WEBPAGE QUICK LINKS

HISTORY VJ DAY-1959
Years after the war

THANKS TO LAWRENCE J. REILLY MGMC, USN, RET
FOR THE HISTORY OF TAKEN FROM FIRST REUNION HANDOUT

1945

09/08 OAKLAND resumed her role of flagship when Commodore Roland N. Smoot, USN, Commander Task Flotilla FOUR hoisted his Flag aboard.

09/09 - 16 Operated at sea with Task Group 38.1 patrolling the entrances to 
Tokyo Bay while planes from that group flew reconnaissance and photographic missions over "Prisoner of War camps."

09/20 Admiral R.A. Spruance, USN, relieved Admiral W.F. Halsey, Jr., and the OAKLAND and her group joined the FIFTH Fleet. The task group assumed the title of Task Group 58.1.

07/26 Commodore Smoot hauled down his flag, to be relieved the following day 
by Captain Bererly R. Harrison, Commander Destroyer Squadron SIXTY.

07/27 Typhoon conditions existed throughout the night as a severe storm swept by the entrance to Tokyo Bay. In the early morning before dawn, two tankers
dragged anchor and struck the bow of this ship resulting in minor damage.

10/01 OAKLAND in company with Task Group 58.1 sortied from Tokyo Bay 
and set course for Okinawa, the first leg of a journey that would return the ship to San Francisco Bay for scheduled Navy Day celebrations.

10/04 At anchor in Buckner Bay, Okinawa. Commenced receiveing passengers, servicemen destined for return to the United States and civilian life.

10/06 OAKLAND with her group departed from Okinawa and set an easterly course. Next stop Oakland, California!!!

10/20 The "GOLDEN GATE" and "HOME."

10/27 NAVY DAY. Thousands of visitors from the Bay area toured the ship

Nov - "MAGIC CARPET" trip to Eniwetok. Marshall, Islands.

Dec - "MAGIC CARPET" trip to Kwajalein, Marshall, Islands.

Jan - OAKLAND ordered to an inactivation area at Bremerton, Washington.

Feb - Apr After a change of orders, instead of inactivation, OAKLAND was ordered to continue as an active post-war fleet unit.

05/19 Captain Thomas J. Casey,USN, relieved Captain Allen P. Calvert, USN, as Commanding Officer.

Jul - Dec Upon completion of overhaul at Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, 
Washington OAKLAND operated in and around San Diego, as a Fleet Gunnery Training ship.

01/06 Departed San Diego for Pearl Harbor.

01/12 to 02/01 OAKLAND operated in the Guam, Saipan area.

02/02 In company with the cruiser Pasedena, OAKLAND carried out exercises in the Pagan Island area.

02/05 Arrived Saipan.

02/06 to 03/10 Fleet operations and maneuers in early March which included a mock attack on peace shrunken Task Force 58.

03/11 to 03/18 Pearl Harbor.

03/31 to 04/22 Tsingtao. China.

04/26 to 05/15 Shanghai, China. Captain John N. Opie III, USN, relieved Captain Thomas J. Casey, USN, as Commanding Officer.

05/18 to 07/20 Tsingtao, China.

07/26 to 08/19 Shanghai, China

08/23 to 08/25 Yokoauka, Japan

09/02 to 09/03 Pearl Harbor

09/08 to 09/14 San Diego, California

09/27 to 09/29 San Francisco, California

09/30 to 10/21 San Diego, California

10/23 to 10/27 Port Hueneme, California

10/28 to 11/01 San Diego, California

11/15 to 11/20 San Diego, California

11/24 Arrived Bremerton, Washington, for overhaul.

03/06 Overhaul completed, OAKLAND departed for San Diego, California.

03/12 to 04/18 San Diego, California. Captain Hugh J. Martin, USN, relieved Captain John N. Opie III, USN as Commanding Officer.

04/09 to 04/12 Pearl Harbor.

04/26 to 04/30 Tsingtao, China

05/02 to 05/14 Shanghai, China

05/16 to 07/09 Tsingtao, China

07/13 to 07/16 Yokosuka, Japan

07/19 Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands

07/21 Saiahu to, Korea

07/22 Inchon, Korea

07/24 Sasebo, Japan

07/26 to 09/12 Yokosuka, Japan

09/15 Sendai, Japan

09/17 to 09/21 Otaru, Japan

09/21 to 09/24 Yokoauka, Japan

09/28 to 10/05 Tsingtao, China

10/07 to 10/12 Shanghai, China

10/17 to 10/20 Hong Kong, British Crown Colony

10/23 to 11/15 Tsingtao, China

11/12 Yokosuka, Japan

11/26 San Diego, California

03/18 OAKLAND reclassified as an Antiaircraft Cruiser with new designation of (CLAA-95). Orders received for decommissioning.

May   Commander E. B. Ellsworth,USN, relieved Captain Hugh J. Martin, USN, as Commanding Officer.

On 18 March, OAKLAND was reclassified CLAA-95. Oakland was decommissioned at Mare Island NSY 1 July 1949. On 6 July, she was towed to Hunter's Point NSY (San Francisco) by the aux. tug Cahokia. She remained at Hunter's Pt. until late 1958, when she was transferred to the Stockton (CA)
Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. This is where she remained until she was sold for scrapping at Alameda. Struck from the active list,on 1 March 1959, she was sold 
to Louis Simons on 1 December for scrapping. This was received from Joseph Lewis <lewi233@ibm.net> on 5 /11/98.

03/01 OAKLAND striken from the Navy List.

11/24 OAKLAND sold for scrap to Lerner Co. Of Oakland, California for $212,889.66 a small pittance for such a fine ship; a ship so well fought by her officers and men during WWII; a ship that never failed to meet her peacetime commitments.