HMAS Melbourne June 1969

On June 3, 1969, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne sliced through an American destroyer, killing 74 sailors in a disastrous exercise during the Vietnam War.

In the early hours, the Melbourne struck the port side of the US Navy warship Frank E Evans and split it in half. The force of the collision stopped Australia's largest ship dead in the water.
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A joint Australian/US naval board of inquiry found both ships were at fault. Both captains and two junior officers from the Evans were court martialed.

Five years earlier HMAS Melbourne, shown here, was involved in Australia's worst peacetime naval disaster when it struck the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the New South Wales coast. The tragedy resulted in the deaths of 82 sailors.