Subic Bay, Philippines. A hole in the Starboard Ikara missile magazine deck head showing the fan ...

Accession Number P02562.012
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white
Physical description Black & white
Place made Philippines: Luzon
Date made July 1968
Conflict Vietnam, 1962-1975
Copyright

Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright

Description

Subic Bay, Philippines. A hole in the Starboard Ikara missile magazine deck head showing the fan room (designation 02-119-1Q) of Guided Missile Destroyer HMAS Hobart II (D39), the result of missile damage. On 17 June 1968, the Hobart was engaged in surveillance, along with other US Navy warships, of a North Vietnamese radar station on Tiger Island, east of Cap Lay, when a USAF F-4 fighter aircraft, which had been evaluated as friendly, fired three missiles. The first missile struck Hobart amidships on the starboard side, the next two missiles being fired three and a half minutes later. Two men were killed by the attack, Ordinary Seaman R. J. Butterworth with the first missile and Chief Petty Officer Hunt with the third and others were wounded. The ship spent four weeks in Subic Bay being repaired and by 26 July 1968 was back on the gun line ten miles south east of Da Nang in support of the 2nd Brigade ROK Marine Corps.