1969 — June 3, USS Frank E. Evans and Aus. carrier Melbourne collide, S. China Sea– 74

— 74 US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”
— 74 Wikipedia. USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754).
— 73 AP. “Navy Calls Off Search; All Hope Abandoned for 73 Lost Crewmen,” June 4, 1969.

Narrative Information

USN: “USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754) cut in half in collision with Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne (R-21) in collision. 74 killed. 2 Jun. 1969.” (US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”)

Wikipedia: “On 3 June 1969, while operating with the Royal Australian Navy between Saigon and Spratley Island, Evans was operating in company with [Australian Carrier] Melbourne. At flying stations, Melbourne signaled Evans, which was to the carrier’s port, to take up the rescue destroyer position. The logical movement would be to turn to port and describe a circle taking up station on the carrier’s port quarter. Inexplicably, instead of turning to port, Evans turned to starboard, cutting across Melbourne’s bow, and was cut in half in the ensuing collision. Her bow section sank instantly, taking 74 of her crew with it. At the time of the collision Evans’s captain was asleep. The officer of the deck (a junior officer who was not qualified to stand watch, having failed at his previous board) failed to notify him when he executed the station change, as required by the Commanding Officer’s standing orders.” (Wikipedia. USS Frank E. Evans.)

Newspaper

June 3, Long Beach Independent: “The Long Beach destroyer USS Frank E. Evans was sliced in two by an Australian aircraft carrier early today and may have lost nearly a fourth of her crew in the South China Sea collision. Reports from the scene, about 650 miles southwest of Manila, said 56 of the Evans’ 273-man complement were not accounted for several hours after the tragedy…. A spokesman at U.S. Navy headquarters in the Philippines said casualties were .expected to be “considerable” ‘because, “a lot of people” were hurled into the sea by the impact….” (Independent, Long Beach, CA. “Carrier Cuts L.B. Ship in Half; 57 Feared Dead,” 6-3-1969, p.1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Navy Calls Off Search; All Hope Abandoned for 73 Lost Crewmen,” 6-4-1969. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=18654751

United States Department of the Navy. Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Accidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center. 2008.

Wikipedia. “USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754).” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Frank_E._Evans_(DD-754)