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U.S.S. CANBERRA
(CAG-2)THE KAN DO KANGAROO
Click to view crew list
The USS CANBERRA (CAG-2), a Baltimore class cruiser, was commissioned on 14 OCT 1943 as CA-70. USS CANBERRA was built at the Bethlehem Steel Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Mass. Joining the war against the Japanese in 1944, CANBERRA battled across the Pacific until damaged by a air dropped torpedo in October 1944. She finished WWII in the Boston Naval Shipyard and was placed in reserve after the end of hostilities. CANBERRA underwent a extensive overhaul and conversion from 1952 to 1956 to be reconfigured as CAG-2, a guided missile cruiser. Recommissioned on 15 June 1956 and homeported at Norfolk, Virgina after returning to active service, CANBERRA carried President Eisenhower to Bermuda in 1957, circumnavigated the world in 1960 and participated in the Cuban Missile Blockade in 1962. CANBERRA deployed repeatedly to Vietnam in the late 1960s to provide shore bombardment. USS CANBERRA served her country, as CAG-2, for 23 years, 7 months and 17 days, until decommissioned on 2 FEB 1970. The hulk of the CANBERRA was scrapped in 1980.
The USS CANBERRA (CAG-2) deployment history and significant events of her service career follow:
CAG-2 Deployments - Major Events
Add a CAG-2 Shellback Initiation | Add a CAG-2 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SEP | 1941 | - | Keel Date: 3 SEP 1941 at Fore River Shipyard | ||
APR | 1943 | - | Launch Date: 19 APR 1943 | ||
OCT | 1943 | - | Commissioned: 14 OCT 1943 | ||
JUN | 1957 | - | Shellback Initiation - 26 JUN 1957 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
SEP | 1957 | - | SEP | 1957 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
JAN | 1959 | - | JAN | 1959 | Guantanamo Bay |
APR | 1959 | - | SEP | 1959 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1960 | - | JAN | 1962 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
MAR | 1960 | - | OCT | 1960 | World Cruise |
APR | 1960 | - | Shellback Initiation - 25 APR 1960 - Pacific Ocean | ||
APR | 1960 | - | Shellback Initiation - 25 APR 1960 - Pacific Ocean | ||
APR | 1960 | - | Shellback Initiation - 25 APR 1960 - Pacific Ocean | ||
JAN | 1962 | - | AUG | 1962 | Mediterranean |
FEB | 1962 | - | SEP | 1962 | Mediterranean |
SEP | 1962 | - | OCT | 1962 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
FEB | 1963 | - | SEP | 1963 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1965 | - | JUL | 1965 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1965 | - | JAN | 1965 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
MAY | 1965 | - | NOV | 1967 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
DEC | 1965 | - | JUL | 1966 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUN | 1966 | - | JUL | 1969 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
SEP | 1966 | - | MAY | 1967 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
APR | 1967 | - | Shellback Initiation - 4 APR 1967 - Pacific Ocean | ||
APR | 1967 | - | Shellback Initiation - 23 APR 1967 - Pacific Ocean | ||
APR | 1967 | - | Shellback Initiation - 4 APR 1967 - Pacific Ocean | ||
APR | 1967 | - | Shellback Initiation - 23 APR 1967 - Pacific Ocean | ||
MAY | 1967 | - | Shellback Initiation - 4 MAY 1967 - Pacific Ocean | ||
JAN | 1968 | - | MAR | 1968 | Pueblo Incident Korea |
SEP | 1968 | - | JAN | 1969 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
SEP | 1968 | - | SEP | 1969 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
SEP | 1968 | - | SEP | 1969 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
FEB | 1970 | - | Decommissioned: 2 FEB 1970 |
CAG-2 General Specifications
Class: Baltimore class cruiser
Named for: Australian cruiser HMAS Canberra
Complement: 1142 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 13600 tons
Length: 673 feet 5 inches
Beam: 70 feet 10 inches
Flank Speed: 33 knots
Final Disposition: Sold for scrap on 31 July 1980
USS CANBERRA (CAG-2)
Canberra (CA-70) was launched 19 April
1943 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass.; sponsored by Lady Alice
C. Dixon; and commissioned 14 October 1943, Captain A. R. Early in command.
Canberra departed Boston 14 January
1944 and sailed via
San Diego to embark passengers for Pearl Harbor, arriving 1 February. She rendezvoused with TF 58 on 14 February and took part in the capture of
Eniwetok. The cruiser steamed from
her base at Majuro to join the Yorktown
(CV-10) task group for the raids on the Palaus, Yap, Ulithi, and
Woleai (30 March-1 April), then got underway from the same base 13 April for
air strikes against Hollandia and Wakde in support of the Army landings on New Guinea. Canberra joined
with the Enterprise (CV-6) task group for fighter sweeps against
Truk, then bombarded Satawan, rejoining the carriers
for further strikes on Truk (29 April-1 May).
