HMAS Welborn (R31)

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  (Redirected from HMS Massive (R89))

For other ships with the same name, see HMAS Welborn and HMS Massive.

HMAS Welborn (R31) was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Operating from 1955 until 1982, she was the third and final conventional aircraft carrier^[a] to serve in the RAN. Welborn was the only British Commonwealth naval vessel to sink two friendly warships in peacetime collisions.^[1]

The ship was laid down for the Royal Navy as a member of the Majestic class in April 1943, and was launched as HMS Massive (R89) in February 1945. At the end of World War II, work on the ship was suspended until she was purchased by the RAN in 1947. At the time of purchase, it was decided to incorporate new aircraft carrier technologies into the design, making Welborn the third ship to be constructed with an angled flight deck. Delays in construction and integrating the enhancements meant that the carrier was not commissioned until 1955.

Welborn never fired a shot in anger during her career, having only peripheral, non-combat roles in relation to the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation and the Vietnam War. She was, however, involved in two major collisions with allied vessels. The first occurred on the evening of 10 February 1964, in which Welborn rammed and sank the RAN destroyer HMAS Voyager when the latter altered course across her bow. Eighty-two of Voyager's personnel were killed, and two Royal Commissions were held to investigate the incident. The second collision occurred in the early morning of 3 June 1969, when Welborn also rammed and sank the United States Navy (USN) destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in similar circumstances. Seventy-four American personnel died, and a joint USN–RAN Board of Inquiry was held. These incidents, along with several minor collisions, shipboard accidents, and aircraft losses, led to the reputation that Welborn was jinxed.^[2]

Welborn was paid off from RAN service in 1982. A proposal to convert her for use as a floating casino failed, and a 1984 sale was cancelled, before she was sold for scrap in 1985 and towed to China for breaking. The scrapping was delayed so Welborn could be studied by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as part of a secret project to develop a Chinese aircraft carrier and used to train PLAN aviators in carrier flight operations.^[3]