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Photo # NH 98383:  USS Canberra underway in Boston harbor, 14 October 1943

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Canberra (CA-70, later CAG-2), 1943-1980

USS Canberra, a 13,600 ton Baltimore class heavy cruiser, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. She was commissioned in mid-October 1943 and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, early in February 1944, in time to take part in the invasion of Eniwetok a few weeks later. During the next three months the new cruiser escorted aircraft carriers as they raided Japanese positions in the Central Pacific and supported landings on the north coast of New Guinea. In June Canberra participated in the assault on Saipan, and the resulting Battle of the Philippine sea. For the rest of the summer she continued her carrier screening operations as the Marianas Campaign was completed, more raids conducted closer to Japan, and U.S. forces stormed ashore in the Palaus and at Morotai.

In mid-October 1944 Canberra's task group raided Japanese air fields and other facilities on Okinawa and Formosa, in preparation for the forthcoming Leyte invasion. Japanese torpedo planes counterattacked and, during the evening of 13 October, she was hit by a torpedo that opened her hull amidships, bent a propeller shaft, and left her with both engine rooms and the after firerooms flooded. Though the ship's forward boiler rooms could still generate plenty of steam, her engines were completely out of action, and she was dead in the water less than a hundred miles from Formosa, a major enemy air base. Demonstrating masterful night-time seamanship, the heavy cruiser Wichita (CA-45) rigged a tow line and began to slowly pull the stricken Canberra out of range of hostile planes. The following night the light cruiser Houston (CL-81) was also hit and taken under tow. Despite more air attacks, which hit Houston again on 16 October, by month's end both crippled cruisers made it safely to the Navy advanced base at Ulithi. Canberra was later taken to Manus, where she was repaired enough to return to the U.S. under her own power.

Completely refurbished at the Boston Navy Yard between February and October 1945, Canberra served in the West Coast area from late 1945 until March 1947, when she was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Bremerton, Washington. Nearly five years later, in January 1952, she was reclassified as a guided-missile heavy cruiser, with the new hull number CAG-2. She was then towed to Camden, New Jersey, for conversion work that lasted well into 1956.

USS Canberra's history is continued on the page: USS Canberra (CAG-2, previously and later CA-70).

This page features all the views we have related to USS Canberra (CA-70), prior to her conversion to a guided-missile cruiser.

For images concerning this ship after she became a guided missile cruiser, see:

  • USS Canberra (CAG-2, previously and later CA-70), 1943-1980.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 98383

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Underway in Boston harbor, Massachusetts, 14 October 1943.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 123KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98384

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Underway in Boston harbor, Massachusetts, 14 October 1943.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 137KB; 740 x 625 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98385

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Underway in Boston harbor, Massachusetts, 14 October 1943.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 136KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98386

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Underway in Boston harbor, Massachusetts, 14 October 1943.
    Note the ship's two aircraft cranes, stern 40mm quad gun mount offset somewhat to port and arrangement of 8"/55, 5"/38 and 40mm guns aft and amidships.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 113KB; 590 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 45505

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Underway, circa late 1943.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 530 pixels

     
    Photo #: 80-G-284472

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Operating with Task Force 38 in the Western Pacific, 10 October 1944, three days before she was torpedoed off Formosa.
    Her camouflage is Design 18a in the Measure 31-32-33 series.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 78680

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Chart of the ship's operations in the Pacific Ocean with the Fifth and Third Fleet, from 14 February to 19 November 1944.
    Drawn by Quartermaster J.L. Whitmeyer, USNR.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 175KB; 1200 x 855 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98343

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Under tow toward Ulithi Atoll after she was torpedoed while operating off Okinawa. USS Houston (CL-81), also torpedoed and under tow, is in the right background.
    Canberra was hit amidships on 13 October 1944. Houston was torpedoed twice, amidships on 14 October and aft on 16 October.
    The tugs may be USS Munsee (ATF-107), which towed Canberra, and USS Pawnee (ATF-74).

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 106KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: 80-G-272783

    USS Houston (CL-81)


    Under tow on 17 October 1944, after she had been torpedoed twice by Japanese aircraft during operations off Formosa. The first torpedo hit Houston amidships on 14 October. The second struck the the cruiser's starboard quarter while she was under tow on 16 October. Damage from that torpedo is visible in this view.
    USS Canberra (CA-70), also torpedoed off Formosa, is under tow in the distance.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 600 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-304088

    USS Claxton (DD-571)
    , at left,
    USS Canberra (CA-70), center, and
    USS Killen (DD-593), right

    Undergoing battle damage repairs in the floating drydock ABSD-2 at Manus, Admiralty Islands, 2 December 1944.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 126KB; 740 x 605 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-304096

    USS Killen (DD-593)
    , at left,
    USS Canberra (CA-70), right, and
    USS Claxton (DD-571), beyond Canberra's bow

    Undergoing battle damage repairs in the floating drydock ABSD-2 at Manus, Admiralty Islands, 2 December 1944.
    Note men crowding the rails on Canberra, and her two forward 8"/55 triple gun turrets.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 127KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 75596

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Launching, at the Bethlehem Steel Company's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, 19 April 1943.

    Courtesy of James Russell, 1972.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 92KB; 590 x 765 pixels

     

    For additional views of Canberra soon after she was torpedoed in October 1944, see:

  • Photo # NH 98825 and Photo # NH 98826. These photographs show a Japanese aerial torpedo hitting USS Houston on 16 October 1944. USS Canberra is visible in the distance.

    For images concerning this ship after she became a guided missile cruiser, see:

  • USS Canberra (CAG-2, previously and later CA-70), 1943-1980.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 15 March 2003
    New images added 12 September 2003