hmas melbourne crew list
[23] She returned to Australia on 12 October, but sailed out ten days later to participate in Exercise Leadline off Malaysia, before reaching Sydney again in December. That evening Voyager closed Melbourne for the first time that day for transfer of mail by heaving line. Shift: Monday thru Friday 6:00pm-2:30am. [1] At the conclusion of this exercise, Melbourne proceeded to Japan on a diplomatic visit, then sailed to the Philippines to exercise with SEATO ships. [103] Following the repairs, Melbourne was involved in Strategic Reserve deployments and exercises in Southeast Asia from June until September 1964. [110], In September 1967, Melbourne travelled to the United States to collect new aircraft: 14 Trackers and 10 Skyhawks. [61] After visiting Melbourne and Jervis Bay, where the aircraft were offloaded and sent to Naval Air Station HMASAlbatross, the carrier concluded her maiden voyage in Sydney on 10 May. [114][119] Seeing the destroyer take no action and on a course to place herself under Melbourne's bow, Stevenson ordered the carrier hard to port, signalling the turn by both radio and siren blasts. | Australian War Memorial Home Collection Crew members aboard HMAS Vampire. Recovery of life rafts from the Evans. [5] Initial plans were for three carriers, with two active and a third in reserve, although funding cuts led to the purchase of only two carriers in June 1947: Majestic and sister ship HMS Terrible, for the combined cost of AU2.75million,[note 2] plus stores, fuel, and ammunition. [17] Initially, she had up to 22 fixed wing and 2 rotary wing aircraft embarked at any time. [164] Reports have circulated that either a replica of the flight deck, or the deck itself, was used for clandestine training of PLANAF pilots in carrier flight operations. [85] At 8:55pm, with Voyager approaching, Melbourne's navigator ordered the carrier's engines to half astern speed, with Robertson ordering an increase to full astern a few seconds later. [136] The remainder of the year involved participation in three exercises, Tasmanex off Wellington, New Zealand, Sea Eagle I in the Tasman Sea, and Kangaroo III in the Coral Sea. That September Melbourne sailed for what was to be the first of many deployments to South East Asia. In June 1981, crew on the Australian Navy's HMAS Melbourne were flying in an anti-submarine patrol plane, a Grumman S-2G Tracker 851, when they helped rescue 99 refugees from their broken-down vessel in the South China Sea, 250 nautical miles east of Vietnam. NSW. The success of the exercises was tempered, however, when one of Melbournes Sycamore helicopters ditched into the sea near HMS Hermes while conducting a personnel transfer to the British carrier. The final leg of her voyage home was via Jervis Bay where the 64 aircraft that Melbourne had brought from the UK were transferred ashore via lighter for road transport to the Naval Air Station at Nowra. The PLAN subsequently arranged for the ship's flight deck and all the equipment associated with flying operations to be removed so that they could be studied in depth. [45] In 1969, the RAN purchased another ten A-4G Skyhawks, instead of the proposed seventh and eighth Oberon-class submarines. The deployment was further marred when, just a week later while the ship was en route to Japan, a sailor was injured on the flight deck. [121] Melbourne deployed her boats, life rafts, and lifebuoys, before carefully manoeuvring alongside the stern section of Evans, where both ships' crews used mooring lines to lash the ships together. On completion of the exercise, Melbourne led the four nation fleet in ceremonial fleet entry into Sydney Harbour on 22 November. USS Frank E. Evans was an Allen M. Sumner class destroyer. Melbourne then continued on to Japan and Hawaii for Exercise REX with USN units before returning home via Western Samoa and Fiji. [1] During this deployment, Melbourne led a fleet of 17 ships from the RAN, Royal Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy, US Navy, Philippine Navy, and Royal Thai Navy in Exercise Sea Hawk. However, a subsequent RAN court martial cleared him of any responsibility. [65] Melbourne spent from September to November in Southeast Asian waters, during which she participated in Exercise Albatross and received an official visit by Philippines president Ramon Magsaysay. Melbourne never fired a shot in anger during her service career, having only peripheral, non-combat roles in relation to the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation and the Vietnam War. [166] The journey was delayed when the towing line began to part, requiring the carrier and tug to shelter in Queensland's Moreton Bay, on 30 April. Crew members aboard HMAS Vampire. Right: A Hawker De Havilland Sea Venom. After further visits to Manila and Singapore, she arrived back in Fremantle on 25 May. [169] Another anchor and the starboard side ship's bell are on display at the RAN Heritage Centre at Garden Island. Melbourne in San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Her steam catapult, arresting equipment and mirror landing system were not removed. Melbourne underwent a refit from October 1965 to January 1966 and conducted post-refit trials and workup exercises off Jervis Bay in February 1966. Melbourne commenced her South East Asian deployment shortly after her visit to Hobart, departing Sydney on 7 March. [114][128] Subsequent to the inquiry, the three USN officers and Stevenson were court-martialled by their respective navies on charges of negligence, with the three USN officers found guilty and Stevenson 'Honourably Acquitted'. Left: A Royal Navy Westland Whirlwind. She sailed