USS ''Canberra'' (CA-70/CAG-2) was a and later a

guided missile cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to s ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

(USN). Originally to be named USS ''Pittsburgh'', the ship was renamed before launch to honor the Australian cruiser sunk during the

Battle of Savo Island The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and in Japanese sources as the , and colloquially among Allied Guadalcanal veterans as the Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks, was a Naval warfare, naval battle during the So ...

. ''Canberra'' was the first USN warship named after a foreign capital city, and one of the few named after a foreign warship not captured in battle with a USN ship. The ship entered service in 1943 and served in the Pacific theater of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

until she was torpedoed during the

Aerial Battle of Taiwan-Okinawa The Formosa Air Battle (, ), 12–16 October 1944, was a series of large-scale aerial engagements between carrier air groups of the United States Navy Fast Carrier Task Force (TF38) and Japanese land-based air forces of the Imperial Japanese Nav ...

and forced to return to the United States for repairs. Placed in reserve after the war, ''Canberra'' was selected for conversion into the second guided-missile carrying warship in the USN fleet. Following the conversion, she was host to the ceremony for selecting the Unknown Soldier representing World War II in 1958, undertook an eight-month round-the-world cruise in 1960, participated in the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

naval blockade in 1962, and was deployed to the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

on five occasions between 1965 and 1969.

Construction

The

heavy cruiser A heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in calibre, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Treat ...

was laid down as USS ''Pittsburgh'' by the

Bethlehem Steel Company The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success ...

Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree, Massachusetts, Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on ...

at Quincy in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

on 3 September 1941. During construction, in recognition of the valor displayed by the Australian cruiser during the

, United States President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

wished to commemorate the Australian ship's loss by naming a US ship in her honor: ''Pittsburgh'' was selected and renamed USS ''Canberra''. The ship was launched on 19 April 1943 by Alice, Lady Dixon, the wife of Sir

Owen Dixon Sir Owen Dixon (28 April 1886 – 7 July 1972) was an Australian judge and diplomat who served as the sixth Chief Justice of Australia. Many consider him to be Australia's most prominent jurist.Graham Perkin �Its Most Eminent Symbol Hidde ...

, Australia's ambassador to the United States, and is one of two United States warships (the other being the Littoral Class Combat Ship USS Canberra (LCS-30)) to be named after a foreign capital city. ''Canberra'' was commissioned into the USN on 14 October 1943, Captain Alex Rieman Early, USN commanding. The Australian Government returned this tribute by naming a new destroyer, , in honor of the US stand during the

Battle of Bataan The Battle of Bataan (; 7 January – 9 April 1942) was fought by the United States and the Philippine Commonwealth against Imperial Japan during World War II. The battle represented the most intense phase of the Japanese invasion of the Phi ...

Operational history

World War II

She left Boston in January 1944,''Canberra'', in ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'' San Diego, and joined Task Force 58 in mid-February. In late February, the ship provided bombardment support during the

Battle of Eniwetok The Battle of Eniwetok was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought from 17 to 23 February 1944 on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The invasion of Eniwetok followed the American success in the Battle of Kwajalein to ...

.Clark, ''The Fighting Canberras'', p. 12 During March and April, the cruiser formed part of the carrier task group, supporting the aircraft carrier during air raids on

Palaus Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, w ...

Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...

Ulithi Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap, within Yap State. Name The name of the island goes back to Chuukic languages, Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diw ...

and

Woleai Woleai (), also known as Oleai, is a coral atoll of 22 islands in the western Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, forming a legislative district in the Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia, and located approximately west-northwest ...

during 31 March and 1 April. On 13 April, ''Canberra'' escorted ''Yorktown''s aircraft when they provided support to amphibious landings at Hollandia and

Wakde Wakde is an island group in Sarmi Regency, Papua, Indonesia, between the districts of Pantai Timur and Tor Atas. It comprises two islands, Insumuar (the larger) and Insumanai (much smaller). History Occupied by Japanese forces in April 1942, th ...

. From 29 April to 1 May, the cruiser was attached to the group for air attacks on Truk, during the operation, ''Canberra'' detached to shell a Japanese airbase at

Satawan Satawan Atoll is an atoll located about southeast of Chuuk Lagoon proper. Geographically it is part of the Nomoi or Mortlock Islands in the Carolines and administratively it is part of Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia. About 3 ...

