A little something for Veterans' Day and for our friends and allies in Australia. Here is a picture of the guided missile cruiser U.S.S. Canberra, long since broken up for scrap:
It is located at this site, which also includes a brief biography. The account doesn't say why an American cruiser was named after an Australian city. I am told that it was because in World War II the Allies had a policy of naming new ships after those that had been recently lost, mostly to confuse Axis intelligence. When the Australian cruiser Canberra was sunk off Guadalcanal, along with the U.S.S. Astoria, Vincennes, and Quincy, the Australian navy had no cruisers under construction, so the U.S. borrowed the name for one of ours. Of course it didn't hurt relations with Australia.
Why do I mention this story? Partly because my father was once navigator of the Canberra, and I still remember visiting the ship when I was in grade school. My parents have since visited Australia more than once, and found it a delightfully welcoming country, especially to Canberra veterans. So happy Veterans Day to my father and all other allied veterans, especially the Americans and Australians.
Posted by Dr. Weevil at November 11, 2002 11:01 PMWow, a Terrier launcher and 8 inch guns to boot. Ouch.
Posted by: Robin Roberts on November 12, 2002 01:32 AMI had always heard that the name "Canberra" was chosen to honor the sacrifice of the RAN at the battle of Savo Island.
The only other USN ship named after a foreign ship or person is the guided missile destroyer "Winston S. Churchill." That puts the old "Canberra" in pretty select company.
Posted by: Mike Morley on November 12, 2002 01:56 PMThere was the USS Amsterdam, a Cleveland class light cruiser of WWII vintage (for the Dutch city). Of course, there was also the Spruance class destroyer in the 1980's, the USS Comte DeGrasse, named after the French admiral at the Battle of the Chesapeake (the naval engagement of the Yorktown campaign). I wil forgo mention of those early nineteenth century US warships named after destroyed enemy vessels, one name of which I know was recycled in the second world war (USS Boxer).
Posted by: Michael Orris on November 14, 2002 08:59 PMP.S. RAN Canberra was sunk at Savo Island, invasion of Guadalcanal/Tulagi. (In addition, much earlier, RAN Perth died with USS Houston in Sunda Strait after they ran into a Japanese invasion force in their retreat from the Malay barrier. Both went down shooting).
Posted by: Mike Orris on November 14, 2002 09:02 PMThe original Canberra was sunk in the same battle off Savo Island as the U.S. cruisers Astoria, Vincennes, and Quincy. I should have spelled that out more clearly. My impression was that the first suggestion to name a U.S. cruiser Canberra came about because of the policy of reusing ship-names as quickly as possible to confuse the enemy. I imagine someone soon realized that strengthening the U.S.-Australian alliance was an even better reason for doing so in this particular case. The first reason must still have been important: it's not like the U.S. built ships named after the capitals of all our allies.
Posted by: Dr. Weevil on November 14, 2002 10:08 PM