USS San Francisco bids farewell to its namesake city

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ByAmy Hollyfield KGO logo
Monday, October 10, 2016
USS San Francisco bids farewell to its namesake city
The end of Fleet Week also means the end of an era for a Navy submarine -- the USS San Francisco is bidding farewell to its namesake city.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The end of Fleet Week also means the end of an era for a Navy submarine -- the USS San Francisco is bidding farewell to its namesake city.

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It just arrived at Pier 80 in San Francisco on Monday and it's very impressive to see the submarine up close. Video of its arrival shows tugboats bringing it into the San Francisco Bay, holding it steady and pushing it slowly.

The men working on it have the important job to rig it and get it prepared and properly in place so it doesn't sink.

The USS San Francisco has been deployed in the Pacific for the last seven months. They wanted to bring it here to her namesake city for one last visit before she is decommissioned.

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Officials want to show they can pull a submarine into a non-Navy port to prove they can pull into any city that has a port, if needed.

It's been years since a submarine has been at Pier 80, so it wasn't as easy as it looks.

"So this is a big deal 'cause it has been a really long time," said Lt. Courtney Callaghan with the U.S. Navy. "We actually had to call a retired CO to talk to him, to get some pointers into how to get into the bay cause a submariner hadn't done it in a while. So it was great though. They're very excited. We've been planning for a while to hopefully get them here, and so they're very excited to be at their namesake for one final visit."

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This will not be open to public tours, it is just too small. They will likely tour a few groups, some veterans, maybe the Cal ROTC. They're still working on that, but the view from Sky7 in the video player above is your best shot at seeing it.

There is an event you can participate in, a memorial Tuesday at Land's End at 3:00 p.m. They will honor the vessel, the one before it, and the lives lost on that vessel in World War II.

The USS San Francisco will be here for a few days. They don't want to say exactly when it will be leaving, but when it does it will head to San Diego to be moored as a training vessel.

Click here for full coverage on Fleet Week.