HMAS Canberra ( D33 ) HMAS " Canberra " ( I33 / D33 ) , named after the Australian capital city of Canberra , was a Royal Australian Navy ( RAN ) heavy cruiser of the " Kent " subclass of County class cruiser s . Constructed in Scotland during the mid - 1920s , the ship was commissioned in 1928 , and spent the first part of her career primarily operating in Australian waters , with some deployments to the China Station . At the start of World War II , " Canberra " was initially used for patrols and convoy escort around Australia . In July 1940 , she was reassigned as a convoy escort between Western Australia , Sri Lanka , and South Africa . During this deployment , which ended in mid - 1941 , " Canberra " was involved in the hunt for several German auxiliary cruisers . The cruiser resumed operations in Australian waters , but when Japan entered the war , she was quickly reassigned to convoy duties around New Guinea , interspersed with operations in Malaysian and Javanese waters . " Canberra " later joined Task Force 44 , and was involved in the Guadalcanal Campaign and the Tulagi landings . On 9 August 1942 , " Canberra " was struck by the opening Japanese shots of the Battle of Savo Island , and was quickly damaged . Unable to propel herself , the cruiser was evacuated and sunk in Ironbottom Sound by two American destroyers . The United States Navy " Baltimore " class cruiser was named in honour of the Australian ship , and is the only US warship named for either a foreign warship or a foreign capital city . Design . " Canberra " was one of seven " Kent " class cruisers — a subclass of the County class cruiser — designed by Eustace Tennyson - D ' Eyncourt . The ship was long between perpendiculars and overall , with a beam of , and a maximum draught of . She displaced 9 , 850 tons at light load , and 10 , 000 tons at standard load . The " Kent " class were built to meet the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty ; with a reduction in armament and protection . " Canberra " was powered by eight Yarrow boilers which fed steam to four Brown - Curtis geared turbines ; these in turn provided to the ship ' s four propeller shafts . The cruiser could reach speeds of , which could be maintained for , although could be travelled at the more economical standard cruising speed . Before World War II , the ship ' s company was normally 690 ( 49 officers , 641 sailors ) ; this increased to 710 when acting as a flagship . During wartime service , the normal company expanded to 751 ( 61 officers , 690 sailors ) , and at the time of her loss , 819 people were aboard . Armament . " Canberra " s main armament consisted of eight 8 - inch Mark VIII guns in four twin turrets . Secondary armament consisted of four 4 - inch quick - firing high - angle guns and four 2 - pounder " pom - pom " guns . A mixture of . 303 - inch machine guns were carried for close defence work : initially this consisted of four Vickers machine gun s and twelve Lewis machine guns , although four Lewis guns were later removed . During a refit in 1942 , two multiple pom - poms and five 20 mm Oerlikon s were added to enhance the anti - aircraft armament . Four 3 - pounder quick - firing Hotchkiss guns were used as saluting gun s . Two sets of quadruple 21 - inch torpedo tubes were fitted . Depth charge s were carried : these were deployed by rails . The cruiser was designed to carry a single amphibious aircraft : initially a Supermarine Seagull III aircraft , but this was replaced in 1936 by the Supermarine Walrus . However , the aircraft catapult was not installed until April 1936 , during a refit in Sydney . Before this , the Seagull amphibian was lowered into the water by the ship ' s recovery crane , and took off from there . Armour aboard " Canberra " was limited to an armour deck over the machinery spaces and magazines , ranging from in thickness . Armour plate was also fitted to the turrets ( up to thick ) and the conning tower ( thick ) . Anti - torpedo bulge s were also fitted . Construction . In 1924 , the Australian government ordered two " Kent " class cruisers to replace the ageing light cruisers and . These ships were to be named and " Canberra " , with both to be built by John Brown & Company , at their shipyard at Clydebank , Scotland : the only two County class ships built in Scotland . " Canberra " was laid down on 9 September 1925 , and given the yard number 513 . " Canberra " was launched on 31 May 1927 by Princess Mary ; the first ship of the RAN launched by a member of the Royal Family . Work on the ship was completed on 10 July 1928 , the day after the cruiser was commissioned into the RAN . Most of the initial ship ' s company came from " Sydney " . " Canberra " cost approximately A£ 2 million to construct . Operational history . Pre - World War II . " Canberra " left Portsmouth on 4 December 1928 , after several months of workup trials , and arrived at Sydney on 16 February 1929 . The cruiser operated primarily in Australian waters during the next ten years , spending periods of time as the RAN flagship . On 20 September 1929 , during a round - Australia cruise , the ship grounded on a sand shoal outside Roebuck Bay , Western Australia . The damage did not prevent the ship from operating , and it was not until early 1930 that the affected hull plates were replaced . In September 1931 , " Canberra " visited New Caledonia and Fiji . The cruiser operated on the Royal Navy ' s China Station in 1932 and 1937 . In 1934 , the warship was assigned to escort , which was transporting the Duke of Gloucester during a visit to Australia . World War II . For the first nine months of World War II , " Canberra " was assigned to patrol and escort duties around Australia . In January 1940 , the cruiser escorted the first convoy carrying Australian and New Zealand soldiers , Anzac Convoy US 1 , to the Middle East . During May , " Canberra " joined sister ship " Australia " to escort Anzac Convoy US 3 across the Indian Ocean ; the convoy was diverted via the Cape of Good Hope following fears that Italy was about to join the war . On 26 June , " Canberra " left Australia with the troopship " Strathmore " for Cape Town , where the cruiser was assigned to the Indian Ocean as a convoy escort between Fremantle , Colombo , and Cape Town . During November , " Canberra " attempted to locate the German merchant raider " Atlantis " . She returned unsuccessful to Fremantle on 20 November , but sailed than night with a skeleton crew after the merchant ship SS " Maimoa " signalled that she was under attack by a German merchant raider ( the auxiliary cruiser " Pinguin " ) . Although unable to find " Maimoa " or her attacker , " Canberra " encountered three lifeboats on 22 November , which carried 27 sailors who had escaped from SS " Port Brisbane " , another victim of " Pinguin " . The cruiser returned to Fremantle on 27 November without encountering the German raider . Shortly after , " Canberra " headed for the East Indies Station . In February 1941 , " Canberra " was involved in efforts to locate the German pocket battleship " Admiral Scheer " . In early March , " Canberra " encountered two merchant ships ; a tanker supplying a possible merchant raider , which split up and fled when ordered to stop . " Canberra " pursued the suspected raider , and fired on her from maximum range to avoid a retaliatory attack , while her Walrus amphibian attempted to stop the tanker by dropping several bombs . Both ships ( the raider supply ship " Coburg " and the captured Norwegian tanker " Ketty Brøvig " ) had commenced scuttling after the first attack from their pursuit , but the Australians continued attacking : the Walrus used all her bombs , while " Canberra " fired 215 shells , many of them misses . A post - action analysis found that if " Canberra " had closed before firing , the same quantity of damage could have been achieved for less ammunition , and one or both ships might have been captured . " Canberra " was assigned back to Australia in July ; operating around the western and southern coasts . The cruiser was in Sydney in December 1941 , when Japan entered the war : " Canberra " was quickly reassigned to convoy duties around New Guinea , interspersed by operations in Malaysian and Javanese waters . On 12 December 1941 the cruiser was ordered from Sydney to meet the Pensacola Convoy , hoisting the flag of Rear - Admiral John G . Crace as she stopped in Brisbane on the 15th . In company with HMAS " Perth " she sailed for the vicinity of New Caledonia to meet the light cruiser HMNZS " Achilles " and the convoy . In January 1942 , " Canberra " and escorted the troopship " Aquitania " , leaving Sydney 10 January , carrying reinforcements to Singapore as far as Ratai Bay , Sunda Strait where the reinforcements were transshipped into seven smaller vessels for the final run to Singapore . She was then part of the escort for that convoy , " MS . 2A " of six Dutch KPM vessels and one British vessel , to Singapore arriving 24 January . During her return voyage via the Dutch East Indies , the cruiser was assigned to the ANZAC Squadron . A refit occurred in Sydney from February to May 1942 , during which " Canberra " became the first Australian warship to be fitted with radar ( a Type 241 surface search set , and an A290 air - warning set ) . The cruiser was present in Sydney Harbour during the Japanese midget submarine attack on 31 May - 1 June . Although not damaged , at 04 : 40 , " Canberra " recorded that the Japanese may have fired torpedoes at her . This may have been one of many false alarms throughout the night ; however , one of the midget submarines had attempted to fire its torpedoes at a target , but these did not release because of damage sustained during the infiltration . The observer aboard " Canberra " may have seen bubbles from the compressed air released to fire the torpedoes . The cruiser headed north the day after the submarine attack to join the ANZAC Squadron , which had been redesignated Task Force 44 . On 17 June , " Canberra " participated in offensive patrols through the Coral Sea , and from July , she was assigned to Operation Watchtower ; the opening stages of the Guadalcanal Campaign . The cruiser escorted the force to be landed at Tulagi from 5 August , and screened the force during the landings on 7 and 8 August ; the cruiser encountered no initial resistance . Loss . During the afternoon of 8 August , a Japanese task force commanded by Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa and consisting of five cruisers and a destroyer began to approach the south of Savo Island , with the intention to attack the naval force supporting the landing at Guadalcanal , then those at Tulagi . Anticipating a naval attack following several assaults by land - based Japanese aircraft , the Allied commander of the naval forces , British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley , split his forces around Savo Island : Crutchley aboard HMAS " Australia " led " Canberra " , , and the destroyers and on patrol of the southern waters . At 20 : 45 , Crutchley was recalled to meet urgently with US Admiral Richmond K . Turner , overall commander of the amphibious landings . Although " Chicago " was the senior ship after " Australia " departed , " Canberra " , which had been following " Australia " , found herself at point . Around 01 : 00 on 9 August , the engines of scoutplanes from Mikawa ' s ships were heard , but as no warning came from the other groups , it was assumed they were friendly . At 01 : 45 , " Patterson " detected Mikawa ' s ships and alerted the Allied force . The Japanese scout planes dropped flares to