Nowra's Henry Hall has been aboard the Royal Australian Navy's latest flagship, HMAS Canberra III, a couple of times now and he can't speak too highly of the vessel.
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Having attended the amphibious assault ship's naming ceremony in 2012 and last year's commissioning, there was no way the 93-year-old was going to miss Thursday's march by the crew to mark their freedom of entry to the city of Canberra.
"She's a fantastic ship," he said. "They were really thinking ahead for the next 50 years when they planned her. There is so much she can do."
Mr Hall, a 20-year-old able seaman and (gunnery) fire controller aboard HMAS Canberra I when she was sunk after the Battle of Savo Island on August 9, 1942, was one of the guests of honour.
Vickie Coates, the widow of Rear Admiral Nigel Coates, a former commander of HMAS Canberra II (a guided missile frigate) and the ship's launch lady, also attended.
The heart of Canberra – with the exception of some pedestrians who chose to duck in and out of the lines of marching sailors, soldiers and an airman – stopped briefly as 320 members of the ship's 358 strong crew marched to Civic Square.
They were welcomed by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, who had presented the scroll marking the freedom of the city to HMAS Canberra's commander, Captain Christopher Smith, on Wednesday.
It was the first time a HMAS Canberra crew had marched in the ACT since 2005, just before HMAS Canberra II was decommissioned.
Mr Hall remembers the Battle of Savo Island, a bloody encounter when two cruisers, HMAS Canberra and USS Chicago, and a clutch of destroyers beat off a Japanese bid to disrupt the Allied landing at Guadalcanal, as if it was yesterday.
He has good reason to. He came within an inch of meeting his maker.
Backlit by Japanese flares, Canberra I was easy for the enemy to spot and within two minutes had been hit 24 times.
"I was at fore control halfway up the mast," Mr Hall said. "It was an observation post and there were three of us.
"The man next to me was hit in the head. He dropped dead. Shrapnel also struck the Bakelite telephone [strapped to my chest]. I thought I had been hit and was going to die.
"I fell to the floor and my officer said, 'What are you doing there?' I said, 'The same as you bloody are … Sir.'"
While Mr Hall went on to fight on other days and in other ships it was the end of the line for HMAS Canberra.
"Rear Admiral Turner said if the ship could not get under way under her own power by 6.30am she was to be abandoned and sunk," he said.
The cruiser was sunk by two American cruisers in what is now known as Ironbottom Sound.
Her name, and battle honours, now live on in the largest vessel ever commissioned into the Australian fleet.
Following Thursday's parade the Canberra Business Chamber signed a memorandum of understanding with HMAS Canberra III to work together to promote the region as a tourism and business destination.
Correction: An earlier version of this story named Henry Hall as Harry Hall.
