Rememberence Day

[frosty (chris)]

Hi All,

        My Dad( still alive) was a P.O.on the HMAS Shopshire along with the HMAS Australia that where with the US Navy chasing the Japs around the Phils in WW2, the Australia was hit by a jap kamakaze, took the bridge out and killed quite a few men, my dad has fond memories of Manila after the Jap surrender in Manila Bay. Typical sailor.

[Jack Peterson]

Typical sailor.

 

 

 

 

:thumbs-up-smile:

 

 

 

 

 

:tiphat:

[BrettGC]

Hi All,

        My Dad( still alive) was a P.O.on the HMAS Shopshire along with the HMAS Australia that where with the US Navy chasing the Japs around the Phils in WW2, the Australia was hit by a jap kamakaze, took the bridge out and killed quite a few men, my dad has fond memories of Manila after the Jap surrender in Manila Bay. Typical sailor.

 

Small world, my grandfather was a Chief on HMAS Canberra before it was lost.  He didn't go on to serve in Shropshire, it's replacement though, but went on to server in HMAS Nepal which sailed into Tokyo Bay in 1945 immediately after the Japanese surrender.  He was however a member of the Canberra/Shropshire association until his passing in 2010.  I miss the old bugger terribly, he was my mate. 

 

Loss of HMAS Canberra

See also: Battle of Savo Island

During the afternoon of 8 August, a Japanese task force commanded by Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa and consisting of five cruisers and a destroyer began to approach the south of Savo Island, with the intention to attack the naval force supporting the landing at Guadalcanal, then those at Tulagi.^[22] Anticipating a naval attack following several assaults by land-based Japanese aircraft, the Allied commander of the naval forces, British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, split his forces around Savo Island: Crutchley aboard HMAS Australia led Canberra, USS Chicago, and the destroyers USS Patterson and USS Bagley on patrol of the southern waters.^[22] At 20:45, Crutchley was recalled to meet urgently with US Admiral Richmond K. Turner, overall commander of the amphibious landings.^[22] Although Chicago was the senior ship after Australia departed, Canberra, which had been following Australia, found herself at point.^[22][23] Around 01:00 on 9 August, the engines of scoutplanes from Mikawa's ships were heard, but as no warning came from the other groups, it was assumed they were friendly.^[22]

At 01:45, Patterson detected Mikawa's ships and alerted the Allied force.^[24] The Japanese scout planes dropped flares to silhouette Canberra and Chicago.^[23] The Australian cruiser was able to avoid the Japanese torpedoes fired at the start of the engagement, but was on the receiving end of the Japanese cruisers' gunfire.^[24] The first two salvos killed or wounded several senior officers, disabled both engine rooms, damaged the bridge and 4-inch gun platform and forced the flooding of her 8-inch magazines.^[12][24] Within two minutes, the cruiser had been hit 24 times; she was immobilised, without power, and listing to starboard, with multiple internal fires and at least a fifth of her personnel dead or wounded.^[25] At least one torpedo strike was reported during the Japanese attack, although none of the 19 torpedoes fired at Canberra by the Japanese cruisers were recorded as hitting their target.^[24] Several personnel from Canberra believe that USS Bagley inadvertently torpedoed the cruiser.^[24][26] From the 819-strong ship's company, 84 were killed (74 during the battle, 10 dying later from wounds), and another 109 were wounded.^[12][27]

American destroyers rescuing the surviving crew from HMAS Canberra after the Battle of Savo Island. In the billowing smoke, USS Patterson is approaching Canberra from astern.

At 03:30, Patterson came alongside and relayed orders from Rear Admiral Turner: if Canberra could not achieve mobility by 06:30, she would be abandoned and sunk.^[27] The destroyer began to recover the Australian survivors, but at 04:30, Patterson detected an approaching ship.^[27] The destroyer moved to investigate, at which point the unknown ship opened fire, and Patterson retaliated.^[27] It was quickly realised that the attacker was USS Chicago, which had mistaken Canberra for a damaged Japanese vessel, and both ships ceased fire.^[27]Patterson returned to continue the evacuation, and was aided by sister ship USS Blue.^[28]

Canberra's engines could not be repaired, and she was to be scuttled.^[28] She was torpedoed by the destroyer USS Ellet at 08:00, after 263 5-inch shells and four other torpedoes fired by USS Selfridge failed to do the job, and sank at 9°12′29″S 159°54′46″ECoordinates: 9°12′29″S 159°54′46″E.^[28][29] She was one of the first ships to be sunk in what was eventually named "Ironbottom Sound".^[30] Three US cruisers were also destroyed during the battle, and a US destroyer was damaged.^[26]

Aftermath

Canberra's wartime service was recognised with four battle honours: "East Indies 1940–41", "Pacific 1941–42", "Guadalcanal 1942", and "Savo Island 1942".^[31][32]

Captain Howard Bode of USS Chicago was formally criticised for his actions during the battle, particularly for not taking lead when Australia departed, and for not warning the northern cruiser force of the approaching Japanese ships,^[28] leading to the loss of the three US cruisers.

The US cruiser USS Canberra underway in 1961

In recognition of the valour displayed by the Australian ship and her company, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt wished to commemorate the loss of HMAS Canberra by naming a US ship in her honour.^[28] The under-construction Baltimore class cruiser Pittsburgh was selected to be renamed USS Canberra.^[33] The ship was launched on 19 April 1943 by Lady Alice C. Dixon, the wife of Sir Owen Dixon, Australia's ambassador to the United States, and is the only United States warship to be named after a foreign capital city.^[28]

Around the same time, the British government announced that the heavy cruiser HMS Shropshire (a sister ship to Canberra, but of the London subclass) would be transferred to the RAN as a gift.^[34] Although King George VI had announced that the ship would be renamed Canberra, the duplication of ship names with the United States Navy was against RAN policy.^[34] Although it was thought that Australia had a greater claim to the name, the Australian government decided to retain Shropshire's old name after learning that the US offer had come directly from President Roosevelt.^[35] Many of the first Australian sailors posted to Shropshire in early 1943 were Canberra survivors.^[36]

Edited November 13, 2013 by BrettGC

[frosty (chris)]

Hi Brett,

            My dad has had enough now, just living his years out in a nursing home, not a pleasant thing to see. It was had to get him to talk at all about his service but in his later years over a few grogs he would open up a little, I found his ratings book from his service days when I cleaned his unit out. He was in Sydney Harbour when the japs sunk the Katabull, lost some mates on that, he was at the pub in the cross hahahaha, said the yanks lit the place up like xmas time, shells and shots going every where. It's good to be able to talk with the old vet's and realise though they were only ordinary blokes, they were  doing extra ordinary things, I tips me lid to all of them

[Papa Carl]

Some great posts!

 

Thanks.

 

 

Respect.

 

 

Papa Carl