The wreck of the SS Cambridge is historically significant as the first Allied vessel to be lost in Australian waters in World War II. Along with the wrecks of the MS City of Rayville (1940), HMAS Goorangai (1940) and SS Iron Crown (1942) the Cambridge represents the arrival of World War II in Australian waters, the strategic importance of the Bass Strait shipping lane, and the extent of Axis activities in the Southern hemisphere.