R.A.N. DISASTER REPORT Dead Captain’s Ship Blamed

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30530, 27 August 1964, Page 13

R.A.N. DISASTER REPORT Dead Captain’s Ship Blamed

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) CANBERRA, August 26. A Royal Commission has found that a collision would not have occurred between the destroyer, H.M.A.S. Voyager, and the aircraft-carrier, H.M.A.S. Melbourne, had a constant efficient watch been maintained on the Voyager’s bridge.

The Commission’s report said that had a constant watch been kept on board the Voyager, it would have shown that the destroyer was on a collision course in sufficient time for it to take avoiding action or to lessen the effects of the collision.

The Commissioner said it was not possible to determine which officer was actually responsible for the occurrence. Neither was it possible to say whether any other members of the Voyager’s company contributed to the disaster by error or negligence. The Commissioner said it was difficult to be certain what had happened on the Voyager because no officer who had been on its bridge had survived. He found that the 22-year-old officer-of-the-watch on the Melbourne, ' Sub-Lieutenant James Bate, had failed to exercise care to protect his own ship. PILOT INATTENTIVE The Commissioner also found that the Melbourne’s navigating officer, ActingCommander James M. Kelly aged 34, should have paid more regard to the Voyager’s movements. The captain of the Melbourne, Captain Ronald John Robertson, aged 47, had failed to sound the siren three times when he ordered his ship to go astern just before the collision. This failure had not contributed to the disaster except to the extent that the first blast might have been sufficient to alert the Voyager to a danger of which its officers might not have been aware. The Commissioner said he

felt some such action would have been taken by an officer more experienced in tactical command. The primary cause of the collision, he said, was that the Voyager had made a turn beyond the course of 020 degrees which had been ordered for flving operations. It was not possible to form any conclusion on why it had done this, he said. The captain dfthe Voyager, Captain Duncan H. Stevens, aged 42, was among those who died in the disaster. CLOSE WATCH The Commissioner said he unhesitatingly adopted the view that if the Voyager was engaged or thought it was engaged in an operation in which the ships were turning together, it was the duty of those in it to keep a close on the Melbourne.

The report said that a Royal Navy officer. Lieutenant David H. M. Price, aged 27, who was officer-of-the-watch in the Voyager, had previously worked almost continuously in minesweepers No criticism could be directed against his appointment as officer-of-the-watch in spite of his limited experience in working with carriers, the Commissioner said. “The inexperienced must gain experience.” he said. “It seems appropriate that they should do so in the course of a work-up programme under the supervision of and with the benefit of advice . from experienced officers.” Sir Robert Menzies agreed to a request by the Opposition leader, Mr Caldwell, to adjourn debate on the report until after the Government had received a report from the Naval Board.