During the first half of the 20th century, cruisers of the United States Navy were named for large and medium size cities in the United States. One USN cruiser, however, was named for the capital of a foreign country. What was the name of this ship and why was it so named?

gonnzo

USS Canberra. "Initially the cruiser was to be named Pittsburgh, but the name Canberra was chosen instead in honor of the Australian cruiser HMAS Canberra which was severely damaged by gunfire and torpedoes from Japanese warships and subsequently scuttled by USN warships at the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942. The Australian Government returned this tribute by naming a new Tribal class destroyer, HMAS Bataan, in honour of the Battle of Bataan." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Canberra_%28CA-70%29 Oct 07 09, 10:30 AM

paper_aero

The ship would be USS Canberra (1941) "The capital city of Australia. CA-70 is named to honor HMAS Canberra, lost while operating with American forces in the Battle of Savo Island (9 August 1942)" Source: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c2/canberra.htm Dictionary of American Fighting Ships Oct 07 09, 10:30 AM

Datsmeharse

The Baltimore-class cruiser USS Canberra was so named in 1943 in honor of HMAS Canberra, and Australian Navy ship sunk during action in the Solomons in 1942. Canberra is the capital of Australia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Canberra_(CA-70) The US Navy did commission the former German cruiser Frankfurt, taken as a spoil of World War I, by the same name in 1920, and sunk a year later in target practice. Frankfurt was never the capital of Germany, though it was intended to be the West German capital after WWII, until German Cancellor Adenauer pushed his hometown, Bonn, as a better choice. Oct 07 09, 10:31 AM