Defence Business: RAN battles to sustain submarine service | ADM June 2009
The problem is complex, and the solution requires immediate and drastic action, says a review commissioned by the Chief of Navy.
Gregor Ferguson | Sydney
The RAN is short of submariners, and the personnel assigned to its six Collins-class boats are short of experience.
Experienced submariners have left the Navy's Fremantle-based submarine squadron in droves, stressed out by a relentless operational cycle and attracted by the money and domestic stability offered by Western Australia's booming mining sector.
So serious is the problem at present that Navy is having difficulty crewing more than three of its six boats.
It must make wholesale changes, and quickly, to the way it crews and operates its Collins-class submarines if it is to sustain and grow an effective combat force.
That is the bleak assessment of the Review of Submarine Workforce Sustainability by former deputy chief of the RAN, Rear Admiral Rowan Moffitt, in October 2008.
His bluntly expressed findings set alarm bells ringing in Canberra, where the Defence White Paper was expected to call for an expanded submarine fleet of up to 12 conventional diesel-electric boats over coming decades.
"Navy is implementing a submarine sustainability program which will do four things," said Chief of Navy Russ Crane when he announced the service's response to the review.
"It will stem the number of qualified submariners leaving the submarine force by improving their working conditions.
It will speed up the training process to get new submariners fully qualified and to see faster.
It will increase the number of new submariners through an aggressive external and internal recruitment program, and change the prevailing mission focus submarine culture so that there is a greater focus on the wellbeing of submariners and of their families.
"The overall goal is to grow the submarine workforce to enable a fourth, sustainable, seagoing crew to be formed by the end of 2011."
Phase 1 of his strategy was the analysis phase, followed by some rapid action to achieve what Crane termed "quick wins".
"Phase two is a stabilisation phase and will run from 2009 to 2011.
"This phase will achieve three sustainable crews of 58 personnel, up from 46 currently; assisted by a submarine support group of 27 people to provide high priority technical and administrative support services to our crews when they're alongside.
"Phase three, which is a recovery phase, will run concurrently from 2011 through to 2012.
"This phase will achieve a fourth sustainable crew of 58 personnel to consistently meet submarine readiness requirements, a fully manned and sustainable submarine support group providing a broad range of support services to crews and sustain manning of the submarine shore positions."
Phase four, a consolidation phase, will operate from 2012 through to 2015, Crane said.
This will include evaluating alternate crewing arrangements, such as three crews to two platforms, as recommended in the review.
Phase five, which is a growth phase, will occur from 2015 onwards: "This will implement workforce expansion plans, to meet strategic guidance and lay the foundations for the transition from the Collins Class submarines to our future submarines under Project Sea1000."
A change needed
The RAN's original requirement was that each of its six submarines should achieve 75 per cent availability each year - a total of 1,600 sea days across the fleet; but "there is not the level of resourcing necessary to operate the boats for this many days, either in personnel tempo or sustainment funding terms," Moffitt stated bluntly.
"The Collins Class crewing concept is flawed and has led to practices and behaviours that have damaged submarine workforce sustainability," he observed.
The Review was commissioned in June 2008 by Crane's predecessor, Vice Admiral Russ Shalders; Crane decided to release an unclassified version on 9 April.
"The Review pulls no punches and I am pleased to see Navy has taken its findings so seriously," said minister for defence science and personnel, Warren Snowdon.
Crane said 9 April he will implement each of Moffitt's 29 recommendations for dealing with the service's submarine manpower problems.
These will form part of a five-stage strategy designed to get a fourth crew operational by the end of 2011 and "stabilise, recover and grow the submarine workforce over the next five years.
"The program focuses on getting more qualified submariners to sea and on improving support for them once deployed."
Moffitt's recommendations range from increasing the size of the crew of each of the 3,500-tonne submarines, from 46 to 58 personnel, exploring multi-crewing arrangements and re-vamping career management practices for submarine service sailors and officers, right down to installing a Local Area Network so off-duty sailors can use their laptop computers aboard ship.
"We've already taken the first step in this area by separating our crews from hulls," Crane said.
"The most critical element of any warship is its crew.
"And we've now taken an approach in the submarine group which aims to focus on the crew and rotate crews to submarines rather than the other way round.
"That's not unlike the approach taken in the airline industry or indeed in the offshore industry."
Navy's response to the Moffitt Review is the first of a series of steps Crane is taking to re-energise the Service's recruitment and manpower management under his New Generation Navy strategy which was expected to be unveiled around mid-year.
The 12,800-strong Navy plans to grow to nearly 13,800 by 2012; as well as the anticipated growth in the submarine service, it has three air warfare destroyers on order along with two amphibious landing ships and Crane is determined the Navy will have sufficient trained, experienced personnel to field and operate these new assets comfortably.
Taking the step of publishing this hard-hitting review is "very much to Crane's credit," according to analyst Allan Behm of thinktank The Knowledge Pond.
He told ADM the Collins-class submarine fleet represents some 20 per cent of the asset value of the RAN, but is assigned only five per cent of its manpower.