from Sydney for her South East Asian deployment on 22 June which took her to New Guinea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. The ship took part in Exercise JUC 85 later that month and into August, before departing for Pearl Harbor to participate in RIMPAC 72 on 17 August. She conducted exercises off the east coast of Australia before going into refit in September. A Sea Venom on one of Melbourne's flight deck lifts. [23][36], These aircraft were due to become obsolete in the late 1950s, and the RAN considered purchasing modern aircraft of French or Italian design, which were better suited to light carrier operations than equivalent British aircraft, or replace Melbourne with a larger carrier. [77][81], On 10 February 1964, Melbourne was performing trials in Jervis Bay under the command of Captain John Robertson, following the annual refit. [17][71] On return to Sydney, Melbourne entered a short refit, which concluded on 13 October and was immediately followed by a visit to Port Phillip, where the carrier was displayed to Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force officer cadets before the carrier returned to Sydney. On returning to Sydney in July she commenced a refit and leave period before sailing again for work-ups in September. [85] Both ships' measures were too late to avoid a collision; Melbourne hit Voyager at 8:56pm. The Melbourne struck the Evans amidship cutting her in half. That afternoon a Gannet experienced a total power loss on take off and ditched into the sea about 500 yards from the ship. The deployment was also notable as the only occasion on which both RAN aircraft carriers, Melbourne and Sydney, deployed overseas together. Additional medical officers were embarked by aircraft from Nowra, and members of Melbournes ships company not directly involved in search and rescue efforts tended to the survivors immediate needs. Long shot of HMS Bulwark at anchor off Pall Tidman, 1969. . [39], From March 1965 until mid-1967, Melbourne underwent a regular pattern of deployments to Southeast Asia, exercises, and flag-showing visits to nations in the Asia-Pacific region. Melbourne's service is commemorated with a stained-glass window at the Garden Island Naval Chapel. Upon the conclusion of SEADOG, the carrier returned to Australia and arrived at Fremantle, via Singapore, on 8 August. [79] After Strategic Reserve duties were completed, the carrier visited Japan, Guam, and Manus Island before returning to Sydney in late July. The National Archives holds these in Canberra in the record series A4624. Our sources include the logs and reports of proceedings. Ledgers often include individual crew lists for each vessel. Note: This video is hosted on YouTube and has no audio. On 3 June 1969, the two ships were participating in SEATO exercise Sea Spirit in the South China Sea.Around 3:00 am, when ordered to a new escort station, Evans sailed under Melbourne ' s bow . Right: Melbourne's damaged bow following her tragic collision with Voyager. [57] During her service, the carrier was deployed overseas on 35 occasions, visited over 22 countries, and was seen as the physical and psychological centrepiece of the RAN fleet. The observer, Lieutenant Edward Kennell, RAN, apparently did not eject but was briefly seen in the water next to the wreckage of the Sea Venom before he disappeared. [12] Two days later, the ship was renamed Melbourne by Lady White, the wife of Sir Thomas White, the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and recommissioned. HMAS Melbourne was originally one of six Majestic Class light fleet aircraft carriers ordered for the Royal Navy (RN) during World War II. On 28 October, 1955, the ship was officially named and commissioned into the RAN as HMAS Melbourne under the command of Captain Galfrey GO Gatacre, DSO, DSC, RAN, while Lady White, wife of Sir Thomas White, the then Australian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, performed the naming ceremony. She steamed into Singapore on 6 June with flags flying at half mast. The remainder of the deployment proceeded without incident as Melbourne visited Nagasaki, Kure, Kobe and Yokohama before returning home via Guam and Papua New Guinea. [10] Despite an increase to approximately one acre (4,000square metres, 4,800square yards) in area, the deck was still significantly smaller than other Cold War era carriers; S-2 Trackers, with their 22.12-metre (72ft 7in) wingspan, had less than a metre's clearance for their starboard wingtip when landing, and pilots from other navies often refused to attempt landing. During the First World War the R.A.N. Melbournes 1962 South East Asian deployment began on 28 February when she departed Fremantle for Singapore. References to many ledgers appear at item level on RecordSearch. [156] The Invincible class had been considered and discarded during the investigation, but the decreased price and the fact the already-constructed carrier would be ready for RAN service in 1983 prompted the Australian government to announce its intention to purchase Invincible on 25 February 1982 and close the carrier acquisition program. She visited New Guinea before proceeding on to Subic Bay where she commenced the SEATO exercise SEA ROVER in March and April, which took the SEATO fleet across the South China Sea to Sattahip in Thailand. She joined HMAS Sydney (III)s escort force for four days during the troop carriers voyage to Vietnam in early June, and arrived back home in Sydney later in the month. [4] Work progressed on Majestic at a slower rate, as she was upgraded with the latest technology and equipment. 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