USS Canberra (CA-70)

USS Canberra (CA-70)

USS Canberra (CA-70/CAG-2) was a Baltimore class cruiser and later a Boston class guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy. Originally to be named USS Pittsburgh, the ship was renamed Canberra before launch, for the Royal Australian Navy's County class cruiser, HMAS Canberra, which was sunk during the Battle of Savo Island. USS Canberra is the only USN warship named for a foreign warship or a foreign capital city.

The ship entered service in 1943, and served in the Pacific theater of World War II until she was torpedoed during the Aerial Battle of Taiwan-Okinawa and forced to return to the United States for repairs. Placed in reserve after the war, Canberra was selected for conversion into the second guided-missile carrying warship in the USN fleet. Following the conversion, she was host to the ceremony for selecting the Unknown Soldier representing World War II in 1958, undertook an eight-month round-the-world cruise in 1960, participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis naval blockade in 1962, and was deployed to the Vietnam War on five occasions between 1965 and 1969.

Canberra was decommissioned in 1970, struck in 1978, and broken up in 1980. One of her propellers is preserved at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, while the ship's bell was donated to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2001.