Constructed in Scotland during the mid-1920s, the ship was commissioned in 1928, and spent the first part of her career primarily operating in Australian waters, with some deployments to the China Station.

On 9 August 1942, Canberra was struck by the opening Japanese shots of the Battle of Savo Island, and was quickly crippled, and according to the crew, she was torpedoed by friendly fire.

Unable to propel herself, listing heavily and burning, the cruiser was evacuated and then sunk in Ironbottom Sound by two American destroyers.

The United States Navy Baltimore-class cruiser USS Canberra was named in honour of the Australian ship.

[9] The cruiser operated primarily in Australian waters during the next ten years, spending periods of time as the RAN flagship.

[5] In August 1936 she brought Admiral Sir Murray Anderson to Sydney, Australia to be invested as Governor of New South Wales.

[13] Although unable to find Maimoa or her attacker, Canberra encountered three lifeboats on 22 November, which carried 27 sailors who had escaped from SS Port Brisbane, another victim of Pinguin.

[15] Canberra pursued the suspected raider, and fired on her from maximum range to avoid a retaliatory attack, while her Walrus amphibian attempted to stop the tanker by dropping several bombs.

[16] A post-action analysis found that if Canberra had closed before firing, the same quantity of damage could have been achieved for less ammunition, and one or both ships might have been captured.

[14] The cruiser was in Sydney in December 1941, when Japan entered the war: Canberra was quickly reassigned to convoy duties around New Guinea, interspersed by operations in Malaysian and Javanese waters.

In company with HMAS Perth she sailed for the vicinity of New Caledonia to meet the light cruiser HMNZS Achilles and the convoy.

[14][21] This may have been one of many false alarms throughout the night; however, one of the midget submarines had attempted to fire its torpedoes at a target, but these did not release because of damage sustained during the infiltration.

[21] The cruiser headed north the day after the submarine attack to join the ANZAC Squadron, which had been redesignated Task Force 44.

[12][14] On 17 June, Canberra took part in offensive patrols through the Coral Sea, and from July, she was assigned to Operation Watchtower; the opening stages of the Guadalcanal Campaign.

[25] The first two salvos killed or wounded several senior officers, disabled both engine rooms, damaged the bridge and 4-inch gun platform and forced the flooding of her 8-inch (203 mm) magazines.

[13][25] Within two minutes, the cruiser had been hit 24 times; she was immobilised, without power, and listing to starboard, with multiple internal fires and at least a fifth of her personnel dead or wounded.

[13][28] At 03:30, Patterson came alongside and relayed orders from Rear Admiral Turner: if Canberra could not achieve mobility by 06:30, she would be abandoned and sunk.

[28] It was quickly realised that the attacker was USS Chicago, which had mistaken Canberra for a damaged Japanese vessel, and both ships ceased fire.

[27] Captain Howard Bode of USS Chicago was formally criticised for his actions during the battle, particularly for not taking lead when Australia departed, and for not warning the northern cruiser force of the approaching Japanese ships.

[1] Around the same time, the British government announced that the heavy cruiser HMS Shropshire (a sister ship to Canberra, but of the London subclass) would be transferred to the RAN as a gift.

[35] Canberra's wartime service was recognised with four battle honours: "East Indies 1940–41", "Pacific 1941–42", "Guadalcanal 1942", and "Savo Island 1942".

[36][37] Canberra's wreck was rediscovered and examined by Robert Ballard and his crew in July and August 1992, almost exactly fifty years after her scuttling.

[38] She lies upright on the ocean floor, approximately 2,500 feet (760 m) below sea level, and while her hull was basically intact, she shows visible signs of shell hits and fire damage amidships.

In her name city of Canberra, a memorial is located next to Lake Burley Griffin,[39] adjacent to the National Carillon.

The memorial was erected by the Australian Capital Territory Branch of the Naval Historical Society, with donations from the ex-HMAS Canberra and Canberra-Shropshire Association members, and was unveiled on 9 August 1981 by Admiral Sir Anthony Synnot.