| Australian War Memorial Home Collection Crew members aboard HMAS Vampire. [74] All four Sea Venom incidents occurred in March, with three attributed to aircrew error and one to brake failure. NSW. Both men were transferred to Melbourne for medical attention before the more seriously injured of the two was transferred by air back to Singapore. [4] Work progressed on Majestic at a slower rate, as she was upgraded with the latest technology and equipment. [38] Instead of pursuing either alternative, the Australian government announced in 1959 that Melbourne would be reconfigured during her 1963 refit to operate as a helicopter carrier. [147] The squadron's return in November 1980 concluded the largest and longest RAN deployment since World War II.[23]. Abaft the funnel, an SPN-35 carrier-controlled approach radar was mounted within a dome, and on the lattice mast a new tactical air navigation (TACAN) aerial and electronic countermeasures (ECM) pods were mounted. Right: A Hawker De Havilland Sea Venom. ", before instructing the destroyer's Quartermaster to announce that a collision was imminent. [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. The aircrew was rescued and hauled back on board, however, attempts to recover the aircraft were unsuccessful and it was lost over the side. A large proportion of this ships company had only recently joined the ship and some 25% were ordinary seamen, barely accustomed to wearing naval uniform. Melbourne spent most of the first half of 1970 in foreign waters. [152] In June 1977, the Defence Force Development Committee approved an investigation into acquiring a STOVL/helicopter carrier. [110] Both options were made more prohibitive by the need to supply at least two escorts for the carrier at a time when the RAN was having difficulty meeting deployment commitments with the available destroyers and destroyer escorts. They arrived at Garden Island at 4:13am on 28 April, some 5 hours and 32 minutes ahead of the ship. [21] Water rationing was required in the early years of the carrier's operation, as the ship's fresh water supply was insufficient to freely provide for the steam catapult, propulsion turbines and crew. [60] The majority of Melbourne's commanders later reached flag rank. The exercise came to a temporary halt however, when a grenade accidentally exploded aboard USS Nicholas and seriously injured two sailors. She arrived back in Fremantle on 22 June. 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. A Sea Venom on one of Melbourne's flight deck lifts. [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. While Melbourne was undergoing temporary repairs in Singapore, the ship's band spend time at the Singapore School for the Blind. Repairs were once again carried out at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney. [151] Both offers were turned down due to operating and manpower costs. Crew members aboard HMAS Vampire. Melbourne conducting flying operations with Westland Wessex anti-submarine warfare helicopters. The deployment was also notable as the only occasion on which both RAN aircraft carriers, Melbourne and Sydney, deployed overseas together. $32,998. She visited Pearl Harbor, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco before proceeding to San Diego, where the new aircraft were embarked on Friday 27 and Monday 30 October. There was a moment of levity during the exercises when Melbourne fuelled from USS Ponchatoula and the American replenishment vessel demonstrated its method of passing the first line with a baseball and bat. [93][94], Of the 314 personnel aboard Voyager at the time of the collision, 14 officers, 67 sailors, and 1 civilian dockyard worker were killed, including Stevens and all but two of the bridge team. A photograph signed by Stanley Kramer, the director of On The Beach, to Melbourne's Executive Officer Commander Duncan Stevens. [155] The government also announced that the ship would be renamed HMASAustralia and operated as a helicopter carrier, and that a decision on the purchase of fixed wing aircraft would be made after acquisition. At around 3:35am on 31 May, USS Everett F Larson was ordered to take up a planeguard position astern of Melbourne from off her starboard bow. [23] The number of aircraft gradually increased until 1972, when the air group peaked at 27 aircraft. [89] Messages were immediately sent to the Fleet Headquarters in Sydney, although staff in Sydney initially underestimated the extent of the damage to Voyager. Not long afterwards the first fixed wing aircraft, a Hawker De Havilland Sea Venom and a Fairey Gannet, arrived during trials in the English Channel. [92], Melbourne arrived in Sydney with the survivors on 14 February, and after spending time alongside at Garden Island, was moved to Cockatoo Island Dockyard on 25 March, where repairs were undertaken; the damaged section of the bow was cut away and repairs to the ship's internal structure were undertaken in drydock, while a 40-ton prefabricated bow was constructed. [79] At the beginning of 1963, Melbourne again visited to the Royal Hobart Regatta, which was immediately followed by a deployment to the Strategic Reserve, including involvement in SEATO Exercise Sea Serpent. [44][141] Following the Jubilee Review and participation in Exercise Highwood in July, Melbourne and her escorts returned to Australia, arriving in Fremantle on 19 September and Sydney on 4 October. Melbourne's service is commemorated with a stained-glass window at the Garden Island Naval Chapel. Following her return, the carrier spent six months in Australian waters, before a two-month deployment to Southeast Asia. [70] The carrier returned to Australia on 27 November after 101 days at sea, and underwent a seven-month refit. Department of Defence users will not be able to view this video on the Defence Protected Network. [84] It was initially assumed by