Cruel Legacy

Voyager's bow has been detached from her stern' was the laconic phone message left for the RAN's public relations officer, on the night of 10 February 1964. During naval exercises off the coast at Jervis Bay, the destroyer HMAS Voyager inexplicably turned towards the RAN Flagship, HMAS Melbourne , and steamed under the mighty carrier's bows. The impact cut Voyager in two with 82 of her complement losing their lives in Australia's worst peacetime naval disaster. Why did this happen and who was to