Feinstein Recalled as ‘A Force’ for ‘Everyday People’ in San Francisco City Hall Service

Navy’s Blue Angels thunder by nine times, warships in bay blare horns to honor city’s ‘Forever Mayor’ as three-decade ‘Giant of the Senate’ is laid to rest.

An armed forces color guard carries a casket containing the body of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco on Sept. 30, 2023. D. Ross Cameron/AP Photo

Mayor Dianne Feinstein helicoptered aboard USS Constellation as the aircraft carrier led a parade of warships under the Golden Gate Bridge to personally welcome its 5,200 crewmen to her city by the bay.

It was October 1981, and ‘Fleet Week’ was her baby, her initiative to re-engage San Francisco with the sea service in the shadows of the Vietnam War, an era when the military was not viewed kindly—especially not in her city by the bay.