USS San Francisco Reunion 2004 Sacramento, CA. Image here on day trip to San Francisco at the Marine Memorial Club in the main lobby next to the CA-38 bell.   L - MG Mike Myatt, USMC, ret.  CEO and President of the Marines Memorial Assocaition next - Sgt. Don Jardine, USMC, Guadalcanal, USS San Francisco Chair of Honor 2006 next - Sgt. Glenn Adams, USMC retired. Now with channel 7 abc news R - Captain Vincent Colan, USS San Francisco 1936 - 1939, C Division.  Awarded Silver Star in WW II for heroic action.   photo by John Garvey, Historian

USS San Francisco Reunion 2004 Sacramento, CA. Image here on day trip to San Francisco at the Marine Memorial Club in the main lobby next to the CA-38 bell.     L - Eugene Tarrant, USS San Francisco CA-38, 1938-1944, S Division next - Johnnie Egner, USS San Francisco CA-38, 1941-1947, M Division.   [Was on USS West Viginia at Pearl Harbor] next - Marvin Recknor, USS San Francisco CA-38, 1938 - 1942, C Division R - Chief Johnny Johnson, USS San Francisco CA-38, 1938 - 1946, S Division   photo by John Garvey, Historian

The Bell of the USS SAN FRANCISCO

THE MARINES’ MEMORIAL PROUDLY DISPLAYS THE ship’s bell of the USS SAN FRANCISCO in the lobby of the Club in San Francisco. The SAN FRANCISCO was a very special ship!

The SAN FRANCISCO’s battle history is glorious. Let’s go back to 7 August 1942, when the United States started its first ground offensive action after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The US Marines landed on an island 90 miles long and 20 miles wide in the Solomon chain, called Guadalcanal.

The Japanese had already invaded and conquered China, Manchuria, Korea, Hang Kong, Burma, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, and most of the Pacific Islands, including The American Aleutians near Alaska, and south to the Solomon Islands near Australia. They worked feverously to build air fields on various islands. The air field on Guadalcanal was the last and most important, strategically significant because their airplanes could hop from Tokyo to Iwo Jima, Guam, Midway, Wake Island, then south to Guadalcanal, and finally to Sydney, Australia, which could then be theirs. The Allies desperately needed to prevent the Japanese from using the air field on Guadalcanal.

The Marines triumphantly captured the air field Guadalcanal and named it Henderson Field. It became an American base for the Cactus Air Force, made up of marine, navy and Army Aviation pilots and aircraft. Dramatic air combat was fought daily. Torturous, savage land battles raged on day and night for months, and the issue of who was winning see-sawed between the Americans and the Japanese for months.

Admiral Yamamoto demanded that Japan recapture Henderson Air Field at all costs. In early November 1942, Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe was dispatched to bombard the US Marines on Guadalcanal and land a large force to recapture the air base. He commanded two large (32,000 ton) battleships, the Hiei and the Kirishima, which could fire 22,000 pounds of projectiles every three minutes for three continuous hours. Admiral Abe also commanded one cruiser, 14 destroyers and nine supply ships, bringing 7,000 soldiers to land on Guadalcanal Island.

On 13 November 1942, a pivotal naval battle for control of Guadalcanal began at night. Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan, a San Francisco native, was to intercept the Japanese Fleet; he chose USS SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38), a 10,000 ton cruiser, to be his flagship. Also under his command were four additional cruisers and eight destroyers. At mid-day, as San Francisco was steaming to Guadalcanal, an enemy aircraft was shot down and crashed into the ship, killing and wounding 67 men. Callaghan bravely continued on with a crippled ship, arriving after midnight.

