USS Canberra (CA-70/CAG-2) was a and later a guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy (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. 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 until she was torpedoed during the Aerial Battle of Taiwan-Okinawa 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 naval blockade in 1962, and was deployed to the Vietnam War on five occasions between 1965 and 1969.
Construction
The heavy cruiser was laid down as USS Pittsburgh by the Bethlehem Steel Company Fore River Shipyard at Quincy in Massachusetts on 3 September 1941. During construction, in recognition of the valor displayed by the Australian cruiser during the Battle of Savo Island, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 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, 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. San Diego, and joined Task Force 58 in mid-February. During March and April, the cruiser formed part of the carrier task group, supporting the aircraft carrier during air raids on Palaus, Yap, Ulithi and Woleai during 31 March and 1 April. From June to August, the cruiser sailed on another training cruise, before docking at Norfolk Naval Shipyard for overhaul. During the voyage, she flew the flag of Rear Admiral J. McN. Taylor, Commander of the Atlantic Fleet Cruiser Force and Cruiser Division 6. During this deployment, the ship visited the site of her Australian cruiser namesake's sinking, along with locations where the American cruiser had herself served during World War II. During the Vietnam War, Canberra was homeported at San Diego. She deployed to Vietnam five times from 1965 to 1969 She was sold for scrap to National Metal on 15 July 1980, and removed from the Suisun Bay Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility on 1 August and broken up.
One of the ship's propellers was placed on display at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. The ship's bell was kept in storage, and despite US law preventing the possession of naval artefacts by other nations, a campaign led to the bell being presented to Australian Prime Minister John Howard by US President George W. Bush on 10 September 2001, as commemoration for the 50 years of the ANZUS treaty. The bell was placed on display in the USA Gallery of the Australian National Maritime Museum.