Melbourne's bridge crew that Voyager was conducting a series of tight turns to lose speed before swinging behind Melbourne, but Voyager did not alter course again. Melbourne received a warm and colourful reception in Western Australia and there was great media interest in her arrival. The Minister for Defence, the Hon Allen Fairhall, MP, addressing the audience at Melbourne's rededication ceremony on 14 February 1969. The cause of the accident was never discovered although insufficient wind speed over the deck appears to be the most likely reason. She once again escorted Sydney for three days between 14 and 17 September northwards off the Queensland coast towards New Guinea before detaching for Port Moresby and, later, on to Rabaul. At the time of purchase, it was decided to incorporate new aircraft carrier technologies into the design, making Melbourne the third ship to be constructed with an angled flight deck. Right: The survivors were disembarked from Melbourne when the carrier arrived back in Sydney on 12 February. 808 Squadron in 1955 posing before a Sea Venom onboard Melbourne. After a short visit to Melbourne, the carrier returned to Hobart later in the month for the Royal Hobart Regatta and the royal visit of Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. She arrived in Sydney on 9 July. [30] While moored in Sydney Harbour, on 24 July, Melbourne was struck by Japanese cargo ship Blue Andromeda. One of the ship's anchors is incorporated into a memorial to naval aviation at Nowra, New South Wales. She participated in the Combined Operational Training Period off Jervis Bay in November which included 24 warships from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada. [52] After Melbourne was decommissioned, the Fleet Air Arm ceased fixed-wing combat aircraft operation in 1984, with the final Tracker flight saluting the decommissioned carrier. A replacement for Melbourne was under consideration as early as 1956, and the question was revisited on several occasions until the 1980s. Our sources include the logs and reports of proceedings. [77][78] It was the first time a flagship of the RAN had entered Indian waters. With 24 ships and submarines from five nations participating, OCEAN LINK was the largest SEATO exercise yet. HMAS Melbourne (FFG 05) was an Adelaide-class guided-missile frigate of the Royal Australian Navy, which entered service in 1992. The original message reads: "1942 design" light aircraft carrier program, "HMAS Sydney (III): a symbol of Australia's growing maritime capability", "Official apology for HMAS Melbourne captain", "Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours", "Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours", "China's aircraft carrier ambitions: seeking truth from rumours", A sailor's recollections of several tours of duty aboard the carrier, Royal Australian Navy School of Underwater Medicine, Battle honours of the Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Navy Helicopter Flight Vietnam, List of warship classes of the Royal Australian Navy, List of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMAS_Melbourne_(R21)&oldid=1139894305, Majestic-class aircraft carriers of the Royal Australian Navy, Short description is different from Wikidata, Use Australian English from February 2014, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Two Parsons single-reduction geared turbine sets; four Admiralty, Latin: "She Gathers Strength As She Goes", Standard: 15,740 long tons (17,630 short tons), Full load: 20,000 long tons (22,000 short tons), 12,000 nautical miles (22,000km; 14,000mi) at 14 knots (26km/h; 16mph), 6,200 nautical miles (11,500km; 7,100mi) at 23 knots (43km/h; 26mph), Navy Engineering, Regulation, Certification and Safety, Royal Australian Navy Tridents Rugby League Team, This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 11:52. [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. [135] Melbourne, Brisbane, and eleven other ships were deployed as part of the largest peacetime rescue effort ever organised by the RAN: Operation Navy Help Darwin. [147] On 24 October, a Tracker from Melbourne observed Soviet warships Storozhevoy and Ivan Rogov shadowing the squadron. Country. She then went on to visit Hong Kong before proceeding to Singapore to participate in the SEATO exercise SEA SERPENT, which in 1963 was being conducted congruently in Manila and Singapore. The refit included a communications upgrade and a new radar suite, consisting of both Dutch and American radars. [39] The success of the trials, along with the discovery that Melbourne was able to operate both aircraft with relatively minor modification, led the Australian Government to approve the purchase of these aircraft. The Gannets crew, Lieutenant David Farthing, RAN, Lieutenant Graham Bessell-Browne, RAN, and Petty Officer Frederick McCreanor, were quickly recovered by helicopter, somewhat shaken but otherwise unhurt. [126][133] During this year, the carrier also visited Japan to participate in Expo '70, and was hit by Manly ferry South Steyne while alongside at Garden Island, causing minor damage to both vessels. Melbourne commenced her South East Asian deployment shortly after her visit to Hobart, departing Sydney on 7 March. Melbourne was laid down for the Royal Navy as the lead ship of the Majestic class in April 1943, and was launched as HMS Majestic (R77) in February 1945. [82] The trials involved interactions between both ships, and when Melbourne performed night-flying exercises that evening, Voyager acted as the carrier's plane guard escort. [154] By February 1981, the Iwo Jima class was the preferred option. [36] Although replaced by the Sea King, up to three Wessex helicopters could be carried as search-and-rescue aircraft. [136] While working up following the refit, Melbourne and HMASTorrens provided assistance to MV Miss Chief off the coast