silhouette " Canberra " and " Chicago " . The Australian cruiser was able to avoid the Japanese torpedoes fired at the start of the engagement , but was on the receiving end of the Japanese cruisers ' gunfire . The first two salvos killed or wounded several senior officers , disabled both engine rooms , damaged the bridge and 4 - inch gun platform and forced the flooding of her 8 - inch magazines . Within two minutes , the cruiser had been hit 24 times ; she was immobilised , without power , and listing to starboard , with multiple internal fires and at least a fifth of her personnel dead or wounded . At least one torpedo strike was reported during the Japanese attack , although none of the 19 torpedoes fired at " Canberra " by the Japanese cruisers were recorded as hitting their target . Several personnel from " Canberra " believe that USS " Bagley " inadvertently torpedoed the cruiser . From the 819 - strong ship ' s company , 84 were killed ( 74 during the battle , 10 dying later from wounds ) , and another 109 were wounded . At 03 : 30 , " Patterson " came alongside and relayed orders from Rear Admiral Turner : if " Canberra " could not achieve mobility by 06 : 30 , she would be abandoned and sunk . The destroyer began to recover the Australian survivors , but at 04 : 30 , " Patterson " detected an approaching ship . The destroyer moved to investigate , at which point the unknown ship opened fire , and " Patterson " retaliated . It was quickly realised that the attacker was USS " Chicago " , which had mistaken " Canberra " for a damaged Japanese vessel , and both ships ceased fire . " Patterson " returned to continue the evacuation , and was aided by sister ship . " Canberra " s engines could not be repaired , and she was to be scuttled . She was torpedoed by the destroyer at 08 : 00 , after 263 5 - inch shells and four other torpedoes fired by failed to do the job , and sank at . She was one of the first ships to be sunk in what was eventually named " Ironbottom Sound " . Three US cruisers were also destroyed during the battle , and a US destroyer was damaged . Aftermath . " Canberra " s wartime service was recognised with four battle honours : " East Indies 1940 – 41 " , " Pacific 1941 – 42 " , " Guadalcanal 1942 " , and " Savo Island 1942 " . Captain Howard Bode of USS " Chicago " was formally criticised for his actions during the battle , particularly for not taking lead when " Australia " departed , and for not warning the northern cruiser force of the approaching Japanese ships , leading to the loss of the three US cruisers . In recognition of the valour displayed by the Australian ship and her company , United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt wished to commemorate the loss of HMAS " Canberra " by naming a US ship in her honour . The under - construction " Baltimore " class cruiser " Pittsburgh " was selected to be renamed . The ship was launched on 19 April 1943 by Lady Alice C . Dixon , the wife of Sir Owen Dixon , Australia ' s ambassador to the United States , and is the only United States warship to be named after a foreign capital city . Around the same time , the British government announced that the heavy cruiser ( a sister ship to " Canberra " , but of the " London " subclass ) would be transferred to the RAN as a gift . Although King George VI had announced that the ship would be renamed " Canberra " , the duplication of ship names with the United States Navy was against RAN policy . Although it was thought that Australia had a greater claim to the name , the Australian government decided to retain " Shropshire " s old name after learning that the US offer had come directly from President Roosevelt . Many of the first Australian sailors posted to " Shropshire " in early 1943 were " Canberra " survivors . Rediscovery . " Canberra " s wreck was rediscovered and examined by Robert Ballard and his crew in July and August 1992 , almost exactly fifty years after her scuttling . She lies upright on the ocean floor , approximately below sea level , with visible signs of shell hits and fire damage amidships . Just as they were during her brief and fatal engagement with the Japanese during the Battle of Savo Island , " Canberra " ’ s " B " , " X " and " Y " turrets were trained to port , while " A " turret was trained on the port bow . When the ship was rediscovered in 1992 , the forward superstructure had collapsed over to starboard side . Additionally , " B " turret ' s roof was completely missing . Memorials . HMAS " Canberra " is remembered in various places . In her name city of Canberra , a memorial is located next to Lake Burley Griffin , adjacent to the National Carillon . It incorporates a naval anchor and a section of chain cable ( of the same type carried by " Canberra " ) , and it has two plaques detailing the purpose of the memorial and the details of the cruiser . The memorial was erected by the Australian Capital Territory Branch of the Naval Historical Society , with donations from the ex - HMAS " Canberra " and " Canberra - Shropshire " Association members , and was unveiled on 9 August 1981 by Admiral Sir Anthony Synnot . A commemorative address was given at the unveiling by Admiral Sir Victor Smith , who was aboard " Canberra " at the time of her loss . Each year on the Saturday nearest 9 August , a service is conducted at the memorial , which is attended by the Australian Chief of Navy , the defence attachés from the United States and the United Kingdom , and personnel from the naval base . A catafalque party was originally provided by personnel from the frigate until the ship ' s decommissioning ; after this , the catafalque party was supplied by the Australian Navy Cadets unit TS " Canberra " . The ship ' s service is also recognised in a stained glass window at the Garden Island Naval Chapel .