Canberra (CAG 2) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 15 text:

INTRODUCTION SHIP ' S HISTORY CAPTAIN ' S CLOSING LETTER SHIPBOARD LIFE ON THE LINE HAWAII. GUAM THE PHILIPPINES 60-67 HONG KONG 68-87 JAPAN !-89 HOMECOMING 90-177 SHIP ' S COMPANY COMMANDING OFFICER EXECUTIVE OFFICER WEAPONS DEPARTMENT OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT SUPPLY DEPARTMENT MEDICAL DEPARTMENT EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT NAVIGATION DEPARTMENT 178-189 FORMAL DIVISION PORTRAITS 190-191 CREDITS 192 INMEMORIUM J WK«i««itT» ;»iSfci:»i ' S ' ' »:.«;4

Page 14 text:

' ■■ ' ' «BHHmaMH •a S5BR iS i g: J- ,1 ..r-»»-l y»« ' ' 1 1 X-v !@£%t»(»ii»!UIWifU»K iH»tKKU

Page 16 text:

¥ mi r-){ ' ,mdi USS CANBERRA was launched on April 19, 1943, of Quincy, Mass. At the special request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wished to commemorate His Majesty ' s Aus- tralian Ship CANBERRA which was lost in the battle of Savo Island in 1942, she was christened USS CANBERRA by Lady Alice Dixon, wife of Sir Owen Dixon, Australian Minister to the United States. On October 14, 1943, the ship joined the fleet and in the eight months that followed, she participated in four campaigns in the Pacific Thea- ter. Attacked by enemy aircraft off Formoso on October 13, CANBERRA was struck amidships on her star- board side by an aerial torpedo. The resulting explosion killed 23 members of her crew and flooded two tirerooms and an engine room. Less than six years after being inactivated in July 1946, CANBERRA was selected with USS BOSTON for conversion as one of the Navy ' s new guided-missile cruisers and received a Terrier mis- sile system. Conversion began in May 1952, and she was recommissioned at Philadelphia on June 15, 1956. She embarked President Dwight D. isenhower in the spring of 1957 for trip to Bermuda where he met with British Prime Minister Harold Mac- Millan. Later that year she was Fleet Review flagship for Secretary of De- fense Charles E. Wilson at the Inter- national Naval Review off Norfolk, Va. In the spring of 1958, CANBER- RA joined other units of the Atlantic Fleet in their annual deployments to the Mediterranean and North Atlantic with NATO forces. Later, CANBER- RA received a great honor. She was designated flagship for the selection of the Unknown Soldier of World War II. In addition, she made a 50,000-mile world cruise in 1960. CANBERRA participated in the U.S. Quarantine of Cuba in the fall of 1962. While serving In the Mediterranean from February 6 until September 4, 1963, a ceremony was held in La Spezia, Italy, com- memorating the 20th anniversary of the ship ' s original commissioning. In October 1963, CANBERRA sailed for the West Coast to join the Pacific Fleet. After arriving in her home port of San Diego, she joined other units in fleet exercises prior to entering the shipyard. In April 1964, CANBERRA en- tered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for four months. On January 5, 1965, the ship departed San Diego to begin a Western Pacific deployment. The six- month cruise saw CANBERRA per- form a number of diverse roles while operating with the SEVENTH Fleet in the critical Vietnam area. A high- light of this cruise was a period of 63 continuous days at sea during which she acted as a replacement for the radar control station at Da Nang. As a result of her highly effective deploy- ment, the crew was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. In October, CANBERRA entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for ten weeks. In February 1966, CANBERRA departed from San Diego after ten days notice, enroute to the Western Pacific for the second time in 13 months. From February until June 1966, CANBERRA again joined the SEVENTH Fleet for operations in the Vietnam area. During her deployment, CANBERRA concentroted on naval gunfire support for friendly shore- based units. On June 8, she returned to San Diego. On October 11, she set out once more to join the SEVENTH Fleet in support of ARVN and Ameri- can forces in Vietnam. From her arrival in October 1966 until she departed the line in April 1967, CANBERRA fired more than 25,000 rounds of gunfire support. The cruiser participated in operations rang- ing from riding shotgun for a truck convoy to supporting the first full- scale landing in the Mekong Delta. CANBERRA provided naval gunfire support in the I, II and IV Corps areas — from the Mekong Delta to the DMZ, spending 88 per cent of her time at sec. In February 1967, CAN- BERRA moved north, to join destroy- ers in Operation SEA DRAGON off North Vietnam. Her mission for 25 days was to deny the sea to North Vietnamese logistics craft and disrupt the Vietnamese supply network. During this period she fired at military and supply targets inland and patrolled the North Vietnamese coastal waters until she left the line to visit Australia on her return to San Diego, June 1. On July 17, CANBERRA entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard for minor over- haul.