From the March 18, 2010, San Diego Union-Tribune "Cruiser San Diego the "unbeatable Ship" of World War II" by Richard Crawford.
The first US Navy ship named San Diego was launched in 1904 and sank after hitting a German mine off the New York coast in 1918. (I never knew the Germans had mines off the US coast in World War I.)
San Diego author Fred Whitmore calls the second San Diego "the unbeatable ship that nobody ever heard of." It gathered 15 Battle Stars for action in the Pacific action during World War II and was the first major US vessel to enter Tokyo Bay several days before the surrender.
There is a memorial for it at North Harbor Drive.
After the first ship sank, San Diego tried for an aircraft carrier because of the city's role in aviation, but the naming policy of the Navy allows carriers to be named after historic fighting ships or important battles, but Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson promised a new cruiser would carry the name.
In August 1938, FDR approved four new battleships and four new cruisers. Construction on the San Diego began in March 1940 in Quincy, Massachusetts, by Bethlehem Steel and the ship was launched July 26, 1941. Grace Benbough, wife of San Diego Mayor Percy J. Benbough sponsored the event, breaking a bottle of champagne on the prow.
More to Come. --GreGen
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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