Comments by "doveton sturdee" (@dovetonsturdee7033) on "USS Birmingham - Three Strikes & Not Out!" video.

  1. Canberra was part of a joint USN/RAN Task Force defeated in a night surface action by the Imperial Japanese Navy in August, 1942, at Savo Island. To this day, there is considerable controversy about the sinking, in that Canberra had her port side to the Japanese when she was attacked, yet the crippled cruiser, before being sunk by US navy destroyers on 9 August, showed torpedo damage from two torpedo hits in her starboard side. The only vessel to Canberra's starboard which fired torpedoes at the time was the destroyer USS Bagley. A book, 'The Shame of Savo,' by an Australian author, argues the case for 'friendly fire' quite cogently. Canberra, despite being badly damaged, was in no immediate danger of sinking, but around two hours after the action, at 0330 on 9 August, the destroyer USS Patterson came alongside with orders from Rear Admiral Turner, USN, that she would be sunk if engine power could not be restored within three hours. As this was not possible, and Turner seemingly chose not to adopt the alternative, of towing the cruiser to Tulagi for repairs, the crew were transferred to Patterson. As Patterson was taking them aboard, she was fired on by a cruiser, USS Chicago.
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