Davo

On this day in 1955: Majestic-class aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne (R21) was commissioned. HMAS Melbourne (R21) was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1955 to 1982. Originally laid down as HMS Majestic for the Royal Navy in 1943, she was purchased by Australia in 1947 and completed with modern carrier technology, including an angled flight deck. Although she never saw combat, Melbourne played a supporting role during the Indonesia–Malaysia Confrontation and the Vietnam War. She became infamous for two fatal peacetime collisions with allied destroyers: HMAS Voyager in 1964, which killed 82 personnel, and USS Frank E. Evans in 1969, which killed 74 American sailors. These tragedies, alongside other accidents, contributed to her reputation as an unlucky ship. Decommissioned in 1982, Melbourne was eventually sold for scrap in 1985 and towed to China. Before dismantling, she was studied by the People's Liberation Army Navy as part of a secret aircraft-carrier development programme and reportedly used to train Chinese naval aviators in carrier flight operations.