Australia was a County-class heavy cruiser, hull D84, one of the two Australian ships of the Kent subclass. Canberra was the other. John Brown built Australia at Clydebank. She was launched on 17 March 1927 and commissioned on 24 April 1928.
At the Coral Sea she was Rear Admiral Crace's flagship. She had been sent toward the invasion passage with Chicago and Hobart. Japanese land-based aircraft attacked that group. They did not sink it. Australia was not sunk.
On the night of 8-9 August 1942 she was Rear Admiral Crutchley's flagship off Guadalcanal. Before midnight he took her to Turner's conference. She was off the transport anchorage while Mikawa's cruisers fought the patrols. She was not in the gun line.
Canberra was the Australian cruiser in that fight. She was on the southern patrol with Chicago. Japanese cruisers wrecked her before she could fire a gun. The loss is not pinned to one ship. The next morning Selfridge and Ellet scuttled the abandoned Canberra. They had not been in the night fight.
Australia was not hit that night. She survived the war. She was scrapped in 1955.
