Posted on 06/03/2002 7:57:37 AM PDT by SJackson
Always All the Best....
These sailors names do not appear on the Vietnam Memorial since they were removed from the combat zone to participate in this exercise.
Sadly, I understand the Melbourne ending up being sold to the Chinese, supposedly for scrap. There is some speculation it was used to help the Chinese program to build an aircraft carrier, which would be a sad end for an Australian ship.
I was in Chu Lai at the time, but guess this somehow got by me.
Nasty business. RIP. Thinking, Eternal Father Strong To Save.
Good pix, TB.
SJackson, thanks for posting.
If I remember, of the OOD and JOOD on watch, one was killed and the other tried at GCM.
I am told that The Citadel uses this incident as a case study in command decision making. The officers on the bridge of the USS Evans made some mistakes.
Thanks Poohbah for a reality check.I didn't then, and I don't know now too much about the naval fighting capabilties of the Melbourne (I was a 'Black Ganger',considered by 'Fish Heads'to be a lower form of animal life than themselves),however,I served on the Melbourne when it tragically collided with the Evans. Prior to the event, I hadn't slept for about a week due to a combination of action watches and British designed air conditioning which didn't work in the tropics. Like most Pommie ships, its showering and laundry facilities were a definite after thought. I also served on HMAS Vendetta, a Daring class British built destroyer. Once again, personal hygiene facilities were not a priority. I visited the old Victor Class Russian sub in Sydney a few years ago and it got me thinking that maybe there is a doctoral thesis here about the development of heads and bathing facilities on naval vessels. The thesis could end with a summary of which navies provide the most heads and showers per crew member and rank them in order from best to worst. There will be no prizes for guessing which navies end at the bottom of the list.
I arrived in Subic shortly after the collision and the following is based on information I received through several sources at the time. I must emphasize that this is NOT an official account of the accident. The scenario leading up to the collision as relayed to me follows:
The Evans was on night sub screen detail off the port quarter (approx. 10-11 o'clock position) of the Melbourne with a Lt. J.G. as OOD (The skipper was asleep at the time). The OOD was operating under orders to wake the captain if there was any change to the ship's standing orders. The Melbourne radioed the Evans to take up plane guard detail approx. 1,000 yards to the stern of the Melbourne. We'll never know for sure what happened next but the OOD apparently decided it was a simple maneuver and without notifying the captain, ordered a sharp turn to starboard. By itself, this did not cause the accident as the Evans was far enough away from the Melbourne to safely complete the turn without crossing the carrier's path. However, the OOD neglected to notify the Melbourne of this maneuver and the OOD of the carrier assumed (incorrectly) that the Evans was about to cross the bow, possibly causing a collision. The Melbourne OOD then made the fateful decision to order a left full rudder to turn the carrier behind the apparent track of the Evans. Unfortunately, the Evans probably would have completed the turn except now the Melbourne was turning into the Evans, striking it on the port side just aft of the bridge. The skipper of the Evans survived, as the captain's cabin is located aft of the bridge. Since the skipper was asleep at the time and the OOD violated orders, the skipper was vindicated but his career was essentially over. Most of the crew lost on the Evans were asleep at the time. They were from the operations department which had it's berthing in the forward section which sank. It was mainly due the quick actions of the remaining crew closing watertight hatches that the stern was kept afloat preventing additional loss of life.
As I stated earlier, this is strictly non-official information but it was the best I was able to obtain at the time.
Thanks for the commentary and pinging the thread.
I have read your article with interest, as I was serving onboard HMS Cleopatra at the time, I remember being woken up at 3am with the ships broadcast telling of the emergency.For a few days the weather had been a bit rough, but in the morning the weather was flat calm, the sky and sea a dirty grey colour, and in the middle of the ring of rescue ships was the stern part of the Frank E Evans, still afloat, a picture that remains in my mind to this day, and my heart went out to those that perished. I heard later that the stern section was towed to Subic Bay to be decommisioned. Thank you for filling in some of the details that i never had
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