HMAS Canberra (D33)

Canberra at Kings Wharf, Wellington, New Zealand, ca. 1930s
History
Australia
Namesake	City of Canberra
Builder	John Brown & Company, Clydebank
Yard number	513
Laid down	9 September 1925
Launched	31 May 1927
Completed	10 July 1928
Commissioned	9 July 1928
Motto	Pro Rege, Lege et Grege Latin: "For the King, the Law, and the People"
Honours and awards	Battle honours: East Indies 1940–41 Pacific 1941–42 Guadalcanal 1942 Savo Island 1942
Fate	Sunk off Savo Island on 9 August 1942
General characteristics
Class and type	County-class cruiser Kent sub-class
Displacement	9,850 tons (light) 10,000 tons (standard)
Length	590 ft (180 m) between perpendiculars 630 ft 1 in (192.05 m) overall
Beam	68.25 ft (20.80 m)
Draught	21 ft 4 in (6.50 m) (maximum)
Propulsion	8 Yarrow boilers, 4 shaft Brown-Curtis geared turbines, 80,000 shp
Speed	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph) (maximum) 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) (cruising)
Range	2,870 nautical miles (5,320 km; 3,300 mi) at 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph) 13,200 nautical miles (24,400 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	Pre-war: 690 standard 710 as flagship Wartime: 751 standard 819 at loss
Armament	4 × 2 – 8-inch (203 mm) guns (4 twin turrets) 4 × 1 – 4-inch (102 mm) anti-aircraft guns 4 × 1 – 2-pounder (40 mm) quadruple pom-poms 4 × 1 – 3-pounder (47 mm) saluting guns 12–16 .303-inch machine guns 2 × 4 – 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 4 × multiple pom-poms (installed 1942) 5 × 1 – 20 mm Oerlikon guns
Armour	1.5 to 3 inches (38 to 76 mm) armour deck over machinery spaces and magazines up to 2 inches (51 mm) over turrets up to 3 inches (76 mm) on conning tower Anti-torpedo bulges
Aircraft carried	1 amphibious aircraft (initially Seagull III, later Walrus)

HMAS Canberra (I33/D33), named after the Australian capital city of Canberra, was a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) heavy cruiser of the Kent sub-class of County-class cruisers. 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 crippled, and according to the crew, she was torpedoed by friendly fire. Unable to propel herself, listing heavily and burning, the cruiser was evacuated and then sunk in Ironbottom Sound by two American destroyers. The United States Navy Baltimore-class cruiser USS Canberra was named in honour of the Australian ship. Later, in 2023, the US Navy named a new Independence-class littoral combat ship also after the Canberra, which became the first US warship commissioned in a foreign port.^[1]