The USS Houston (CA-30), a 600-foot-long Northampton class heavy cruiser, was commissioned on June 17, 1930. She was President Franklin Roosevelt’s favorite warship, taking him on a 12,000 mile cruise from Annapolis, Maryland, through the Caribbean and Hawaii to Portland, Oregon. She was present during the festivities surrounding the opening of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in May 1937. In August 1941, Eastern Washington native Albert H. Rooks would take command of Houston, the Flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. In six months, both would be lost in one of the most costly battles in U.S. Naval history.