of Bundaberg, Queensland on 16 August 1976. Right: Melbourne's bell. Petty Officer Telegraphist. It is the most prestigious fleet award in the RAN, one which the carrier would go on to win twice more, in 1962 and 1972. Exercise SHOWPIECE in the South China Sea. For more information, you can ask us a question. Home delivery available. [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. In the early hours of 3 June 1969, in a manoeuvre almost identical to the near-miss with Larson a few days earlier, the destroyer USS Frank E Evans crossed Melbournes bows while attempting to move in the planeguard position, and was cut in two. [107] Utilising the carrier was suggested again by RAN officials in March 1966, when the United States Seventh Fleet was having difficulties maintaining anti-submarine patrols around Yankee Station, but Melbourne could only remain on station for a single, ten-day period, a third of the time that US carriers were operational for on rotating deployments. [22] As time passed, the refits increased in duration or were replaced by major upgrades or overhauls. The service life of the Sea Venoms and the Gannets, meanwhile, was extended past 1963. Melbourne put to sea briefly from 8 to 11 July 1971 to test the hull and propulsion machinery prior to the completion of the refit in August and the commencement of shakedown and workup exercises on 13 August. HMAS Melbourne undergoing temporary repairs in Singapore. [77] The carrier's annual refit began in Sydney on 1 October. Thompson and Potts were both killed when their Sea Venom crashed into the sea in 1956. The scrapping was delayed so Melbourne could be studied by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as part of a secret project to develop a Chinese aircraft carrier and used to train PLAN aviators in carrier flight operations. Melbourne in San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. She entered refit in November in preparation for embarking the RANs new Skyhawk and Tracker aircraft in 1967, though a longer and more extensive modernisation would be required to make her fully operational with her new aircraft. [114] Evans was positioned on Melbourne's port bow, but began the manoeuvre by turning starboard, towards the carrier. [139] A two-seat Harrier jump jet demonstrator undertook a series of trial takeoffs and landings aboard Melbourne on 30 June: a trial organised as part of the project overseeing the ship's potential replacement. [96] Robertson was posted to the training base HMASWatsona move that he and the Australian media saw as tantamount to a demotionbut resigned instead. [32] During this refit, on 3 March, a boiler explosion caused minor damage to the carrier. Sources are inconsistent regarding who attempted to purchase. [157] The Australian government began to reconsider the previous contenders for replacement, as well as considering requesting the United Kingdom or United States to build a simple carrier capable of operating F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters, but the issue was suspended at the commencement of the 1983 Australian Federal Election. Some groups of vessels, referred to as tenders, have been recorded together as one ledger. She steamed into Singapore on 6 June with flags flying at half mast. The ship was not scrapped immediately; instead she was studied by Chinese naval architects and engineers as part of the nation's top-secret carrier development program. HMAS Melbourne (R21) was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). [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. Building trust in the public record policy, Getting started with information management, Royal Australian Navy ship and crew records, the approximate service period of the individual, remarks about punishments or qualifications, any incidents occurring on board during tours of duty, the design, construction and maintenance of vessels, ships' logs from 1855 onwards, in a number of series, records on design, construction and maintenance (including. [23] On 24 August 1973, Melbourne returned to Hawaii to participate in RIMPAC 73. [39] A reduction of embarked plane numbers to four Sea Venoms and six Gannets, along with regular rotation and careful use of the aircraft, extended their service life until the mid-1960s, while the size of the air group was maintained by carrying up to ten Wessex helicopters. [51][54] Arriving back in Sydney on 5 April, the carrier was sent on a five-month deployment to the United Kingdom on 28 April, accompanied by HMASBrisbane and HMNZSCanterbury. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [95] A Royal Commission into the events of the collision was held in 1964, and found that while Voyager's crew was primarily at fault for neglecting to maintain an effective lookout and awareness of the larger ship's location, Melbourne's bridge crew was also at fault, for failing to alert Voyager and not taking measures to avoid the collision. Temporary repairs were affected at sea before Melbourne proceeded to Singapore that afternoon. Surgeon Commander Brian Treloar helps Lieutenant Barry Tuke, RN, down the gangway. The ten, ranging in rank from Ordinary Seaman to Commander, formed two five man relay teams and departed Melbourne Town Hall, along with their support volunteers, in the afternoon of 25 April to race the ship back to Sydney. [114][120] At approximately the same time, Evans turned hard to starboard to avoid the approaching carrier. Finally on 9 May she arrived in Sydney for the first time. de Havilland Sea Venom FAW.53 fighter aircraft were flown by 805 Squadron RAN and 808 Squadron RAN, while Fairey Gannet anti-submarine strike aircraft were operated by 816 Squadron RAN and 817 Squadron RAN. Although insufficient wind speed over the deck appears to be the most likely reason Venom onboard.... 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