Wreck of HMAS Canberra (D33) | Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, cruiser

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, cruiser

Built in 1928 for the Royal Australian Navy, HMAS Canberra was modeled on the Kent Class Heavy Cruiser design and served with the Australian Navy during the Second World War, mainly patrolling the Indian Ocean and Coral Sea for German commerce raiders and eventually Japanese warships. Joining her fleetmate HMAS Australia as an escort for transports carrying American and Australian troops to the island of Guadalcanal on August 7th, 1942, Canberra and her crew spent the first two days of the initial landings repulsing Japanese air attacks and conducting defensive patrols in Ironbottom Sound to protect the vulnerable Transports and beachhead.

On patrol on the night of August 8th-9th, Canberra was steaming ahead of the American Heavy Cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29) on an East/West line off the Guadalcanal coastline. Screened by two American Destroyers as they maneuvered, the four ships were nearing the Western end of their patrol line when USS Patterson (DD-392) sighted a large unknown vessel at 0143hrs. Flashing an immediate warning back to Canberra and Chicago, Patterson moved to flank speed and fired a pair of starshell flares in order to identify the ship, but at the exact same moment a Japanese floatplane dropped a string of flares directly over Canberra and Chicago.

Aboard Canberra, Capt. Frank Getting had already ordered his ship to increase speed and open fire by the time the Japanese flares illuminated his position, but by the time Patterson’s flares illuminated the five Heavy Cruisers and two Light Cruisers of an Imperal Japanese Navy formation they had already opened fire. In short order the Canberra was struck by 24 shells of 8-inch caliber which punched through her decks and destroyed both boiler rooms, knocked out one of her gun turrets and struck her bridge, mortally wounding Captain Getting and causing heavy casualties. Robbed of power, Canberra’s main guns were unable to return fire and her crew unable to communicate with other Allied ships as Japanese gunners sent round after round into the hapless ship. As she slowed to a halt, fires quickly grew out of control as dazed damage control parties still making their way to their stations when the firing started were either killed, wounded or cut off by the immense damage the ship had taken. Those who attempted to fight the numerous onboard fires found their efforts frustrated by the lack of water as the ships’ fire mains had been completely severed and her onboard pumps destroyed.

The hail of Japanese shells which continued to slam into Canberra stopped as suddenly as they began when at 0147hrs the Japanese surface force disengaged and turned North to attack the ships of the Allied Northern patrol force, allowing Canberra’s surviving crew a chance to attempt damage control and treat the scores of wounded crew. The battered Cruiser remained stubbornly afloat and heavily aflame throughout the night and into the next morning while her crew did their best to fight the numerous fires and check water ingress flooding multiple areas of the ship. Shortly after daybreak on August 9th US Destroyers came alongside to remove wounded and aid in the firefighting and damage control efforts, allowing pumps to be brought onboard which eventually checked Canberra’s significant Starboard list. Below decks amid dozens of out-of-control fires, engineers labored to repair the ships wrecked boilers which had been perforated by no fewer than six 8-inch shells. As daylight increased, Canberra’s smoldering hulk presented an easy target for any Japanese Submarine or aircraft to attack, and with salvage efforts occupying several Destroyers and their crews, Rear Admiral Richmond Turner ordered the ship scuttled if her engineers could not get her underway by 0630hrs.

Despite the effort of her engineers and damage control parties, Canberra’s engines were beyond repair when the deadline arrived and the order came for all crew to abandon ship. After all recoverable dead were removed from the ship, the Canberra was set adrift in Ironbottom Sound and taken under fire by the Destroyers USS Ellet (DD-398) and USS Selfridge (DD-357) in order to scuttle the ship. Defiant to the last, Canberra absorbed four torpedoes and over 260 5-inch rounds from the two ships before reluctantly rolled onto her Port side and sank at this location at 0830hrs on August 9th, 1942.

HMAS Canberra lost 84 of her crew in her final action and received her fourth and final Battle Honour for her actions off Guadalcanal. Her wreck was discovered in August 1992 by Robert Ballard lying on an even keel in 2,500ft of water, with all four gun turrets still trained out to engage the Japanese Cruisers which had sank her 50 years prior.

www.navy.gov.au/hmas-canberra-i