On this day 9 August 1942 HMAS Canberra was lost in the night battle of Savo Island while protecting the Guadalcanal beachheads.as part of a USN Task Force. Eighty four of her ship’s company lost their lives including her highly respected Commanding Officer Captain Frank Getting, RAN.
A full account of the loss of the ship, and what became of her surviving crew when they took HMAS Shropshire to war, is in the speech entitled ” Never Say Die” written for delivery at this year’s Canberra memorial service in Canberra by LCDR Desmond Woods, RANR. It is here.
