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

Photo # 19-N-64793:  USS San Diego off the Mare Island Navy Yard, April 1944

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

USS San Diego (CL-53, later CLAA-53), 1942-1960

USS San Diego, a 6000-ton Atlanta class light cruiser, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. Commissioned in January 1942, she passed through the Panama Canal en route to the Pacific in May and operated in the Hawaiian area with the carrier Hornet during June and July. In early August, San Diego's task force steamed to the south Pacific. Over the next six months, the cruiser provided anti-aircraft protection for U.S. aircraft carriers during the protracted and difficult campaign to hold Guadalcanal. She was present when USS Wasp was sunk by a Japanese submarine on 15 September and screened Hornet during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October. In the complex three-day Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in mid-November 1942, San Diego operated with the carrier Enterprise.

San Diego continued in her aircraft carrier escort role as the war moved up the Solomon Islands chain in 1943. In November of that year, she covered USS Saratoga and USS Princeton as their planes hit the Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain. She also accompanied Pacific Fleet carriers as they raided the Marshall Islands in early December.

During January-March 1944, San Diego participated in operations to seize bases in the Marshalls and reduce enemy facilities on Truk. Her combat role was briefly interrupted by west coast shipyard work, but she was back in the war zone in time to join in the assault on the Mariana Islands in June and July. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea in mid-June, she was part of a task force built around the carriers Essex, Langley and Cowpens. For the rest of the year San Diego accompanied the carriers as the war pushed into the western Pacific, leading to the capture of some of the Palau Islands in September and a beachhead on Leyte in October.

In 1945 San Diego took part in raids against targets around the South China Sea, in the Philippines and in the Japanese home islands. She also supported the invasions of Luzon in January 1945, Iwo Jima in February and the Ryukyus beginning in late March. Her five-inch guns bombarded the enemy ashore during the latter campaign. In late August 1945, after Japan's capitulation, San Diego steamed into Tokyo Bay as flagship of a task force that liberated Allied Prisoners of War. She returned to the United States in mid-September and afterwards helped to transport service personnel home in Operation "Magic Carpet". Decommissioned in November 1946, San Juan had no further active service. She was redesignated CLAA-53 in March 1949, stricken from the Navy list ten years later and sold for scrapping in February 1960.

This page features selected views of USS San Diego (CL-53, later CLAA-53).


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 #: 19-N-27236

USS San Diego (CL-53)


In Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, on 10 January 1942.
Note ice and snow on the ship.

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

Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-60146

USS San Diego (CL-53)


Off San Francisco, California, 1 January 1944.

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

Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 620 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 97826

USS San Diego (CL-53)


Off San Francisco, California, 1 January 1944.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97825

USS San Diego (CL-53)


Underway on 8 March 1944.
Photographed from an airship of Blimp Squadron 32 (ZP-32).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 590 pixels

 
Photo #: 19-N-64793

USS San Diego (CL-53)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 April 1944.
Her camouflage design is Measure 33, Design 24d.

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

Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 590 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-64794

USS San Diego (CL-53)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 April 1944.
Her camouflage design is Measure 33, Design 24d.

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

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 600 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-64799

USS San Diego (CL-53)


At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 April 1944, following overhaul. She is painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 24d.
In the background are USS Cassin (DD-372) and USS Denver (CL-58).

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

Online Image: 111KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-64801

USS San Diego (CL-53)


At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 April 1944, following overhaul.
The destroyer in the background is USS Cassin (DD-372).
Note San Diego's after 5"/38 gun mounts, 40mm quad anti-aircraft machine gun mount and depth charges on her fantail, and floating crane alongside.

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

Online Image: 136KB; 595 x 765 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-338386

Yokosuka Navy Base, Japan


USS San Diego (CL-53) docks at Yokosuka on 30 August 1945, to take part in the U.S. occupation of that facility.

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

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 600 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-338387

Yokosuka Navy Base, Japan


A Japanese working party rigs the gangway as USS San Diego (CL-53) docks at Yokosuka on 30 August 1945, to take part in the U.S. occupation of that facility.
Note details of San Diego's forward superstructure, including white counter-shading below horizontal surfaces.

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

Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 605 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-29983

USS San Diego (CL-53)


Is christened by Grace Legler Benbough (Mrs. Percy J. Benbough), during launching ceremonies at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, 26 July 1941.

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

Online Image: 110KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-29980

USS San Diego (CL-53)


Slides down the shipways during her launching at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, 26 July 1941.

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

Online Image: 152KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

 


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


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Page made 15 January 2002