Laid down on September 9, 1931, built at Mare Island Naval Shipyard and commissioned in 1934, USS San Francisco, a New Orleans-class heavy cruiser, (CA-38) saw a significant amount of action during World War II, most notably in the eastern Pacific after serving in the Atlantic Fleet and calling on various ports around the South American continent prior to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. San Francisco was at Pearl Harbor the morning of the attack but, ironically, was neither bombed nor damaged.

San Francisco was integrally involved in a number of battles and operations in the Pacific during the war that ensued. She and her crew served at the Battle of Cape Esperance and afterward, notably at the Battle of Guadalcanal, during which San Francisco sustained severe damage, with 77 sailors killed and 105 wounded. After provisional repairs at Espiritu Santo in the southwestern Pacific, San Francisco returned to Mare Island for a retrofitting to return service.

It was during its repair at Mare Island than the ship’s bridge was rebuilt and the wings of the original bridge were removed and mounted at the monument shown in these recent photos at Lands End. The memorial and surrounding park overlooking the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Golden Gate to the northeast was recently updated with new informational signage and landscaping, continuing this fitting tribute to a ship who served both her country and her namesake city well during the war.

San Francisco returned to the war in the Pacific in February of 1943. After continued encounters with the Japanese fleet and support of U.S. Troops until the end of the war in 1945, San Francisco finally sailed through the Golden Gate, returning home the The City By The Bay for what was to be the last time, in mid-December. In Early January of 1946 San Francisco was inactivated at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then decommissioned on February 10th. She then remained berthed at Philadelphia until March of 1959. San Francisco was sold on September 9, 1961 to the Union Mineral and Alloys Corporation in New York, and scrapped at Panama City, Florida in 1961.

San Francisco’s bronze bell is displayed in the lobby of the Marines Memorial Club at Sutter and Mason Streets on Nob Hill in San Francisco. Emblazoned on one side of the bell is the date of the ship’s original commission, and on the other, is the date of commission of her predecessor, USS San Francisco, (C-5/CM-2), a steel-protected cruiser that was commissioned on November 15, 1890.

The first San Francisco then served in the Spanish American War and World War I and was later decommissioned in 1921. She was later renamed Tahoe, then Yosemite, releasing her original name for the commissioning of the new San Francisco (CA-38) in 1934. She was sold for scrap in 1939.

Today, the third United States Navy vessel to be named after San Francisco, is the Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine, USS San Francisco (SSN-711), most recently home ported in San Diego, California.