USS Frank E. Evans

1969

South China Sea, HMAS Melbourne, the bow section Location: South China Sea, ~200 nmi SW of Luzon · Coordinates: 12.20°N 112.40°E · Casualties: 74 · Survivors: 199 · Depth: 3,000 m (bow section) · Cause: collision — Cut in half at 03:15 on 3 June 1969 by the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne during night exercises in the South China Sea. The destroyer's watch officers turned the wrong way in response to a course-change signal and put her into the carrier's bow. The forward section sank in three minutes. · Fate: bow sank · stern scuttled · Type: destroyer · Allen M. Sumner class · Tonnage: 3,460 tons · Crew: 273 · Flag: United States · Launched: 1944 American Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, screening HMAS Melbourne during overnight exercises in the South China Sea. At 03:15 on 3 June 1969 her watch officers turned the wrong way in response to a course-change signal and put her directly into the Melbourne's bow. Cut cleanly in half; the forward section sank in three minutes with most of the sleeping crew aboard. 74 dead, including three brothers from Niobrara, Nebraska. The Melbourne's commanding officer was exonerated at the joint inquiry; the destroyer's two duty officers were court-martialled. The Vessel USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754) was an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer of the United States Navy, commissioned at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding yard at Staten Island on 2 April 1945. She was 114 metres long, 3,460 tons full load, armed with six 5-inch guns in three twin turrets, twin 40mm Bofors mounts, and ten 21-inch torpedo tubes. Her designed speed was 34 knots on twin-shaft General Electric geared turbines. The Allen M. Sumner class had been the principal American destroyer design of the later Pacific War. 58 ships of the class were commissioned between 1944 and 1945; USS Frank E. Evans was the 43rd of the class. Her post-war service included extensive Pacific deployments, participation in the Korean War, and multiple deployments to the waters of Southeast Asia through the 1950s and 1960s. She was, by 1969, a 24-year-old destroyer of a class that had been overtaken by newer American destroyer types. Her commanding officer in June 1969 was Commander Albert S. McLemore, 42 years old, a career U.S. Navy officer on his first destroyer command. Her crew was 273 officers and ratings. The Disaster Ramsey ordered Frank E. Evans to turn to starboard in response to what he believed was the appropriate plane-guard repositioning manoeuvre. The turn placed Frank E. Evans directly across Melbourne's course. Hopson, the junior officer of the watch, did not challenge the manoeuvre. Melbourne's bridge team observed Frank E. Evans's turn at approximately 03:14:30 on 3 June 1969. Melbourne ordered hard reverse and slammed her engines to full stop. The manoeuvre came too late. Melbourne's stem struck Frank E. Evans's port side at Frame 49 at 03:15 on 3 June 1969. The collision broke Frank E. Evans in half at Frame 48. Her forward section, containing the bridge, the forward 5-inch gun mount, and approximately one-third of her crew, capsized to starboard and sank in approximately three minutes. 74 of USS Frank E. Evans's crew died, virtually all of them in the forward section of the ship that was cut off by the collision. Commander McLemore, asleep in his sea cabin forward of the bridge, was killed. The three Sage brothers of Niobrara, Nebraska (Gary, Gregory, and Kelly) were all aboard USS Frank E. Evans and all were killed in the forward section.