Machinist's Mate Fireman Joe Mulitsch & the USS Frank E. Evans

On June 2nd, 1969, the Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans was cruising through the calm, moonlit waters of the South China Sea. Just days before, the Evans was on the gun line, throwing countless shells at targets in South Vietnam supporting ground troops. The Evans had just earned its second Vietnam Service Medal for combat operations in 1969.

On this night, the Frank E. Evans joined forces with SEATO naval forces to conduct war games and a show of force in the South China Sea. During the mid-watch, however, with the commanding officer fast asleep, the Evans made a navigational error, and an Australian aircraft carrier, the HMAS Melbourne, a much larger ship, struck it and sliced it in half as a result. The bow section of the ship would sink beneath the waves in ten minutes.

This is the story of the collision as told by a survivor, MMFN Joe Mulitsch. The Evans was his first ship.  Joe escaped, but 74 of his shipmates perished that night, fifty-three years ago.