The ship was commissioned six months ahead of schedule and one month after the Pearl Harbor attack., January 10, 1942, in Boston. First commander was Benjamin Franklin Perry.
It was actually more like an over-sized destroyer with a top speed of 35 knots with two steam turbines producing 75,000 horsepower, 542 feet long and mounting sixteen 5-inch guns, 16 heavy machine guns and 8 torpedo tubes.
On May 17th, it arrived in its namesake city while on training exercises, but most San Diegoans didn't find out about it because of wartime secrecy. After two weeks, news of an impending Japanese attack on Midway caused the San Diego to hurry out to sea as an escort to the aircraft carrier Saratoga, but the battle was over by the time the ship reached Pearl Harbor.
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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