. The cruiser was involved in raids on

Marcus Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...

and

Wake Island Wake Island (), also known as Wake Atoll, is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets – Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Islands – surrounding a lagoon encircled by a coral reef. The neare ...

s during May, and in June joined operations to capture the Mariana and Palau Islands. As part of this campaign, ''Canberra'' participated in the

Battle of the Philippine Sea The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a major naval battle of World War II on 19–20 June 1944 that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious r ...

, and shelled Japanese positions in the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...

. During August and September, the ship performed raids on the Palaus and the Philippines providing gunfire support during the Morotai landings. At the start of October, ''Canberra'' joined

Task Force 38 The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet) was a group of ships in World War II. It was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through th ...

, tasked with performing air raids on Okinawa and Taiwan, in preparation for the landings at Leyte. On 13 October, an air-dropped torpedo from a Japanese aircraft hit the cruiser below her armour belt. The explosion killed 23 personnel and exposed the engineering spaces to the ocean, stalling the ship. took ''Canberra'' under tow for a rendezvous with the tug , which took over the tow after putting a salvage crew aboard. During the tow, the salvage officer from ''Munsee'' was killed while diving in the cruiser's flooded engine room to make temporary repairs. A week into the tow towards

, ''Munsee'' was joined by the

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

leased tug ''Watch Hill''. It took another week for the two tugboats to bring ''Canberra'' to the repair ship . After temporary repairs at Manus, ''Canberra'' sailed under her own power to Boston Navy Yard. The cruiser was docked for repairs, which lasted from February to October 1945. The cruiser was deployed to the west coast of the United States in late 1945. ''Canberra'' received seven

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period. T ...

s for her wartime service.

''Boston'' class conversion

''Canberra'' was decommissioned on 7 March 1947 and berthed with the

Pacific Reserve Fleet The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and s ...

at the

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted ...

, located in

Bremerton, Washington Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, Kitsap County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 43,505 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and an estimated 44,122 in 2021, making it the largest city ...

. ''Canberra'' and sister ship were marked for conversion into guided missile cruisers, ''Canberra'' was redesignated with the

hull number A hull number is a serial identification number given to a boat or ship. For the military, a lower number implies an older vessel. For civilian use, the Hull Identification Number (HIN) is used to trace the boat's history. The precise usage varie ...

CAG-2 and on 4 January 1952, she was towed to the

New York Shipbuilding Corporation The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

, for conversion into a . During the conversion, ''Canberra''s aft 8-inch and 5-inch gun turrets were replaced with two twin

RIM-2 Terrier The Convair RIM-2 Terrier was a two-stage medium-range naval surface-to-air missile (SAM), among the earliest SAMs to equip United States Navy ships. It underwent significant upgrades while in service, starting with beam-riding guidance with a r ...

missile launchers. Her aft superstructure was rebuilt, and the two funnels were redesigned as a single unit. The upgrade of the ship concluded in June 1956, making ''Canberra'' the second guided-missile ship in the USN fleet. If the conversion proved successful, the plan was to replace the rest of the ship's gun armament with missiles at a later date. However, by 1964, the rapid advancement of missile technology made the Terrier system obsolete, and full conversion was not pursued.

Post-conversion career

''Canberra'' was recommissioned on 15 June 1956, and homeported at

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

. From June until March 1957, the cruiser operated from Norfolk and through the Caribbean. On 14 March, ''Canberra'' delivered President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

to Bermuda for a conference with

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...

, the British Prime Minister. On 12 June, the cruiser served as review ship for the International Naval Review at Hampton Roads. After a training cruise during July and August, ''Canberra'' was deployed to the Mediterranean for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Operation Strikeback Exercise Strikeback aka Operation Strikeback was a major naval exercise of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that took place over a ten-day period in September 1957. As part of a series of exercises to simulate an all-out Soviet att ...

. The cruiser returned to American waters on 9 March 1958. In mid-April 1958, ''Boston'' and ''Canberra'' hosted a change of command ceremonies in which Rear Admiral Charles B. Martell relieved Rear Admiral Charles L. Melson as Commander Cruiser Division Four at Norfolk Naval Base. On 26 May, the ceremony for the selection of the Unknown Soldier representing World War II occurred aboard ''Canberra''. From June to August, the cruiser sailed on another training cruise, before docking at Norfolk Naval Shipyard for overhaul. From 3 March until 24 October 1960, the cruiser made an 8-month round-the-world cruise to

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