The naval battle off Savo Island, north of Guadalcanal, commenced at 1:45 A.M. It was a clash between 30 steel armored war ships, 17 Japanese and 13 American. The ships’ Captains, confused in a pitch-black night, blasted each other at point blank range. It was 24 minutes of thunderous hell on Iron Bottom Bay, and was, perhaps, the last ship-to-ship naval gunfire engagement in military history
 

The American war ships had penetrated the center of the Japanese battleship formation, a surprise to the Japanese commanders and a major advantage to Admiral Callaghan. Suddenly, the Japanese snapped on their bright search-lights, again giving the US Navy the advantage to see defined targets. Callaghan issued orders, “We want the big ones,” meaning the battleships. Hundreds of salvos rained down on the enemy battleships with fiery devastation. Shortly thereafter, a salvo from the Japanese battleship Hiei smashed the bridge of the SAN FRANCISCO, killing Admiral Callaghan and his staff, and mortally wounding Captain Cassin Young, a Medal of Honor winner at Pearl Harbor. Altogether, a hundred officers and men were lost that night on the SAN FRANCISCO.

Ships ablaze made glowing night target. Hundreds of sailors were killed or wounded in a matter of minutes. One American destroyer with 276 men on board was split in half by a torpedo strike, quickly sinking to the bottom. Men seeking safety swam for their lives in the black night waters. Some were killed by the spinning propellers of the war ships as they twisted and turned in an effort to avoid a collision or a wild torpedo. Other men were eaten by sharks.

By dawn, Japan had lost thousands of men, and many Japanese ships were severely damaged or sunk. During the next few days more Japanese ships were sunk, including both battleships, the Hiei and the Kirishima.

A great American victory, this battle was the turning point of the war in the Pacific. Henderson Air Field was saved, and Japanese plans to invade Australia ended. Japan spent the remainder of the war defending its ill-gotten possession.

American war ships were badly damaged during the night engagement. Two American cruisers and four destroyers were sunk. American casualties included over 4,000 men wounded or killed. SAN FRANCISCO, wounded, crippled with holes, limped home for Christmas and received a new bridge and other repairs at Mare Island in Vallejo, CA, then returned to sea to fight in support of every major Marine amphibious operation for the rest of the war.

Rear Admiral Callaghan was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for this action.

Here at the Marine’ Memorial, we are honored to be the custodian of SAN FRANCISCO’s bell. The “Bell” is over 100 years old, and was the bell on the original SAN FRANCISCO. When Cruiser SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38) was built in 1934 in Mare Island, this bell was installed on the ship.
 

After the ship was badly damaged at the battle of Iron Bottom Bay in November 1942, and was being repaired at Mare Island, the bell was removed by the Mare Island Shipyard, and then lost for 60 years. A real friend of the Naval Order, Peter Hope, and one of the former crew members, Chief Johnny Johnson found the “Bell” in the corner of a back room at the San Francisco Maritime Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf. When he recalled seeing the bell at the Museum, Chief Johnny said,

“My memory flashed back to my youth, a sailor serving on this famous ship. The “Bell” was with us at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th 1941. The “Bell” was with us during the midnight battle at Guadalcanal on November 13th. We were helping the US Marines who had been fighting for months on the Island to save Henderson Air Field and to save Australia from the pending invasion that was planned. The “Bell” rang for us the hour and the halves, sounding its time for the watch to change. With major battle damages, the ship returned to The Mare Island Naval Ship Yard for needed repairs. The bell was removed, making space for modern radar equipment. She then returned to War...”
 

For her participation in the action of the morning of November 13th SAN FRANCISCO received the Presidential Unit Citation. She reached the City of San Francisco on 11 December. On 26 February 1943, following repairs, she got underway to return to the South Pacific, where she supported the Marine landings at Tarawa, Kwajelein, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. So, you can see why the ship is so important to the Marines.... and to the City of San Francisco.
 

SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38) earned 17 battle stars during World War II. Four of her crew earned the Medal of Honor, 29 earned the Navy Cross, and 21 earned the Silver Star for Gallantry in action. The damaged bridge, removed from SAN FRANCISCO at Mare Island after the 13 November battle, is now displayed at a memorial to the ship at Lands End in the City of San Francisco.
 

L - Pete Hope, Royal Navy R - Chief Johnny Johnson, USS San Francisco CA-38, 1941-1946, S Division.  Actice duty Navy service until 47.   photo by John Garvey, Historian