A NEW US warship will be named the USS Canberra in honour of a WWII vessel, 75 years after it sank in Solomon Islands waters.

US President Donald Trump made the surprise announcement during a press conference at the White House today.

The original HMAS Canberra was destroyed by the Japanese while protecting US marines during the first days of the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Pacific.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt commemorated the loss by renaming an under-construction combat ship which was meant to be called the USS Pittsburgh, the USS Canberra.

The new US navy vessel will be built by Australian company Austal at a shipyard in Alabama.

Mr Trump said the new USS Canberra would be a “worthy successor” to her Australian namesake.

“As she sails the open seas the new USS Canberra will symbolise to all who cross her path, the enduring friendship between the United States and Australia,” Mr Trump said.

“There is no closer friendship.”

Standing alongside his US counterpart at the White House, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it was a “rare honour” and a great example of “a hundred years of mateship”, pointing to the 100th anniversary off American and Australian troops first fighting together in war.

“You will have an Australian company with American workers, working operating in the United States building ships for the US Navy,” Mr Turnbull said.

“What a great symbol of our alliance and our shared security endeavours. What an extraordinary statement of commitment,” Mr Turnbull said.