USS San Francisco Memorial and Shell-Torn Bridge: The Guadalcanal Relic

Why is it significant?

Stand in somber reverence before the battle-scarred steel bridge wings of the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco, permanently mounted on a windswept promontory overlooking the ocean.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Stand in somber reverence before the battle-scarred steel bridge wings of the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco, permanently mounted on a windswept promontory overlooking the ocean. In the pitch-black early morning hours of November 13, 1942, during the pivotal Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, the cruiser led an outnumbered American task force into point-blank combat with a powerful Japanese naval armada. Engaged on both sides by enemy battleships and destroyers, the ship took forty-five direct artillery shell hits, suffering catastrophic damage.

A fourteen-inch battleship shell struck directly into the bridge where you are now standing, killing Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan, Captain Cassin Young, and nearly every officer on the command deck. Despite horrific casualties and raging fires, the surviving crew—led by twenty-eight-year-old Lieutenant Commander Bruce McCandless—heroically maintained control of the ship, returning fire and steering the vessel to victory. For its extraordinary heroism, the USS San Francisco was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, and its crew earned four Medals of Honor.

When the ship was decommissioned and dismantled after World War II, this shell-damaged section of the navigation bridge was saved and installed here in 1950. Touch the jagged steel shrapnel holes and pierced armor plate; the memorial is aligned on a precise compass bearing pointing directly southwest across the Pacific Ocean toward the waters of Guadalcanal. The meticulous craftsmanship visible in every historic facade, stone retaining wall, and coastal terrace serves as an enduring testament to the city's extraordinary ability to reinvent itself while honoring its authentic heritage. The meticulous craftsmanship visible in every historic facade, stone retaining wall, and coastal terrace serves as an enduring testament to the city's extraordinary ability to reinvent itself while honoring its authentic heritage.

Inscribed upon the bronze memorial tablets are the names of the one hundred seven sailors and marines who gave their lives aboard the ship during that fateful night.

Walk south along the tree-shaded path into the lush cypress groves of Lincoln Park.