USS Honolulu (CL-48) of the United States Navy was a Brooklyn-class light cruiser active in the Pacific War (World War II) The second Navy ship named for the city of Honolulu, Hawaii, she was launched on 26 August 1937 at the New York Navy Yard, sponsored by Helen Poindexter (the daughter of Joseph B. Poindexter, the Governor of Hawaii), and commissioned on 15 June 1938, with Captain Oscar Smith in command.