"Savannah"s home base was shifted to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 19 December 1945 for her deactivation overhaul. She was placed in commission in reserve on 22 April 1946, and was finally decommissioned on 3 February 1947. She was the only "Brooklyn"-class cruisers to be modernized with bulges, twin 5in/38 guns and Mark 37 directors, she was retained by the USN when most of her surviving sister ships were sold to South American navies. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 March 1959, and she was sold for scrapping on 25 January 1966 to the Bethlehem Steel Company.