HMAS Canberra (D33)

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HMAS Canberra
HMAS Canberra (D33) leaving Wellington, New Zealand, on July 22, 1942 (80-G-13454-A) .jpg
Ship data
flag AustraliaAustralia (naval war flag) Australia
Ship type Heavy cruiser
class Kent class
Shipyard John Brown & Company , Clydebank
Launch May 31, 1927
Commissioning July 9, 1928
Whereabouts Sunk on August 9, 1942
Ship dimensions and crew
length
192.05 m ( Lüa )
width 20.8 m
Draft Max. 6.5 m
displacement Standard : 9,850 ts
Maximum: 13,315 tn.l.
 
crew 679 to 710 men
Machine system
machine 8 steam boilers
4 steam turbines
Machine
performance 		80,000 PS (58,840 kW)
Top
speed 		31.5 kn (58 km / h)
propeller 4th
Armament
Armor
  • Belt: 25-140 mm
  • Deck: 35-38 mm
  • Ammunition chambers: 64 mm
  • Towers: 38–52 mm
  • Barbettes: 25 mm

The HMAS Canberra was one of seven heavy cruisers of the 10,000 ton displacement Kent class , the first group of the County class . She was one of the ships that were commissioned as part of the Royal Australian Navy's construction program in 1924. On July 9, 1928, she entered service at Clydebank under the command of Captain George L. Massey. Her sister ships were the HMAS Australia and the British cruisers HMS Kent , HMS Berwick , HMS Cornwall , HMS Cumberland and HMS Suffolk .

After five months of test drives in British waters, the Canberra set course for Australia from Portsmouth on December 4th . There she arrived in Fremantle on January 25, 1929 . The new cruiser remained in Australian home waters until 1931, when it made its first voyage to New Caledonia and the Fiji Islands in September 1931 .

Until the beginning of World War II , the Canberra was the flagship of the Australian squadron . In 1932 and 1937 she visited the Australian base in China and a number of ports in New Zealand . In 1934 she served as the escort ship of HMS Sussex , which Henry, Duke of Gloucester , brought to Australia on a visiting trip.

After the fighting of World War II began, the Canberra went nine months of patrol and escort in home waters and the Tasman Sea under Captain Wilfrid R. Patterson.

In June 1940, Captain Harold Farncomb took command on board and the Canberra got missions in the Indian Ocean to escort ships on the routes to South Africa , India and Malaysia .

The most outstanding event in 1940 was the rescue of 28 survivors of the British freighter Port Brisbane and the subsequent search for the German attacker, the auxiliary cruiser Pinguin , which was unsuccessful.

In 1941 the escorts continued in the Indian Ocean. The Canberra was involved in the unsuccessful hunt for the German armored ship Admiral Scheer in the spring . In March of that year, the constant escorts were rewarded by bringing up the German supply ship Coburg and the former Norwegian tanker Ketty Brǿvig , which happened together with the New Zealand HMNZS Leander .

When the Pacific War broke out, the Canberra was in Sydney Harbor . As part of the ABDA fleet, she escorted troop transports to New Guinea and Java in January 1942 .

The burning HMAS Canberra near Savo Island

After a long break in the dock in Sydney, Captain Frank E. Getting took command of the Canberra in June 1942 . In the same month, the Canberra entered the Coral Sea and joined Task Force 44 there. This was followed by the use of the American landing on Guadalcanal , which ended in the battle of Savo Island on August 9 with its sinking.

The Canberra was hit on the starboard side by two Japanese torpedoes and in addition by at least 20 volleys of Japanese artillery. There were 193 victims on board. The ship lost its drive and the survivors were transferred to the American destroyers USS Patterson and USS Blue . Rear Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner ordered the ship to be scuttled if she could not move independently by 6:30 a.m. the next morning. When this could not be achieved, the USS Selfridge fired 263 shells and fired four torpedoes until the Canberra sank at 8:00 a.m. on August 9, 1942.

Web links

Commons : HMAS Canberra  - collection of images, videos and audio files