At 8:55 pm, with "Voyager" still turning to port, "Melbourne"s navigator ordered the carrier's engines to half astern speed, with Robertson ordering an increase to full astern a few seconds later. At the same time, Stevens, returning to "Voyager"s bridge from the nearby chart table, gave the order "Full ahead both engines. Hard a-starboard.", before instructing the destroyer's Quartermaster to announce that a collision was imminent. Both ships' measures were too late to avoid a collision; "Melbourne" hit "Voyager" at 8:56 pm.