| USS California was laid down March 7, 1902, in the Union
Iron Works, San Fransisco, California. She was subsequently launched on 28
April 1904, however, her fitting out was delayed for various reasons
which included dockyard strikes in 1904, '05 and '06 as well as the infamous
1906 earthquake and fire, which she survived safely in the bay. Finally
commissioned at 10:26, 1 August 1907, Rear Admiral H. W. Lyon, Commander
of Mare Island Navy Yard officiating, Captain Thomas Phelps,. Jr., assuming
command and she was sponsored by Miss F. Pardee. On October 12, Captain Phelps
relinquished command to his executive officer Lieutenant Commander
Newton McCully who took temporary command through a voyage to Puget Sound,
Bremerton, Washington, where she was put into drydock for repairs. While
California was scraped free of barnacles, Captain Vicendon Cottman
assumed command 18 November 1907. |
| Joining the 2d Division, Pacific Fleet, California took
part in the naval review at San Francisco in May 1908 for the Secretary of
the Navy. Aside from a cruise to Hawaii and Samoa in the fall of 1908, the
cruiser operated along the west coast, sharpening her readiness through training
exercises and drills, until December 1911, when she sailed for Honolulu,
and in March 1912 continued westward for duty on the Asiatic Station. After
this service representing American power and prestige in the Far East, she
returned home in August 1912, and was ordered to Corinto, Nicaragua, then
embroiled in internal political disturbance. Here she protected American
lives and property, then resumed her operations along the west coast; she
cruised off California, and kept a watchful eye on Mexico, at that time also
suffering political disturbance. |
| California was renamed San Diego
on 1 September 1914, and served as flagship for Commander-in-Chief, Pacific
Fleet, intermittently until a boiler explosion put her in Mare Island Navy
Yard in reduced commission through the summer of 1915. San Diego returned
to duty as flagship through 12 February 1917, when she went into reserve
status until the opening of World War I. Placed in full commission 7 April,
the cruiser operated as flagship for Commander, Patrol Force, Atlantic Fleet.
Reaching Hampton Roads, Virginia, 4 August, she joined Cruiser Division 2,
and later broke the flag of Commander, Cruiser Forces, Atlantic, which she
flew until 19 September. |
| San Diego's essential mission was the escort
of convoys through the first dangerous leg of their passages to Europe. Based
on Tompkinsville, New York, and Halifax, N.W., she operated in the weather-torn,
submarine-infested North Atlantic safely convoying all of her charges to
the ocean escort. On 19 July 1918, bound from Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
to New York, San Diego was torpedoed by German submarine U-156
south east of Fire Island. The cruiser sank in 28 minutes with the loss
of 6 lives, the only major warship lost by the United States in World War
I. |
Displacement, 13,680; Length 503'11"; beam,
69'10.5"; Draft: Normal 24', Full Load 26'6"; Speed 22 knots;
Complement 829; Armament: Primary - four 8', fourteen 6'; Secondary
- eighteen 3", twelve 3 pdrs., two 1 pdr. automatic, two 3" rapid-fire Hotchkiss
field guns, 2 Gatling guns and two automatic rifles; Torpedo Tubes - two
stationary 18" tubes. |
|
Bibliography
 |
James L. Mooney, Dictionary of American Naval
Fighting Ships, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1968, Reprint 1977), Vol.3: G-K, p. 13-14 |
|
|
Gary Gentile, U.S.S. San Diego: The last Armored
Cruiser, (Gary Gentile Productions, P.O. Box 57137, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania 1911, 1989) |
|
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