Collision of HMAS Melbourne & USS Frank E. Evans
Collision of USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754) with HMAS Melbourne (R21), 3 June 1969
In June 1969, the destroyer Frank E. Evans (DD-754) was ordered to leave the Vietnam combat area to participate in a Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) exercise (Sea Spirit) in the South China Sea, after which she was to return to the Vietnam combat area.
At about 0300, destroyer Frank E. Evans was operating in a multinational formation of British, Australian, and New Zealand ships, centered on Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne in the South China Sea. Moreover, as Melbourne was going to flight quarters, Frank E. Evans, on Melbourne’s port side, was ordered to take up plane guard position on Melbourne’s port quarter. As a result of confusion on the bridge of Frank E. Evans, the destroyer turned to starboard across Melbourne’s bow. Both ships took evasive action which however only resulted in placing the destroyer ahead of Melbourne again.
The destroyer was then struck amidships and cut completely in two.
The forward half of the destroyer sank in less than five minutes along with 73 of her crew. The aft half of the destroyerremained afloat, scraping along the starboard side of Melbourne until the Australians could secure the section alongside, allowing the destroyer’s crew to cross over.
About 60 to 100 crew members were rescued from the water, including some by Melbourne’s crew.
One body was recovered, for a total of 74 killed of Frank E. Evans’s 273 crew members. The stern section was towed to Subic Bay and later sunk as a target.
The joint U.S.–Australian board of inquiry proved to be quite contentious and would mark a low point in U.S. Navy–Royal Australian Navy relations due to U.S. efforts to place at least part of the blame on Melbourne while U.S. Navy officers conceded privately that Evans was wholly at fault. The commanding officer of Melbourne was acquitted at court-martial.
The two junior officers on the bridge of Evans at the time pleaded guilty to charges of dereliction of duty and negligence. The commanding officer of Evans, who was asleep at the time, pleaded not guilty. However, was found guilty of dereliction of duty and negligently hazarding his ship. In addition, the training film, I Relieve You, Sir (probably seen by all of us) was based on this collision.
Although Frank E. Evans had been operating in the Vietnam War zone prior to the collision and was scheduled to return to Vietnam upon conclusion of the multinational exercise, the collision took place just outside the designated zone, and the exercise was not deemed directly related to Vietnam operations.
As a result, the lost crew members were deemed ineligible for inclusion on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
Furthermore, several attempts to rectify this have been unsuccessful (and it is actually quite complicated for a number of reasons, one of which is no room on the memorial).
This was the worst loss of life aboard a Navy destroyer since the USS Hobson (DMS-26) was sunk in a nighttime collision with the carrier USS Wasp (CV-18) in 1952 with the loss of 176 crew, the greatest loss of U.S. Navy loss of life in an accident since World War II.
Written by US Navy Admiral Sam Cox
Back To News
Collision of HMAS Melbourne & USS Frank E. Evans
