She fired a 15 gun salute as she rounded Bradleys Head and then held position as the rest of the fleet passed and FAA aircraft performed a fly over. The diary’s title page summarises the ship’s war history as including the capture of Samoa, Nauru and German New Guinea (August – September 1914), convoying Australian troopships to Port Said (September – November 1914,) the sinking of the Emden by HMAS Sydney (November 1914), patrolling off North America and West Indies (November 1914 – August 1916), patrolling and convoying in the North Atlantic (August 1916 – November 1918), the surrender of the German Fleet (November 1918), and the return to Australia (25 February – 26 May 1919). Stevenson’s defence council, Gordon Samuels, QC, later Governor of New South Wales, said that he had: ...never seen a prosecution case so bereft of any possible proof of guilt. Knowing he was being observed, and that his position and course would be reported, von Spee sailed north west from Tahiti over the horizon before resuming his easterly course towards Chile. [109] Evans was positioned on Melbourne's port bow, but began the manoeuvre by turning starboard, towards the carrier. On the evening of 10 February 1964, Melbourne collided with and sank HMAS Voyager when the Daring class destroyer altered course across her bow. The RN retained ten partially completed aircraft carriers, including the six Majestics, from suspended wartime programs. Surgeon Commander Brian Treloar helps Lieutenant Barry Tuke, RN, down the gangway. [115] It is uncertain which ship began to manoeuvre first, but each ship's bridge crew claimed that they were informed of the other ship's turn after they commenced their own. From retirement he had watched as his pre-war plans for using his fast, heavily armed battle cruisers to clear the trade routes of the world of commerce raiders had been ignored in favour of retaining these powerful ships in the North Sea awaiting the anticipated day of reckoning with the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet. Melbourne was always on the periphery but did not have an active role in the First World War inasmuch it was not involved in any naval engagements or battles. [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. On 5 March, while conducting an air defence exercise in the southern Coral Sea, one of the ship’s Wessex helicopters ditched into the water. Had Admiral Patey immediately destroyed the German wireless station and then sought out the enemy’s ships, these would not have been left unmolested for three months nor, in all probability would our military expedition to Europe have been so seriously delayed. RAN Skyhawk TA-4G N13-154647 Code 878, A-4G N13-154904 Code 883 Amberley 31st August 1977 Photographer Wal Nelowkin, Douglas A4G Skyhawks on board HMAS Melbourne. [12][61] Aboard were the 64 aircraft of RAN squadrons 808, 816, and 817, as well as the racing yacht Samuel Pepys (named after the English naval administrator and diarist), which was a gift to the RAN Sailing Association from the Royal Navy. Royal Navy Sea Venom fighters being handed over to the RAN in August 1955. Instead he sent him the slow and mechanically unreliable pre dreadnought battleship HMS Canopus. Patey had no choice but to agree to guard the troopships, and assembled at Noumea a powerful escort consisting of his flagship and Melbourne, and the French armoured cruiser Montcalm. AE1 – The Ship without a Name, Musical Composition by Lieutenant Matthew Klohs RAN. [45] In 1969, the RAN purchased another ten A-4G Skyhawks, instead of the proposed seventh and eighth Oberon-class submarines. France apparently did not send her more observant policemen to the central Pacific. She thus became the floating home for Naval personnel working at Garden Island and for crews who ships were in refit. Instructor Lieutenant M H Moyes RAN who had served with Mawson in the Antarctic in 1912-14 served in Encounter during most of 1920. Melbourne was the only British Commonwealth naval vessel to sink two friendly warships in peacetime collisions.. The PLAN subsequently arranged for the ship's flight deck and all the equipment associated with flying operations to be removed so that they could be studied in depth. Consequently admirals became merely the executors of Admiralty orders. [143] During this exercise, Melbourne acquired the nickname 'Little M' after working with 'Big E' USS Enterprise—the smallest and largest aircraft carriers (respectively) in operation at the time. The sinking of Emden by Sydney on 9 November is recorded with his captain: became very frenzied because he could not himself proceed to intercept hostile warship, but he was prevented from so doing on account of his immense responsibility of being in charge of convoy and its safety, and he had to perforce remain with convoy, against his wish……. [139], During February and March 1980, Melbourne participated in RIMPAC 80, as the flagship of Battle Group Two. ", before instructing the destroyer's Quartermaster to announce that a collision was imminent. As a result of this elementary deception Cradock in his old cruisers at the Falklands would wait in vain for the more powerful armoured cruiser HMS Defence, which he believed to have been sent to reinforce him from the Mediterranean. ISSN. She participated in the anti-submarine Exercise WINCHESTER off Jervis Bay in September/October, following which she visited her namesake city. The disaster resulted in the loss of 82 lives - 14 officers, including the Commanding Officer, Captain Duncan Stevens, himself a former Executive Officer of Melbourne, 67 sailors and one civilian dockyard employee. The second collision occurred in the early morning of 3 June 1969, when Melbourne collided with and sank the Allen M. Sumner class destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in similar circumstances. [30] In June, the carrier took part in Exercise Kangaroo in the Coral Sea, before returning to Sydney in July. During 1907, Encounter had an incident onboard when she was calibrating her guns. Two days prior to that, one of Melbourne's Gannet aircraft developed an engine fault on take off and ditched into the sea ahead of the ship. She had been set on fire before being abandoned and was practically gutted. Melbourne departed for her South East Asian deployment on 24 February, during which she visited New Guinea; Singapore where she participated in Exercise FOTEX 65; Hong Kong; the Philippines where she took part in the SEATO exercise SEAHORSE; and Thailand. By the evening of 9 November 1914, the German cruiser SMS Emden (Captain Helmuth von Muller) lay as a smouldering wreck, beached on North Keeling Island to prevent her from sinking. Navy Office deduced that von Spee was steering south east, and made the reasonable assumption that the squadron could be heading for Rabaul, the main port in German New Guinea. On 30 September 1920, Encounter paid off into Reserve in Sydney. Strategy, History and the Rise of Australian Naval Power Sydney Allen and Unwin, 2001. HMAS Australia after Coronel – the nearest point of contact. [48] 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. She performed sea trials in Jervis Bay from 17 February until 5 May, then sailed for Subic Bay, Philippines, to participate in SEATO Exercise Sea Spirit. While Powerful returned to Sydney with the US Fleet, Encounter remained in New Zealand waters until returning to Sydney in late November.