Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # 80-G-40093:  USS San Francisco passes under the Golden Gate Bridge, Dec. 1942

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS San Francisco (CA-38), 1934-1959

USS San Francisco, a 9950-ton New Orleans class heavy cruiser, was built at Mare Island, California. She was commissioned in February 1934 and made a shakedown cruise from Hawaii to Canada to Panama before joining the U.S. Fleet in early 1935. For the next four years, she operated in the eastern Pacific and in early 1939 went to the Caribbean to participate in Fleet Problem XX. After the completion of that exercise, she led Cruiser Division Seven on a long voyage around South America, returning to the U.S. east coast via the Panama Canal. With the outbreak of the European war in September 1939, San Francisco made Neutrality Patrols in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean.

Returning to the Pacific in early 1940, San Francisco began operations out of Pearl Harbor, where she was undergoing overhaul on 7 December 1941, when Japan attacked the Pacific Fleet there. Though their ship was largely dismantled, the cruiser's crew actively participated in anti-aircraft gunfire against enemy aircraft. San Francisco was back at sea in mid-month, when she joined in the abortive expedition to relieve the American outpost on Wake Island. During the first months of 1942, she took part in the reinforcement of Allied positions in the southern Pacific, an attempted carrier raid on Rabaul and a successful raid on Japanese forces off northern New Guinea. In the August 1942 invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi, San Francisco operated with the U.S. aircraft carriers that supported the landings. She remained active in the Guadalcanal Campaign for three months, serving as task force flagship in the Battle of Cape Esperance on 11-12 October and in the first parts of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 12-13 November 1942. During the latter action she was severely damaged by a crashing Japanese plane and by gunfire.

Following extensive repairs San Francisco escorted a convoy to the south Pacific, then went to the Aleutians, where she took part in the recovery of Attu and Kiska in mid-1943. In October, she participated in a raid on Japanese-held Wake Island and during the next two months was part of the forces that captured the Gilbert Islands and raided the Marshalls. She stayed busy in 1944, participating in the January-February Marshall Islands invasion, raids on Japanese central and south Pacific bases in February-April, and the vast Marianas campaign in June and July. Late in the year and early in 1945, following a west coast overhaul, she escorted the carrier task forces that raided throughout the western Pacific as U.S. amphibious operations seized the northern Philippines and Iwo Jima. From late March 1945 into June she participated in the Ryukyus campaign.

After the fighting ended in mid-August, San Francisco operated off China and Korea. She arrived back in the U.S. in December 1945 and was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in February 1946. Following more than a decade in the Reserve Fleet, USS San Francisco was sold for scrapping in September 1959.

This page features selected views of USS San Francisco (CA-38).

For pictures and information on a USS San Francisco crewman who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Naval Battle of Guadalacanal on 12-13 November 1942, see:

  • Boatswain's Mate First Class Reinhardt J. Keppler, USN, (1918-1942).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 50967

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    At anchor off San Pedro, California, 22 April 1935.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: 80-G-21099

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    At Pearl Harbor, with her crew manning the rails in "Whites", 4 December 1942.
    She was en route to the west coast for repair of damage received during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, on 12-13 November 1942.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 19-N-41052

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, following battle damage repairs and overhaul, 15 February 1943.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 605 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 19-N-73588

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, following overhaul, 13 October 1944.
    Her camouflage is Measure 33, Design 13d.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 570 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-495711

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    Off the coast of Korea, 28 September 1945.
    She is flying from her mainmast a U.S. Ensign that flew over the Capitol Building, in Washington, D.C., during the debate of the United Nations Treaty.
    Note that she still carries SOC seaplanes.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 83587

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    At anchor in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in early April 1939.
    She was then Flagship, Cruiser Division 7, under Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, USN.

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Rear Admiral Paul H. Bastedo.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 550 pixels

     
    Photo #: 80-G-32366

    Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 12-15 November 1942


    USS President Jackson (AP-37) maneuvering under Japanese air attack off Guadalcanal, 12 November 1942. In the center background is smoke from an enemy plane that had just crashed into the after superstructure of USS San Francisco (CA-38), which is steaming away in the right center.
    Photographed from USS President Adams (AP-38).
    Note the anti-aircraft shell bursts.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-40093

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    Steams under the Golden Gate Bridge to enter San Francisco Bay, California, on a foggy day in December 1942.
    She was en route to the Mare Island Navy Yard for battle damage repairs.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 72KB; 590 x 765 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 19-N-44715

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for battle damage repairs, 14 December 1942.
    Circles mark the location of some of the shell hits she received on 13 November 1942, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 57KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-72059

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    Silhouetted against a snowy mountain in Kulak Bay, Adak, Aleutian Islands, 25 April 1943.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-55238

    Wake Island Raids, 5-6 October 1943


    Heavy cruisers bombarding Wake on 5 October 1943, seen from USS Minneapolis (CA-36).
    Next ship astern is USS San Francisco (CA-38), which has just fired her eight-inch guns. USS New Orleans (CA-32) is in the rear.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 615 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-391451

    USS San Francisco (CA-38)


    Rear Admiral Thomas G.W. Stettle, USN, (center) with a Chinese Communist general and his companions, during the cruiser's operations in Chinese waters, circa September-November 1945.
    Note anchor chain.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 605 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     


    For pictures and information on a USS San Francisco crewman who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Naval Battle of Guadalacanal on 12-13 November 1942, see:

  • Boatswain's Mate First Class Reinhardt J. Keppler, USN, (1918-1942).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 26 December 2001
    Links added 10 March 2006