USS San Diego (CL-53)

History
Name:	San Diego
Namesake:	City of San Diego, California
Builder:	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts
Laid down:	27 March 1940
Launched:	26 July 1941
Sponsored by:	Grace Legler Benbough
Commissioned:	10 January 1942
Decommissioned:	4 November 1946
Reclassified:	CLAA-53, 18 March 1949
Struck:	1 March 1959
Identification:	Hull symbol:CL-53 Hull symbol:CLAA-53 Code letters:NCDF
Honors and awards:	18 × battle stars
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, December 1960
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Atlanta-class light cruiser
Displacement:	6,718 long tons (6,826 t) (standard) 8,340 long tons (8,470 t) (max)
Length:	541 ft 6 in (165.05 m) oa
Beam:	53 ft (16 m)
Draft:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m) (mean) 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) (max)
Installed power:	4 × Steam boilers 75,000 shp (56,000 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × geared turbines 2 × screws
Speed:	32.5 kn (37.4 mph; 60.2 km/h)
Complement:	796 officers and enlisted
Armament:	16 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 caliber Mark 12 guns (8×2) 16 × 1.1 in (28 mm)/75 anti-aircraft guns (4×4) 8 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 × depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks
Armor:	Belt: 1.1–3 3⁄4 in (28–95 mm) Deck: 1 1⁄4 in (32 mm) Turrets: 1 1⁄4 in (32 mm) Conning Tower: 2 1⁄2 in (64 mm)
General characteristics (1945)
Armament:	16 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 caliber Mark 12 guns (8×2) 4 × quad 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 13 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 × depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks
Service record
Part of:	Fast Carrier Task Force
Operations:	Solomon Islands campaign Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign Mariana and Palau Islands campaign Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign
Awards:	18 battle stars

The second USS San Diego (CL-53) was an Atlanta-class 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.

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, Captain Benjamin F. Perry in command.

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 Saratoga at best speed, San Diego barely missed the Battle of Midway. On 15 June, she began escort duty for Hornet 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 Wasp on 15 September and of Hornet on 26 October.

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