The USS San Diego (CL-53) was an light cruiser of the United States Navy, commissioned just after the US entry into World War II, and active throughout the Pacific theater. Armed with 16 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal DP anti-aircraft guns and 16 Bofors 40 mm AA guns, the Atlanta-class cruisers had one of the heaviest anti-aircraft broadsides of any warship of World War II.
San Diego was one of the most decorated US ships of World War II, being awarded 18 battle stars, and was the first major Allied warship to enter Tokyo Bay after the surrender of Japan. Decommissioned in 1946, the ship was sold for scrapping in December 1960.
Construction
San Diego was laid down on 27 March 1940 by Bethlehem Steel in Quincy, Massachusetts, sponsored by Grace Legler Benbough (wife of Percy J. Benbough, then-mayor of San Diego), launched on 26 July 1941, and acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 10 January 1942.
The City of San Diego selected U. S. Representative Edouard V. M. Izac (D-California), a retired lieutenant commander, to present a silver service set for use on the cruiser.
Service history
1942–1943
After shakedown training in Chesapeake Bay, San Diego sailed via the Panama Canal to the west coast, arriving at her namesake city on 16 May 1942. Escorting at best speed, San Diego barely missed the Battle of Midway. On 15 June, she began escort duty for in operations in the South Pacific. Early in August, she supported the first American offensive of the war, the invasion of the Solomons at Guadalcanal. With powerful air and naval forces, the Japanese fiercely contested the American thrust and inflicted heavy damage; San Diego witnessed the sinking of on 15 September and of Hornet on 26 October.
San Diego gave antiaircraft protection for as part of the decisive three-day Naval Battle of Guadalcanal from 12–15 November 1942. After several months of service in the dangerous waters surrounding the Solomon Islands, San Diego sailed via Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, to Auckland New Zealand, for replenishment.
At Noumea, New Caledonia, the light cruiser joined Saratoga, the only American carrier available in the South Pacific, and in support of the invasion of Munda, New Georgia, and of Bougainville. On 5 November and 11 November 1943, she joined Saratoga and in highly successful raids against Rabaul. San Diego served as part of Operation Galvanic, the capture of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. She escorted , damaged by a torpedo, to Pearl Harbor for repairs on 9 December. San Diego continued on to San Francisco for installation of modern radar equipment, a Combat Information Center and 40 mm antiaircraft guns to replace her obsolete 1.1 in (27 mm) batteries.
1944
She joined Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's Fast Carrier Task Force at Pearl Harbor in January 1944 and served as an important part of that mighty force for the remainder of the war. Her rapid-fire guns protected the carriers against aerial attack. San Diego participated in "Operation Flintlock", the capture of Majuro and Kwajalein, and "Catchpole", the invasion of Eniwetok, in the Marshall Islands from 31 January to 4 March. During this period, Task Force 58 (TF 58) delivered a devastating attack against Truk, the Japanese naval base known as the "Gibraltar of the Pacific."
San Diego steamed back to San Francisco for more additions to her radar and then rejoined the carrier force at Majuro in time to join in raids against Wake and Marcus Islands in June. She was part of the carrier force covering the invasion of Saipan, participated in strikes against the Bonin Islands, and shared in the victory of the First Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19–20 June. After a brief replenishment stop at Eniwetok, San Diego and her carriers supported the invasion of Guam and Tinian, struck at Palau, and conducted the first carrier raids against the Philippines. On 6 and 8 August, she stood by as the carriers gave close air support to Marines landing on Peleliu, Palau Islands.
On 21 September, the Task Force struck at the Manila Bay area. After replenishing at Saipan and Ulithi, she sailed with TF 38 in its first strike against Okinawa. From 12–15 October, the carriers pounded the airfields of Formosa while San Diegos guns shot down two of the nine Japanese attackers in her sector and drove the others away; however, some enemy planes got through and damaged and . San Diego helped escort the two crippled cruisers out of danger to Ulithi. After rejoining the fast carrier force, she successfully rode out Typhoon Cobra in December, despite heavy rolling of the ship.