From 3 December 1903 – 15 August 1904 , '' Chicago '' was out of commission at Boston undergoing repairs . After operating along the northeast coast , the cruiser departed Newport News on 17 November for Valparaíso , Chile , arriving on 28 December . There , on 1 January 1905 , she relieved the armored cruiser as flagship of the Pacific Squadron and for three years operated off the west coasts of North and South America , in the Caribbean , and to Hawaii . In 1906 , she played a key role in the evacuation of San Francisco during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . Arriving from San Diego at 6 pm on April 19 , '' Chicago '' 's radio allowed the city 's leadership to communicate with the outside world , as telephone and telegraph lines were down . A group of two officers and sixteen enlisted men from '' Chicago '' supervised waterborne evacuation efforts . The removal of 20,000 refugees to Tiburon in Marin County by this ship and numerous other vessels is said to be unparalleled and unsurpassed until the 1940 evacuation of Dunkirk
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
USS Chicago (1885)