Melbourne Voyager Collision: The Maritime Aspects

[@guygraham8016]

Signals get confusing when the captain and navigator are drunk on duty.

[@guygraham8016]

Captain we need to manoeuvre, " hang on , where's my Triple Brandy".

[@guygraham8016]

What about the captain being Blind Drunk at the time.

[@geoffreyrichardson8738]

Yet another example why defence needs to adopt Total Quality Management (TQM). The NAVY are to quick to lay blame not find out what's wrong and fix it. What happened to Melbourne skipper was disgraceful. Still it happens today.

[@oddsteinardybvad-raneng]

I was on the Melbourne at the time of the tragedy. What happened to Captain Robertson was disgraceful, but at least partly corrected after the second inquest, which I was very happy to see. What we must take into account is that this happened 57 years ago and things do change in time even though I remember it as if it happened yesterday.

[@tracybeme1597]

Medical and Executive officers had a duty to remove the C.O. for treatment. If junior officers had not failed to act the crew would not have died and the party would probably still be in power. This naval incident illustrates a systemic failure of responsibility. If C.O. was removed for medical reasons, his career would not have been impacted nor would the ships crew perished. The USN rotates ship command for the above reasons.

[@oddsteinardybvad-raneng]

As I mentioned in the above reply, I was on HMAS Melbourne at the time of the tragedy. What happened to our Captain Robertson was disgraceful, but at least partly corrected after the second inquest, which I was very happy to see. What we must take into account is that this happened 57 years ago and things do change in time even though I remember it as if it happened yesterday. What was the USN like 57 years ago in these matters? Don't forget that on June 3, 1969 the USS Frank E. Evans made the same mistake and was also sunk by the HMAS Melbourne. Both sunk Destroyers were at fault and not the Aircraft Carrier. I was not on the Melbourne this time.