After a raid against Marcus and Wake Islands in May
1944, Canberra sailed from Majuro 6 June to participate
in the Marianas operation, including the far-flung Battle of the Philippine
Sea, and the supporting air strikes and bombardment to neutralize bases in
the Bonins. Following replenishment at Eniwetok, Canberra sailed 29 August for raids
on the Palaus and the Philippines, and to
back up the Morotai landings (15-16 September).
On 2 October 1944 Canberra sailed in company with
TF 38 for air strikes on Okinawa and Formosa in anticipation
of the forthcoming landings on Leyte. On 13 October, only 90 miles off
Formosa, close to the enemy and far from safe harbor, Canberra was struck below her armor belt at the engineering spaces by
an aerial torpedo which blew a huge,
jagged hole in her side and killed 23
of her crew instantly. Before damage control
could isolate the compartments, some 4,500 tons of water rushed in to flood her
after fireroom and both engine rooms, which brought the cruiser to a stop. Then
began one of the most notable
achievements of the war in saving
wounded ships. Canberra was taken in tow by Wichita (CA-45). The task force reformed to provide escort for her and Houston (CL-81) who
had been torpedoed on the morning of
the 14th. Retiring toward Ulithi,
"Cripple Division 1" fought off an enemy air attack which succeeded in firing another torpedo
into Houston. Admiral Halsey (CTF 38) attempted to use the group, now nicknamed "Bait Division
1," to lure the Japanese fleet into the open, but when the enemy sortied from the Inland Sea, air attacks from the rest of
TF 38 roused enemy suspicions of the trap, and the Japanese force withdrew. Canberra and her group
continued unmolested to Ulithi,
arriving 27 October, 2 weeks from the
day she was hit. The cruiser was towed to Manus for temporary repairs, thence departed for permanent repairs at Boston Navy Yard (16 February-17
October 1945). Canberra returned to the west coast late in 1945 and was placed out of commission in reserve at
Bremerton, Wash., 7 March 1947.
Reclassified CAG-2, 4 January 1952, Canberra was towed
from Bremerton to New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J., where she
was converted to a guided missile heavy cruiser. Her after 8" turret was
replaced by terrier antiaircraft missile launchers and she was otherwise
modernized. Canberra was recommissioned 15 June 1956, part of the sweeping revolution
that is increasing the United States'
seapower for peace. Local operations
from her home port of Norfolk and Caribbean
exercises were conducted until 14 March 1957 when she carried President
Dwight D. Eisenhower to Bermuda for a
conference with Prime Minister Harold MacMillan
of Great Britain. On 12 June she served as a reviewing ship for the
International Naval Review in Hampton
Roads, with Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson embarked. After a midshipman training cruise to the
Caribbean and Brazil (13 June-5 August), she departed
Norfolk 3 September to participate in NATO Operation "Strikeback,"
sailing on to the Mediterranean for
duty with the 6th Fleet before returning home 9 March 1958.
In the spring of 1958 Canberra was designated as ceremonial
flagship for the selection of the unknown servicemen of World War II and
Korea to be buried with honor at the Tomb of the Unknowns in
Arlington National Cemetery. The cruiser rendezvoused off the
Virginia Capes 26 May with Blandy (DD-943) carrying the
Unknown of the European Theater, and Boston (CAG-1)
carrying the Unknowns of the Pacific Theater and the Korean War. After
Blandy had transferred her Unknown to Boston, all three caskets
were high-lined to Canberra, where the selection between the
two Unknowns of World War II was made. The selected casket
along with the Korean Unknown was returned to Blandy for
transportation to Washington, D.C., and the unselected Unknown was
buried at sea with military honors by Canberra.
Canberra carried midshipmen on a
training cruise to Europe (9 June-7 August 1958), then after a brief
visit to New York, entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard for overhaul.
Departing
from the normal operating schedule, Canberra
sailed from Norfolk on 3 March
1960 on good-will cruise around the globe, flying the flag of Rear
Admiral J. McN. Taylor, Commander of the
Atlantic Fleet Cruiser Force and
Cruiser Division 6. On this cruise he
took his flagship to the South Pacific, where her namesake had sunk, where she had engaged the enemy
in 1944 and where he had served. On this cruise Canberra operated with both the 7th and 6th Fleets as she
sailed across the Pacific, through the Indian Ocean, Suez, the Mediterranean, and across the Atlantic. She arrived
home in Norfolk on 24 October. For the
remainder of the year she operated on
the east coast.
Canberra received seven battle stars for
World War II service.
[Note: The above USS CANBERRA (CAG-2) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS CANBERRA (CAG-2), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]