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The ''Melbourne''–''Voyager'' collision, also referred to as the "''Melbourne''–''Voyager'' incident" or simply the "''Voyager'' incident", was a collision between two warships of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN); the aircraft carrier and the destroyer . On the evening of 10 February 1964, the two ships were performing manoeuvres off Jervis Bay. ''Melbourne''s aircraft were performing flying exercises, and ''Voyager'' was tasked as plane guard, positioned behind and to port (left) of the carrier in order to rescue the crew of any ditching or crashing aircraft. After a series of turns effected to reverse the courses of the two ships, ''Voyager'' ended up ahead and to starboard (right) of the carrier. The destroyer was ordered to resume plane guard position, which would involve turning to starboard, away from the carrier, then looping around behind. Instead, ''Voyager'' began a starboard turn, but then came around to port. The bridge crew on ''Melbourne'' assumed that ''Voyager'' was zig-zagging to let the carrier overtake her, and would then assume her correct position. Senior personnel on ''Voyager'' were not paying attention to the manoeuvre. At 20:55, officers on both ships began desperate avoiding manouvres, but by then a collision was inevitable. ''Melbourne'' struck ''Voyager'' at 20:56, with the carrier's bow striking just behind the bridge and cutting the destroyer in two. Of the 314 aboard ''Voyager'', 82 were killed, most of whom died immediately or were trapped in the heavy bow section, which sank after 10 minutes. The rest of the ship sank after midnight. ''Melbourne'', although damaged, suffered no fatalities, and was able to sail to Sydney the next morning with most of the ''Voyager'' survivors aboard – the rest had been taken to the naval base . The RAN proposed a Board of Inquiry to investigate the collision, but a series of incidents during the 1950s and 1960s had led to a public mistrust of Navy-run investigations, and as proposals for an inquiry supervised by a federal judge were not acted upon, a full Royal Commission became the only avenue for an externally supervised inquiry. The four-month Royal Commission, headed by Sir John Spicer, concluded that ''Voyager'' was primarily at fault for failing to maintain effective situational awareness, but also criticised ''Melbourne''s captain, John Robertson and his officers for not alerting the destroyer to the danger they were in. Opinions were that the Royal Commission had been poorly handled, and Robertson (who resigned after being posted to a shore base and banned from serving at sea again) had been made a scapegoat. Increasing pressure over the results of the first Royal Commission, along with allegations by former ''Voyager'' executive officer, Peter Cabban, that Captain Duncan Stevens was unfit for command, prompted a second Royal Commission in 1967: the only time in Australian history that two Royal Commissions have been held to investigate the same incident. Although Cabban's claims revolved primarily around Stevens' drinking to excess, the second Royal Commission found that Stevens was unfit to command for medical reasons. Consequently, the findings of the first Royal Commission were based on incorrect assumptions, and Robertson and his officers were not to blame for the collision. ==Ships== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Melbourne–Voyager collision」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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