A harbor tug escorts the aircraft carrier USS RANGER (CV-61) past the Oakland Bay Bridge.
A friend posted this picture up on Facebook with date unknown. What we do know is that we have San Francisco skyline in the background for one. Two, we have an aircraft carrier in the background as the photo says. That gives us the name of the ship and it’s occupational life when looked up. Third, we have only a few cars to get a decent look at as to determine a date where upon the cars and ship align. I made my guess already now it is your turn. Naturally this photo attracted a lot of attention by former Ranger crew trying to date but none even close. They obviously aren’t into car spotting all that much or were too focused on their ship.
Mid-1990s with the Honda Prelude and Toyota SR5
Olds Silhouette minivan in the outside lane, O J Simpson Bronco in the center lane, too, (I think.)
Those were the two vehicles I could easily identify. The Silhouette is an early Dustbuster version.
A quick search of the key dates involving the ship (read: checking the USS Ranger CV-61 Wikipedia page) fails to pinpoint the year this was shot (the ship was decommissioned in 1993 but not scrapped until 2015). The grain and slight aquamarine tinge is consistent with being shot on Kodacolor print film most popular in the late film era. The EXIF data on the photo file suggests it was scanned in 2018 from a film print or negative rather than digitally sourced.
If this photo relates to the Ranger’s last cruise.
August 1, 1992 USS Ranger departed for 21st and final deployment to the western Pacific and Indian Ocean. On 19 December 1992, Ranger was relieved on station by USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) and began her last long journey homeward to San Diego. Ranger was decommissioned on 10 July 1993
Notice there was a aircraft carrier on the background, maybe just just the navy record to see which carrier was in SF around 1992, we can determine a more exact date of the photo. Too bad the number on carrier could not be seen
The number is in the caption below the picture. As to getting access to Navy logs well…
The various aircraft on deck indicate Ranger was still in commission. That, plus cars would suggest early 1990’s, prior to the 1993 decommissioning.
As others have said I’m thinking early 90s, mostly because of the GM minivan in the photo. Also, if you liked this game you can play the same one here whenever you want. Very fun.
https://www.chronophoto.app/game.html
Spent much time in SAN Francisco from mid 80s through early 2000s. Others seem to believe ship last was in use in 92. Seems logical. Vehicles I can see appear to be mix of sedans and SUVS. At the time I was there, parking space in SFO was at a premium. On several visits I rented a Town Car. Last visits had to settle for smaller cars. Rental companies no longer found bigger cars impractical. Likely this was Indeed 92.
“1993”
I’d guess early 90s.
I’m surprised there’s so little traffic during the day.
Seems about right, on that part of the bridge the upper deck is heading southwest so the shadows seem to show it around noon with a low sun for early in the year as indicated by Dragon82d’s post just below. Mid-day traffic wasn’t generally terrible going into SF, especially since going West there are metering lights at the Oakland toll plaza. Even when it would back up during rush hour it wouldn’t be until close to the end of this span near the Fremont St Exit. And then it was hellish to get through the city until it opened back up on the Bayshore…
February 4th 1992 is the date of the photo based upon the source The U.S. National Archives https://picryl.com/media/a-harbor-tug-escorts-the-aircraft-carrier-uss-ranger-cv-61-past-the-oakland-c9e71d. The Ranger then sailed to San Diego, where she picked up a pair B-25 Mitchell Bombers for a reenactment of Doolittle’s Raid on the 21st of April, 1992 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Ranger_(CV-61)_B-25_Mitchell_Doolittle_reenactment.jpg. Following that in August of 1992 she deployed on her final Westpac cruise. That would be my guess.
Looks like you nailed it. I knew it couldn’t be after 1993 since she was decommissioned in Bremerton that year. The GM minivan was obviously the 90-96 model year. That left 1990-92 and you found where the picture came from to settle it as 1992. I agree based on what I know of the ship.
The Ranger wasn’t stationed at Alameda, so I’m guessing this was taken during Fleet Week in October of 1988.