she trained her guns on a small cruiser or large destroyer off her starboard bow. Then 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, Japanese battleship Hiei was sighted and taken under fire, at an initial range of only
At about 0200, San Francisco trained her guns on Japanese battleship Kirishima. At the same time, she became the target of Japanese cruiser Nagara off her starboard bow and of a destroyer that had crossed her bow and was passing down her port side. The enemy 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 enemy 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.

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.

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.

San Francisco was among the most decorated ships in US service during 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).

First hand account of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal by the captain of the Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze.