1955–1964 are on the aft section. Following a working-up period in British waters,
Melbourne departed Glasgow on 11 March 1956 on her maiden voyage to Australia via the
Suez Canal.
Melbourne sailed east via the
Great Australian Bight, meeting sister ship near
Kangaroo Island a week later. After visiting
Melbourne and
Jervis Bay, where the aircraft were offloaded and sent to Naval Air Station , the carrier concluded her maiden voyage in Sydney on 10 May. The role of flagship was transferred from
Sydney to
Melbourne three days later.
Melbourne spent from September to November in Southeast Asian waters, during which she participated in Exercise Albatross and received an official visit by
Philippines president
Ramon Magsaysay. On return to Australia in mid-November, the carrier visited Melbourne for the
1956 Olympics, where 200 of
Melbournes complement were provided to work as signallers, event marshals, carpenters, and medical workers. In February 1957,
Melbourne was sent to the
Royal Hobart Regatta. Following this, she travelled to
New Zealand, where she participated in exercises with
HMNZS Royalist and visited several New Zealand ports. The carrier spent the rest of the year visiting Australian ports for open inspections by the public. During the visit to
Port Adelaide, on 28 October 1957,
Melbourne was slightly damaged when she was struck by MV
Straat Lanka—the first of several minor collisions the carrier would experience throughout her career. Operations for the year concluded with participation in Exercise Astrolabe off
Lord Howe Island, with ships from the RAN, Royal Navy, and
Royal New Zealand Navy, before returning to Sydney on 13 December. On return to Sydney,
Melbourne entered a short refit, which concluded on 13 October and was immediately followed by a visit to
Port Phillip, where the carrier was displayed to
Australian Army and
Royal Australian Air Force officer cadets before the carrier returned to Sydney. The rest of the year was spent visiting Australian and New Zealand ports. All four Sea Venom incidents occurred in March, with three attributed to aircrew error and one to brake failure. The year began with exercises en route to Adelaide, followed by a visit to the Royal Hobart Regatta. The carrier's Strategic Reserve deployment ran from April to June, and was followed by manoeuvres along the east coast of Australia until September. It was the first time a flagship of the RAN had entered Indian waters. After Strategic Reserve duties were completed, the carrier visited Japan,
Guam, and
Manus Island before returning to Sydney in late July. The 20,000th landing on
Melbourne was performed in April by a Gannet, and in September,
Melbourne participated in Exercise Carbine near
Hervey Bay, Queensland.
Voyager collision On 10 February 1964,
Melbourne was performing trials in
Jervis Bay under the command of Captain John Robertson, following the annual refit. The
Daring-class destroyer was also present, undergoing her own trials following refit, under the command of Captain
Duncan Stevens. destroyers (left) and in 1959 Early in the evening,
Voyager had no difficulties maintaining her position during the manoeuvres both ships performed. The procedure to accomplish this required
Voyager to turn away from
Melbourne in a large circle, cross behind the carrier, then take position off
Melbournes port side. At 8:55 pm, with
Voyager approaching,
Melbournes navigator ordered the carrier's engines to half astern speed, with Robertson ordering an increase to full astern a few seconds later.
Melbourne struck
Voyager just aft of the destroyer's bridge, rolling the destroyer to starboard before cutting her in half.
Voyagers forward boiler exploded, briefly setting fire to the bow of the carrier before it was extinguished by seawater. The aft section did not begin sinking until half an hour after the collision, completely submerging just after midnight. Messages were immediately sent to the Fleet Headquarters in Sydney, although staff in Sydney initially underestimated the extent of the damage to
Voyager.
Melbourne launched her boats to recover survivors, and the carrier's wardroom and C Hangar were prepared for casualties. At 9:58 pm,
Melbourne was informed that search-and-rescue boats from , helicopters from , and five
Ton-class minesweepers had been despatched to assist in the search.
Melbourne arrived in Sydney with the survivors on 14 February, and after spending time alongside at
Garden Island, was moved to
Cockatoo Island Dockyard on 25 March, where repairs were undertaken; the damaged section of the bow was cut away and repairs to the ship's internal structure were undertaken in
drydock, while a 40-ton prefabricated bow was constructed. Once this was completed,
Melbourne was removed while the new bow was put in place in the drydock. The work was completed on 27 April, with the shipyard receiving a commendation. Of the 314 personnel aboard
Voyager at the time of the collision, 14 officers, 67 sailors, and 1 civilian dockyard worker were killed, including Stevens and all but two of the bridge team. A
Royal Commission into the
events of the collision was held in 1964, and found that while
Voyager's crew was primarily at fault for neglecting to maintain an effective lookout and awareness of the larger ship's location,
Melbournes bridge crew was also at fault, for failing to alert
Voyager and not taking measures to avoid the collision. Robertson was posted to the training base —a move that he and the Australian media saw as tantamount to a demotion—but resigned instead. The Royal Commission and its aftermath were poorly handled, and following pressure from the public, media, and politicians, combined with revelations by
Voyagers former executive officer that Stevens may have been unfit for command, a second Royal Commission was opened in 1967. This is the only time in Australian history two Royal Commissions have been held for a single incident. The second commission found that Stevens was medically unfit for command and that some of the findings of the first Royal Commission were therefore based on incorrect assumptions. Robertson and the other officers of
Melbourne were absolved of blame for the incident.
1964–1969 Melbourne spent ten weeks at
Cockatoo Island Dockyard, having her new bow fitted. Following the repairs,
Melbourne was involved in Strategic Reserve deployments and exercises in Southeast Asia from June until September 1964. During 1965 and 1966,
Melbourne escorted sister ship , which had been recommissioned as a troop transport, for short periods during the latter's first, third, and fourth transport voyages to Vietnam. Despite the carrier being the centrepiece of several plans to involve Australian forces in the
Vietnam War, the escort runs were the extent of
Melbournes participation in the conflict, and the carrier remained outside the
Market Time area while
Sydney and her other escorts proceeded to
Vũng Tàu. As the carrier was optimised for anti-submarine warfare, there was little need for her at the start of the war. Utilising the carrier was suggested again by RAN officials in March 1966, when the
United States Seventh Fleet was having difficulties maintaining anti-submarine patrols around
Yankee Station, but
Melbourne could only remain on station for a single, ten-day period, a third of the time that US carriers were operational for on rotating deployments. Seventh Fleet staff suggested in April 1967 that
Melbourne deploy in the anti-submarine role, but nothing came of these talks. Consideration was also given to using
Melbourne as a floating helicopter base, but only ten Wessex helicopters could be provided, and modifications were required for them to operate as troop carriers. Both options were made more prohibitive by the need to supply at least two escorts for the carrier at a time when the RAN was having difficulty meeting deployment commitments with the available destroyers and destroyer escorts. Australian aircraft were not to be provided, as the A-4G Skyhawks used by the RAN were optimised for air defence, not the fighter-bomber role performed by the Marines, and would have suffered heavy losses from North Vietnam's heavy anti-aircraft defences. This deployment did not occur; the Skyhawk pilot training program was experiencing delays because US squadrons were being shipped training equipment and replacement parts in priority to the RAN, and sending qualified pilots overseas would have caused further holdups with the program, while also disrupting
Melbournes post-refit reactivation.
Melbourne re-entered service at the conclusion of the refit on 14 February 1969. She performed sea trials in Jervis Bay from 17 February until 5 May, then sailed for
Subic Bay, Philippines, to participate in
SEATO Exercise Sea Spirit.
Frank E. Evans collision Melbournes commanding officer during the SEATO exercise was Captain John Phillip Stevenson. Subsequent action narrowly prevented a collision. In preparation for launching a Tracker, Stevenson ordered
Evans to the plane guard station, reminded the destroyer of
Melbournes course, and instructed the carrier's navigational lights to be brought to full brilliance.
Evans had performed the manoeuvre four times over the course of the night. Seeing the destroyer take no action and on a course to place herself under
Melbournes bow, Stevenson ordered the carrier hard to port, signalling the turn by both radio and siren blasts. It is uncertain which ship began to manoeuvre first, but each ship's bridge crew claimed that they were informed of the other ship's turn after they commenced their own. Seventy-four of the 273 personnel from
Evans were killed in the collision, with the majority of these believed to have been asleep or trapped inside the bow section, which sank within minutes. Sailors from
Melbourne dived from the flight deck into the water to rescue overboard survivors close to the carrier, while the carrier's boats and helicopters collected those farther out. All of the survivors were located within 12 minutes of the collision and rescued before half an hour had passed, although the search continued for fifteen more hours. After
Evans stern was evacuated, it was cast off, while the carrier moved away to avoid damage. The stern did not sink, and was later recovered, stripped of parts, and sunk for target practice.
Melbourne departed Singapore on 27 June and arrived in Sydney on 9 July, where the carrier underwent almost identical repairs at
Cockatoo Island Dockyard as in 1964 (primarily the installation of a new bow section). It was learned during the inquiry that
Evans commanding officer was asleep in his quarters at the time of the incident, and charge of the vessel was held by Lieutenants Ronald Ramsey and James Hopson; the former had failed the qualification exam to stand watch, while the latter was at sea for the first time. Subsequent to the inquiry, the three USN officers and Stevenson were
court-martialled by their respective navies on charges of negligence, with the three USN officers found guilty and Stevenson 'Honourably Acquitted'. Despite the findings, Stevenson's next posting was as a minor flag officer's chief of staff, seen by him as a demotion in all but name. In December 2012, Stevenson announced that he had received a letter from the
Minister for Defence, apologising for his treatment by the RAN and the government of the day.
1970–1976 During the 1970s and early 1980s, replacing parts became an increasing problem. Components were failing due to wear and age, but the companies responsible for manufacturing the parts had gone out of business during the previous twenty years, sometimes immediately after World War II ended. During this year, the carrier also visited Japan to participate in
Expo '70, and was hit by
Manly ferry South Steyne while alongside at Garden Island, causing minor damage to both vessels. In mid-1971, the Australian military's Joint Planning Committee considered using
Melbourne as a transport to help complete the withdrawal of the
Australian Task Force from Vietnam before the end of 1971. While the Army supported this proposal, the Navy successfully argued against its implementation, claiming that transporting troops and cargo would be misusing Australia's only active aircraft carrier, and would prevent
Melbourne from participating in several major multi-national exercises.
Melbourne,
Brisbane, and eleven other ships were deployed as part of the largest peacetime rescue effort ever organised by the RAN:
Operation Navy Help Darwin. While working up following the refit,
Melbourne and provided assistance to MV
Miss Chief off the coast of
Bundaberg, Queensland on 16 August 1976. In October,
Melbourne participated in Exercise Kangaroo II, before sailing to her namesake city for the carrier's 21st birthday celebrations, then returning to Sydney on 5 November.
1976–1983 On 5 December 1976, a fire deliberately lit at by a member of the Fleet Air Arm damaged or destroyed all but one of Australia's
S-2 Trackers. Following participation in RIMPAC 77,
Melbourne was sent to
San Diego to collect replacement aircraft. En route,
Melbourne lost a
Sea King in the Indian Ocean on 9 May, with the aircrew recovered by
Brisbane. A Tracker from
Melbourne located the disabled Dutch vessel
Impala Princess in the
Gulf of Aden on 25 May and directed a French destroyer to assist. Two
Bofors naval guns were deposited by
Melbourne at
Souda Bay, Crete on 2 June, marking the first visit of an Australian warship to Crete since June 1941. Following the Jubilee Review and participation in Exercise Highwood in July,
Melbourne and her escorts returned to Australia, arriving in Fremantle on 19 September and Sydney on 4 October.
Melbourne was docked in Garden Island's drydock on arrival, where she remained until January 1978. During this exercise,
Melbourne acquired the nickname 'Little M' after working with 'Big E' —the smallest and largest aircraft carriers (respectively) in operation at the time. During Tasmanex,
Melbourne lost her LW-02 radar aerial and a Skyhawk (N13-154907), both of which fell overboard during heavy seas. During February and March 1980,
Melbourne participated in RIMPAC 80, as the flagship of Battle Group Two. The carrier was in Sydney from mid-April until mid-August, during which the 25th anniversary of
Melbournes service in the RAN was celebrated on 15 August with a cocktail party aboard the carrier, popularly referred to as 'The Night of the Admirals'. During this cruise two Skyhawks were lost: on 2 and 21 October. The carrier's deployments for the second half of the year consisted of two exercises, Sea Hawk and Kangaroo 81. In his haste to shut down the carrier, he failed to deactivate the water pumps, and over 180 tons of fresh water were pumped in before a maintenance party discovered the flooding the next day.
Melbourne remained in dock at the start of 1982, and did not leave before the decision regarding her replacement was made. ==Replacement==