Using original material from the P&O archives and drawing on personal collections, this book explores the part "Canberra" has played in history since the early stages of planning in the 1950s through to her forthcoming retirement. The withdrawal of "Canberra", P&O's most famous cruise liner, will take place in September 1997. "Canberra" was built in 1961 as a liner working the route from Southampton to Sydney, taking tourists between the continents and those on the assisted-passage scheme to new lives in Australia. Alongside her regular career as a holiday home for the thousands who cruise in her every year, highlights of her service life include working as a troop ship and prisoner-of-war vessel during the Falklands conflict of 1982 and taking on a major role in the D-Day Remembrance Service in 1994. "Canberra" was also at the forefront of cruise liner design, with particular impact on the design of the new "Oriana". This volume discusses her importance to maritime architecture, alongside her place in the heart of the nation.