Page Torn From Carrier Watch Officers’ Notebook

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30405, 2 April 1964, Page 13

Page Torn From Carrier Watch Officers’ Notebook

(N Z. Press Association —Copyright)

SYDNEY, April 1.

A page has been torn out of a notebook used by officers-of-the-watch on H.M.A.S. Melbourne on the night the aircraftcarrier collided with the destroyer H.M.A.S. Voyager, Mr J. W. Smyth, Q.C. (assisting the Commissioner, Mr Justice Spicer), disclosed when the Voyager Royal Commission resumed today.

Mr Smyth put a 1 long series of ques- ‘ lions about the note- ] book to Sub-Lieuten- ] ant J. A. Bate, who « was officer-of-the- ' watch on the carrier’s ' bridge on the night of the collision—Febru- < ary 10. Eighty-two ' men were lost in the , disaster. , Mr D. S. Hicks, Q.C., was 1 given leave to appear with Mr H. P. T. Raine for Captain R. J. Robertson, Melbourne’s commander on the night of the collision. Bate agreed with Mr Smyth that the torn-out page could ' contain vital information 1 about the collision. He said ' he did not know why the ' page had been torn out, or , who had torn it out. ; Mr Smyth: Certainly not you? Bate: No, sir. You know nothing about it? —No, sir. ’ Not Clean Tear The Royal Commission halted briefly while counsel examined the notebook. Then Bate agreed that whoever removed the page had left a fraction of an inch of it in the notebook. He agreed that this could have been torn but cleanly if anyone had wanted to remove the page surreptitiously. Bate said he had left the notebook on the bridge of the carrier on the night of the collision. He had not seen it again until last Tuesday, when it had been delivered to his mail pigeonhole in the captain’s office on the Melbourne from the admiral’s secretary, Commander Davidson. Until he had handed the notebook in at the Crown solicitor’s office next day, it had lain in the desk in his cabin. Thumbing through it, he had noticed that a page had been torn out. He had presumed it had been taken out for evidence purposes, and had reported it to no-one. Rough Jottings Bate explained to the ini quiry that these notebooks 1 were only for “rough jotj tings” and were not filed as part of the ship’s record. ; Once the ship’s log had been : entered, they could be thrown away. Bate said the only page that contained his handwriting i was the one following the : page that had been torn out. Bate told Mr Street (for the relatives of the late Captain D. H. Stevens, of H.M.A.S. Voyager) he was under no obligation to make any notes in the notebook at any time. He agreed with Mr Street that some officers of the watch kept close and detailed records in the notebook of alterations of course during their watches. Asked if he had made any

notes about changes of i course on the night of Feb- * ruary 10, Bate said he had I made the notes on a small 1 perspex board, above the 1 ship’s compass. As a change I of course was ordered he would erase these notes and I write in the new course. Bate said the second officer-of-the-watch had made the i entries in the ship’s log. ; Mr Justice Spicer: If there ; were any other notes they would have been on the missing page? i Bate: I wouldn’t know, sir. Merchant Ship Bate then was questioned by Mr Hicks on behalf of Captain Robertson. He said he remembered having been cross-examined last week on the fact that he had been watching for merchant ships in the vicinity before the collision with the Voyager. Bate said he recalled one merchant vessel, eight miles away. It had not been necessary for him to determine the course and speed of that ship as that was a job for the operations room, but he had been most interested in it If the vessel had approached the Melbourne, at a speed of 20 knots, the combined closing speed would have been some 40 knots, at which rate, it would have taken only about 10 to 12 minutes for the merchantman and the Melbourne to come together. He said even though the merchantman had been eight miles away, he had to pay close attention to it. If a merchant ship neared the Melbourne while flying oper--1 ations were in progress it 1 was supposed to stand by but ■ they did not always do this. • A carrier would have to give ' due warning to a merchant ! ship if it were approaching > the carrier. i ‘ Signed Report » Bate told Mr Hicks he rel membered being questioned ■ about signing a collision ret port on March 6. He said I another document, produced in Court, had not been attached to the collision report when he signed it Captain Robertson had told - him there was a report of ; the collision to be signed. - “He was not pressuring me s into doing it,” Bate said. He . had done it without question, i He had read the form before i signing it, and had seen it referred to something which 1 was annexed. ; Mr Jenkyn questioned Bate j on a collision report with an . attached narrative of 16 pages, j Mr Jenkyn said it had been i suggested Bate may have un- . wittingly subscribed to some- > thing he could not say was s correct to the best of his . belief. t Bate told Mr Jenkyn that, > in signing the collision re--1 port, he had considered it f was not his report of the col- ; lision, but a collection of facts presented to Captain Roberti son on the bridge on the

morning after the disaster. ‘ On that morning he had heard « Captain Robertson and Com- < mander Kelly say they saw j the Voyager turn to star- | board. 1 Having heard this, he could ] honestly say he believed the ] Voyager had made the star- s board turn, although he had i not seen it himself. He assumed that what had been < said to the captain would : be reported to the admiral. ! He regarded Captain Robert- I son a man of honour and in- ' tegrity, Bate said. Acting-Commander James Maxwell Kelly then entered ' the witness box. 1 Mr Smyth asked him if he i kept the Voyager under strict i observation during the ' manoeuvres on February 10 when seeking winds. Kelly said once the destroyer had got forward of the beam, he . had not consciously watched her all the time, but had glanced at her fairly frequently. He had formed the view that the Voyager certainly was not far enough out of station to cause him any concern. Duty To Watch Kelly said he had appreciated that the first officer-of-the-watch on the Melbourne that night was at least comparatively inexperienced. It had been his duty because of this, he felt, to keep a watchful eye on him. It had been impossible with his other duties to keep a close eye at all times on the Voyager. He had watched her to see she was carrying out her duties and that she was at a reasonable station. Kelly said he had been particularly concerned with find- ’ ing wind for the aircraft. When the flying course was 1 altered to 020 degrees, he ; had been watching the wind 1 gauge on the port side, and the destroyer at that time had not been within his range of vision. He was sure that some time J he had had a glance at the Voyager at the time of the [ last turn to 020. Asked if he had actually seen the Voyager making any turn Kelly said he did not consciously remember the destroyer making the ■ turn. ! He was not certain whether the officer-of-the-watch had ; been looking, but he agreed • one of them should have been. : ‘Simple Manoeuvre* t Mr Smyth: Don’t you think, i so far as you were concerned, knowing the comparative in- > experience in Sub-Lieutenant ■ Bate, that you should have ■ seen he was watching, or you 1 were watching yourself, on - this final turn?—Not for a - perfectly simple manoeuvre s like this.

Will you agree, perhaps you should have seen to it that the officer-of-the-watch or yourself should have been looking?— Yes.

Kelly said, for all he knew, the officer-of-the-watch would have been “looking out to port.”