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H.M.A.S.VOYAGER AT SPEED
EVERY INCH A MUSCLED ATHLETE OF THE SEA |
At the purely human level, one of the greatest privileges in my life was to be assigned to carry out two weeks training in the Daring Class Destroyer H.M.A.S. VOYAGER.
The Daring Class represented the ultimate development of British Destroyer design up to that time. They were beautiful ships in every respect, except in the Funnel design in my humble opinion, having an odd for'ard Funnel which appeared to grow out of a lattice mast and a rather thin after Funnel. But for all that, the overall impression was one of magnificent muscled power and speed. And that was the reality.
At around 3,600Tons Full Load Displacement and 390 feet in length and 43 feet in the beam they were far from small. The main armament was 6 4.5 inch guns in twin turrets at the traditional "A","B" and "Y" positions, plus 6 Bofors 40mm Anti-Aircraft guns in three twin mounts, together with 2 5 Tube 21" Torpedo Tube Mounts and 1 Limbo Anti-Submarine Mortar. For the time that was a pretty well packed set of muscles. Though the time was fast approaching when every part of that armament would be superseded, and then made rapidly obsolete again almost every 5 years. For the present, she was as good as it gets.
Deep in her hull were two Foster Wheeler water tube boilers and the 2 English Electric Steam Turbines which generated 54,000 Horsepower and drove her along at an announced 33 Knots. No doubt the reality was several more.
The R.A.N.'s 3 Darings VOYAGER,VENDETTA and VAMPIRE were all built in Australia, VOYAGER being the first all welded ship built in Australia. She was laid down at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney Harbour on 10.10.1949 and launched 1.5.1952 by Dame Pattie Menzies, wife of Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies.
HMAS VOYAGER LEAVES SYDNEY FOR THE LAST TIME
She was struck by HMAS MELBOURNE on the opposite(Port) side
just abaft (behind) the second,higher "B"Gun Turret.
All of this magnificence was given life by 20 Officers and 300 Ratings.
The Foster Wheeler Boilers proved a continuing source of problems, and, less significantly, help me date the time of my service aboard VOYAGER. On 30th April, 1959 an explosion in one of the Boilers from a burst water tube caused severe damage necessitating ultimately the replacement of 300 sections of tubing. Repairs were carried out and she re-entered service. In March, 1960 there was another Boiler explosion with far less damage. She returned to Sydney and was refitted between June and November. It must have been during the working-up exercises after the refit that I was aboard. I clearly remember that she was coming out of refit and that our trips to sea were for test purposes.
On one particular day we received orders that safety ropes were to be rigged on the upper deck which was nevertheless to be cleared, because the ship would be working up to maximum speed at 33 knots and then stopping as quickly as possible to effect a maximum build up of steam in the Boilers. Engineers from Foster and Wheeler were aboard with equipment to monitor the test results. Away we went, sadly there was nothing to see except for those on the Bridge, but the noise of the Turbines was whining throughout the ship (though whining seems inadequate to describe a noise demonstrating such power).
Then we stopped - no Turbine noise...BUT....no explosion either. After about 20minutes, our muscled marine athlete came about and at an economical speed slowly headed back to Garden Island Dockyard in Sydney Harbour.
I was working in the ship's office under Chief Petty Officer Derek Smith. He was a really nice bloke, very manly and serious about his work. Our small office was certainly a very busy place with deadly serious business like the Sailors' pay, leave arrangements and family emergencies to attend to, as well as the Supply Officer's catering allowances per man, to be recorded and accounted for. We also had the role of preparing Warrants for the Arrest of men who went AWOL.
The Commanding Officers of H.M.A. Ships have the power to issue legally enforceable Warrants for the Arrest of members of their ships' crews. The surprising thing was that most of the sailors who jumped ship did so after widely announcing their intention to crew mates, or, in circumstances such as a wife giving birth to a baby, that made it totally obvious where they would be. Everyone knew that they would not be on the run for long before they were picked up and brought back for punishment and return to duty.
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| HMAS VOYAGER'S CREST |
As a Chief Petty Officer, Derek Smith would periodically have to share the duty roster with other Chiefs, to go on Shore Patrol when the Ship was in port. He told me how he loathed this duty with its unpleasant and risky round of tracking down our ratings in trouble - usually in those days- due to excessive drinking, which could often lead to irrational violence as efforts were made to get them out of trouble. He was particularly anxious to avoid any drunken sailor striking the Officer of the Watch when coming back aboard, since the Officer and his attendant Ratings would be at the brow as the man was dragged or carried abroad... whilst drunkenness ashore would normally get the man on Captain's Defaulters, Striking an Officer was an absolute Court Martial offence. I have seen Officers discreetly make themselves scarce in such circumstances, not to avoid being hit, but to protect the rating from committing a Court Martial offence!
