This led her to be fatefully moored in Pearl Harbor at berth F-12 on the morning of 7 December 1941, where she took a torpedo in her No.2 boiler room and claimed five victories with her anti-aircraft batteries with no loss of life.

Her keel was laid on 16 August 1920, and launched on 25 October 1922,[2] the cruiser was christened by Miss Jennie Proctor; and commissioned 6 February 1924, with Captain William C. Watts in command.

Raleigh was initially built with the capacity to carry 224 mines, but these were removed early in her career to make way for more crew accommodations.

On 8 September 1926, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Edward W. Eberle, along with the Commanders in Chief of the United States Fleet and Battle Fleet, and their subordinate commanding officers, the Secretary of the Navy, Curtis D. Wilbur, ordered that all mines and the tracks for laying the mines be removed from all of the Omaha-class cruisers, the working conditions had been found to be very "wet".

Raleigh then transferred to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she stayed until 30 July, when she joined the Light Cruiser Division, Scouting Fleet, in northern European waters for duty in connection with the United States Army Air Service's "World Flight".

Upon completion of her duty with the flight operations, on 3 September, she set sail for the Boston Navy Yard, for voyage repairs.

Steaming from Honolulu, on 10 June 1925, she docked at San Diego, with the Scouting Fleet, before her return to the Boston Navy Yard, on 13 July.

Raleigh would continue to operate out of Boston, for the next two years, spending most of the winter months with the Scouting Force in Cuban and Panamanian waters.

[5] During the spring of 1928, Raleigh operated off the California coast and in Hawaiian waters, returning to Boston on 26 June to prepare for European duty.

Departing on 17 August, she steamed for Hampton Roads, Va., where, on 15 September, she relieved Detroit as flagship of Vice Admiral John H. Dayton, commander, Naval Forces, Europe.

[5] After touching at Boston, Raleigh made diplomatic calls to many principal European ports before returning to Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 4 September 1929.

[5] Raleigh then rejoined Cruiser Division 3 (CruDiv 3) of the Scouting Force, operating for the next few years out of Boston for battle practice, maneuvers, and port calls.

She departed San Diego on 27 April 1936 in company with the US Fleet, transited the Panama Canal, touched at Charleston, South Carolina, and entered the Norfolk Navy Yard on 15 June for overhaul.

[5] Raleigh was moored at berth F-12, on the east side of the north channel at Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese made their surprise attack.

Detached from the group on 10 February, she convoyed ships between Dutch Harbor and Kulak Bay, then entered Puget Sound Navy Yard on 23 March for repairs.

[5] Raleigh stood out of San Francisco Bay on 15 September and resumed support of operations in the Aleutians, sweeping the ocean from Kiska to west of Attu.

As part of TG 94.6, she steamed from Massacre Bay, Attu on 1 February 1944 to bombard enemy installations in Kurabu Zaki, Paramushiru in the Northern Kuriles.

In the early morning darkness of 4 February, she took her bombardment station off that enemy shore to blast an area where two dual-purpose batteries were located.

After repairs at Puget Sound, Raleigh departed Seattle on 22 June 1945, touched at San Pedro, California, thence proceeded via the Panama Canal to Hampton Roads and then to her new home port of Norfolk, Virginia.