Why she was taken out of service?
What makes people so intrested in her (websites, books ect.)
Where did she sail?

And any other intresting facts.

Premier was ready to buy her but at the last minute P&O pulled out.

Had fate worked, I would have sailed only on those 2 ships.

It turns out, not only was the SOLAS refit too expensive, converting all cabins to private bath was necessary. She has only 5 passenger elevators where a ship of that size and density needs 10. Her boilers had 5 years left before they did an SSNorway. The ship was also rife with plumbing and electrical failures too.

It is a shame she was not converted into a dockside hotel like QM1 and Rembrandterdam next role.

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
She was retired at the end of 1997 as she was in need of an expensive SOLAS refit. I believe P&O wanted newer more efficient tonnage and Canberra while very popular no longer fit in and was getting more expensive to keep operating. Her exterior design was ageless and most modern cruise ships have copied it with her lifeboats recessed lower in the hull, funnel aft and large lidos amidship. She was 'the ship of the future' when 1st built and she lived up to that slogan beautifully.

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
She was retired at the end of 1997 as she was in need of an expensive SOLAS refit. I believe P&O wanted newer more efficient tonnage and Canberra while very popular no longer fit in and was getting more expensive to keep operating. She was originally built for the UK-Australia run as well as World ocean liner service. In the 1970s she was refitted and became a full time cruise liner. Her service included a World cruise and cruises out of Southampton to all of Europe. She served as a troopship during the Falklands War in the early 1980s and when she returned to commercial service, she was more popular than ever. She had some quirks as some cabins had no private facilities and her interiors were a bit dated, but she had an incredible following who would sail on her year after year. Her exterior design was ageless and most modern cruise ships have copied it with her lifeboats recessed lower in the hull, funnel aft and large lidos amidship. She was 'the ship of the future' when 1st built and she lived up to that slogan beautifully.

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She was not the first with funnels aft one off the first was Shaw Savill Lines Southern Cross of 1955.

The North German Lloyd s.s. Vaterland 1913 was one of the first with recessed lifeboats.

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
Yes Maasdam, she did not pioneer recessed lifeboats, the lido deck amidship or the aft funnel, but she alone combined all three into one package. That package has been copied over and over again by almost every modern ship designer and Canberra's inspired exterior design is still seen on most cruise ships today.

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In this way i agree with you. I read your post wrongly sorry fore that.

[ 06-05-2004: Message edited by: Ocean Liners ]

The photo seen one of four Verandah cabins on the C deck.

[ 06-06-2004: Message edited by: Ocean Liners ]

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Originally posted by Maasdam:

She was not the first with funnels aft one off the first was Shaw Savill Lines Southern Cross of 1955.

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Originally posted by Vaccaro:

Yes Maasdam, as you've mentioned, SOUTHERN CROSS of 1955 was one of the first since prior to her and to stay with passenger ships only, EL DJEZAIR of 1952 already had machinery and funnel completly aft.

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Originally posted by Maasdam:

EL DJADZIR was built in the Netherlands by De Schelde in Vlissingen. This yard build almost al Royal Rotterdam Lloyd passenger liners included the Willem Ruys (Achille Lauro) Buth remember the .s.s. Rotterdam she also have there machinery far aft therfore here twin upstakes, copy bij Canberra, and Shalom.

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I'm sorry Maasdam, but it sounds like this is not the ship I was talking about.
The one I was reffering was built by Chantiers de la Méditerranée at La Seyne, France.
The EL DJAZAIR (both spelling are usually found with EL DJEZAIR) below was ordered by Compagnie Mixte de Navigation in 1951 and built in 1952 for the route Marseille-Algiers and Marseille-Tunis.
She was 7,608 tons, measured 131.2mX17.8mX5.8m, had a speed of 22 kts and carried 820 passengers in 3 classes.
Her turbines came from the one -same name- sunk in 1944.
She then was sold to the cyprus Sovereign Cruises in 1969 and became FLORIANA in 1970. She was broken up in Spain in 1973.
Although often forgotten and despite what we often read about SOUTHERN CROSS, NORTHEN STAR or CANBERRA, she is the real pionneer in term of aft machinery/funnel as far as modern high seas "large" passenger ships are concerned.

Now regarding ROTTERDAM you've mentioned, if I look at her underwater deck plans I have here, I'd say her machinery was rather middle and aft (same thing for SHALOM) but I admit perhaps I'm splitting hairs a bit here.

[ 06-06-2004: Message edited by: Vaccaro ]

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Originally posted by RANGERVR6178:
Hey all, thanks for all the info.

The thing that looks most intresting are these court cabins. Does anyone have a shot of the court or any of the cabins? Thanks.

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RANGERVR6178, for all the details of CANBERRA and her court cabins (isometric diagrams, shots and plans), aft machinery/funnel (with the even earlier pionneers LURLINE/MAUI serie with such a layout although not as modern as EL DJAZAIR since it was in 1908 and that solution had been given up since) and all technical stuff about this great ship, I recommend you Dawson's "British Superliners of the Sixties", Conway Maritime Press, 1990, ISNB 0 85177 542 x.
ORIANA and QE2 are featured in this book too.

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Originally posted by Vaccaro:

I'm sorry Maasdam, but it sounds like this is not the ship I was talking about.
The one I was reffering was built by Chantiers de la Méditerranée at La Seyne, France.
The EL DJAZAIR (both spelling are usually found with EL DJEZAIR) below was ordered by Compagnie Mixte de Navigation in 1951 and built in 1952 for the route Marseille-Algiers and Marseille-Tunis.
She was 7,608 tons, measured 131.2mX17.8mX5.8m, had a speed of 22 kts and carried 820 passengers in 3 classes.
Her turbines came from the one -same name- sunk in 1944.
She then was sold to the cyprus Sovereign Cruises in 1969 and became FLORIANA in 1970. She was broken up in Spain in 1973.
Although often forgotten and despite what we often read about SOUTHERN CROSS, NORTHEN STAR or CANBERRA, she is the real pionneer in term of aft machinery/funnel as far as modern high seas "large" passenger ships are concerned.

Now regarding ROTTERDAM you've mentioned, if I look at her underwater deck plans I have here, I'd say her machinery was rather middle and aft (same thing for SHALOM) but I admit perhaps I'm splitting hairs a bit here.

[ 06-06-2004: Message edited by: Vaccaro ]

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Yes vaccaro we talked about diffrend ships the names look very simmulair. That can happen

About the Rotterdam the machinery was placed further behind than most on other big liners those days. Therfore there was no place fore normal smokestacks. According interviews and articles i read about here. The machinery of Canberra was far more placed behind in the ship.

[ 06-06-2004: Message edited by: Maasdam ]

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Originally posted by Vaccaro:
I recommend you Dawson's "British Superliners of the Sixties", Conway Maritime Press, 1990, ISNB 0 85177 542 x.
ORIANA and QE2 are featured in this book too.

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I recommend the book as well. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and it gives a better insight about the design of Oriana, Canberra and QE2. It has some nice diagrams and sketches of early ideas.

Canberra is simply a well designed ship, the proportions are all right an there is not a thing that could be improved. For fun I made some studies of Canberra by changing proportion of the superstructure, relocated the bridge and funnels and experimented with different funnels (even two) I’ll see if I can find the study an post it, but Desirod (who has seen my study) can confirm the conclusion that the end result of Canberra is a well thought design.