Naval Discipline was ever mindful of the lessons of the long history of the Navy. For example in some cases the Captain's Quarters and Day Cabin featured the sign "Joint Complaints will not be entertained."The memories of Mutinies were VERY long!
Of course I was not a fair dinkum crew member of VOYAGER even though technically so. But one could not fail to be proud to be in ANY sense and in ANY way, part of this mighty Team. Even the lowest I.Q. Sailor knew he was part of something SPECIAL. VOYAGER could hold her head high in any company and they were all determined to let the world know it.
The Ship's Captain was D.C. Wells.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time aboard VOYAGER and learned a great deal about the realities of daily life in the Navy and even more about what it is to be a Ship's Company- that band of men identified with their home and workplace and means of fighting and of defending themselves and their Country- it is a potent and somehow mysterious mix, but it has a very real and meaningful life.
THE LOSS OF H.M.A.S. VOYAGER AND 82 OF HER SHIP'S COMPANY
On the morning of Tuesday 11th February, 1964, I woke and went out to pick up our copy of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD from the front verandah. As I unrolled the paper I was appalled by the Banner Headlines announcing that H.M.A.S. VOYAGER had been sunk during the night in a collision with the Aircraft Carrier H.M.A.S. Melbourne off Jervis Bay on the South Coast of New South Wales.
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| DAMAGED BOW OF HMAS MELBOURNE AFTER THE COLLISION |
82 of the Ship's Company had died, including VOYAGER's Captain at the time Captain Duncan Stevens.
In all her years of service, VOYAGER had never fired her guns in anger.
The aftermath of the Collision was itself a fresh tragedy in two acts. Two Royal Commissions were held into the collision. One in 1964 and a second, following allegations made by Lieutenant Commander Peter Cabban and the dogged persistence of Mr St.John QC.M.P., in 1968. The first Royal Commission had in effect tried to protect the reputation of Captain Stevens at the expense of damning Captain Robertson of MELBOURNE. It was a shameful business. The Second in 1968, despite shameful testimonies given by senior officers trying to sustain the first version, got it right. VOYAGER was in the wrong and her Captain was responsible. It transpired that he had a drinking problem which was well known in the Service.
As if the Royal Commission experiences were not enough disgrace, Australian Governments of both sides of politics, over the 45 years after the collision, so disgracefully dragged their feet on meeting compensation claims from survivors of the disaster, that the last claim was not settled until 2009! Everyone associated with those delays, which surely could not have been anything but deliberate, should hang their head in shame.
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LOST WITH 82 OF HER SHIP'S COMPANY
MAY THEY REST IN PEACE |
It seems to beggar belief, but on 3rd June, 1969 H.M.A.S. MELBOURNE once again ran down, and cut in two another destroyer, U.S.S. FRANK E. EVANS with the loss of 74 of EVANS ‘ Ship's Company. Although the Joint R.A.N. /U.S.N. Board of Inquiry found both ships and one Australian and Four Americans at fault, subsequent Courts Martial found the Australian NOT GUILTY and the Americans GUILTY. It became known that the Commanding Officer of the EVANS was asleep in bed during the night flying exercise at the time of the collision, and one of the Officers of the Watch had failed to pass his Officer of the Watch examination and the other was in his first posting at sea.
If anyone unfamiliar with Naval matters is reading this, they should know that during flight operations, all ships attending an Aircraft Carrier are BOUND to stay out of her way. The reason is simple: the Carrier needs to maximize the wind over her flight deck to assist aircraft taking off, and must be absolutely free to turn into the wind whenever she needs to do so. In each case, both VOYAGER and EVANS, the offending vessel's Watch “lost the tactical picture". That is to say, they became confused about their position in relation to the Carrier. In each case, by the time their true position became clear, it was too late to avoid collision, given the relatively slow reaction time of a ship to its helm.
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| Daring Class Destroyer keepng Plane Guard Station astern of HMAS MELBOURNE by day. |
82 and 74 men lost their lives unnecessarily, and years of pain and suffering and shame, both rightful and wrongful ensued.
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