"These are the tip of the Navy's spear, but it has starved the submarine fleet of manpower," he said.
The Review paves the way for short-term recovery and longer-term expansion, Behm said.
An important step is to recognise and reward the professionalism of Australia's submariners and provide them with a stronger voice: more submariners must be assigned to Navy Headquarters, and they must be promoted into positions of influence - the last Australian submariner to be appointed rear admiral, Peter Briggs, retired seven years ago.
One of the challenges for Navy planners is the submarine service's exclusive, mission-focussed - "to the point of near-obsession" - elite ethos which embraces fatigue, hardship and separation from home and family as badges of honour, Moffitt observed.
Recruiting potential submariners from the wider Navy will be "very difficult, even in the most advantageous of circumstances.
It will be impossible, however, unless [they] are convinced the things about life in submarines that hitherto deterred them from joining have really changed," he added, citing, "an abundance of strong evidence that the submariners have been driven very hard in recent times."
Repairing the damage
Significant and dramatic change to submariners' conditions of service is needed quickly also because without this it will be very difficult to convince current junior submariners to stay.
"The many junior people whose trust in Navy seems to have been damaged ... will see incremental change as more of the ‘band aid' solutions they are accustomed to," Moffitt warned.
"There is a need to change the prevailing submarine culture so that its positive aspects (e.g. pursuit of professional excellence and pride in accomplishing complex and highly risky missions) are retained, while negative aspects (e.g. obsessive mission focus at the cost of burning out the people) are eliminated," Admiral Crane acknowledged in his written response to the Review.
Part of the problem is fatigue, resulting from having a small crew working a two-watch system, of six hours on duty and six hours off on patrols which could run as long as 60 or 70 days; even when alongside in port, respite is difficult due to the need to maintain watches and carry out minor repairs and administration.
A study by DSTO in 2008 found that the two-watch system, in particularly, quickly resulted in the average submarine crew member reaching the same cognitive state as a motorist with an illegal blood alcohol level.
Larger crews would alleviate this problem significantly.
Damningly, Moffitt reported that the RAN submarine community's response was normally to ‘endure' fatigue, rather than try to ‘manage' it.
Despite similarities to the aviation world, where mandatory crew rest is strictly enforced, the submarine service doesn't acknowledge or employ the practice.
The Moffitt review might see an end to this form of "learned helplessness", according to analyst Andrew Davies of ASPI.
He told ADM in April he expected the White Paper to call for a fleet of 12 conventional submarines as a hedge against the growing economic and military strength of Australia's regional neighbours, including China.
These would provide a very cost-effective strike and sea denial capability for a medium power such as Australia, and an important contribution to a coalition; in any sort of "cold war" scenario they would be vital strategic reconnaissance assets.
But they need to be manned on a sustainable basis.
Soon after receiving the Review in late-2008 Crane ordered a number of remedial actions: the "quick wins": trialling new duty watch arrangements to ensure submariners get proper rest while their boats are alongside; increasing crew sizes and revising the two-watch crewing system; and establishing a "fly-in, fly-out" support group to relieve exhausted submariners and conduct routine watch and maintenance duties when their boats dock after lengthy patrols.
Longer term, the Navy will review and overhaul all aspects of the training and configuration of its submarine crews, including engineers and seamen, and the higher-level management of the submarine force in both operational and administrative terms.
This will all happen, however, under the broader umbrella of Crane's New Generation Navy strategy which at the time of writing hadn't been revealed.
Navy's submarine action plan
The Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Russ Crane AM CSM, RAN, has released a plan to dramatically improve Australia's submarine workforce, after concerns a lack of numbers is placing an unacceptable strain on personnel.
"Our submariners remain a professional and ready force.
By improving their working conditions we will ensure our Submarine Force remains sustainable now and into the future," Vice Admiral Crane said.
The Submarine Workforce Sustainability Review was completed late last year.
It made 29 recommendations aiming to improve submariners' work/life balance.
Vice Admiral Crane is implementing them all.
Three recommendations are already being implemented, including new crewing arrangements, local area networks on submarines and relocation of the Submarine Communication Centre from eastern Australia to Fleet Base West in Western Australia by the end of 2009.
"The changes will improve submariners' conditions of service with better training systems, better respite at sea and ashore, and better incentives to remain in the submarine force.
"This program will safeguard the future capability of Australia's submarine fleet," Vice Admiral Crane said.
"Our people must come first. This will be a key part of our New Generation Navy initiative."
"The Review pulls no punches and I am pleased to see Navy has taken its findings so seriously," said Minister for Defence Science and Personnel Warren Snowdon.
"While Australia's submarine fleet remains capable, its long term sustainability depends on the wellbeing of Navy's submariners.
"The Government looks forward to positive outcomes from Navy's new recruitment and retention measures."
An unclassified version of the Submarine Workforce Sustainability Review is available at www.Navy.gov.au and http://www.defence.gov.au/header/publications.htm