Australia’s greatest peacetime naval disaster occurred in February 1964 when the destroyer HMAS Voyager collided with the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne. Voyager was sunk with the loss of 82 officers and men.
The Cruel Legacy: The HMAS Voyager Tragedy (Tom Frame, Allen & Unwin, $29.95 pb, ISBN 1741144213, February) HHH
Australia’s greatest peacetime naval disaster occurred in February 1964 when the destroyer HMAS Voyager collided with the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne. Voyager was sunk with the loss of 82 officers and men. A subsequent Royal Commission found the Voyager’s captain (who died in the accident) to be at fault, but also ascribed some responsibility to Captain Robertson of HMAS Melbourne. Following regular challenges to the Commission’s findings a second Commission varied the conclusions of the original investigation, absolving Robertson of any responsibility. Tom Frame has described the accident and the investigations which followed in his earlier book Where Fate Calls: The HMAS Voyager Tragedy. In this second book Tom Frame has taken the opportunity to include amendments and additions where new information has become available. He now looks critically at the two Royal Commissions, their appropriateness and the reasons why they failed to uncover the truth about the collision. He describes the political intrigues and cover-ups, and the antagonism between the navy and the federal government over the inquiry and how it would be run. He draws conclusions about the accident and its consequences for both the navy and the survivors of the collision. An essential read for all those still concerned about the circumstances surrounding this tragic accident.
Chris Harrington is co-owner of Melbourne’s Books in Print