Photos and the story

Canberra

Class	County class
Type	Heavy cruiser (CA)
Hull	D33
Fate	Sunk. Wrecked at Savo Island, 9 August 1942, before she could fire a gun. Scuttled that morning by Selfridge and Ellet. Captain Getting was killed.
Armament (class)	Kent-subclass County cruiser. Four twin 8-inch turrets and three funnels.
Command	Patterson, Wilfrid R. In command, September 1939 Farncomb, Harold Bruce Captain from June 1940 Moore, George Dunbar Captain from 24 December 1941 Getting, Frank Edmund Captain from June 1942; In command when she was lost, 9 August 1942

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

HMAS Canberra (D33) was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. Wilfrid R. Patterson was in command in September 1939. Harold Bruce Farncomb became captain in June 1940, and George Dunbar Moore took command on 24 December 1941.

Frank Edmund Getting became captain in June 1942. He was in command on 9 August 1942, when Canberra was lost, and he was killed.

That day she was on the southern patrol at Savo Island with Chicago. In the Battle of Savo Island, Japanese cruisers wrecked her before she could fire a gun. The wrecking is not credited to any one Japanese ship. Canberra was left abandoned.

That morning Selfridge and Ellet scuttled the hulk with gunfire and torpedoes. The sinking is not credited to one of them. A later Royal Australian Navy ship has carried the name Canberra.

The pictures on this page are the originals.