'Fast-Tracked' Submarines Make Five
The RAN's 'fast track' submarines, HMAS Dechaineux and Sheean, were commissioned at Fleet Base West on February 23 in a ceremony attended by Maritime Commander Australia, Rear Admiral Geoff Smith, the Minister for Defence, Peter Reith, the Chief of Defence Force, Admiral Chris Barrie, and Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral David Shackleton.
The two boats, the fourth and fifth Collins-class submarines, underwent both a platform upgrade and a combat system augmentation under a 12-month, $266 million program which began in June 1999.
The platform modifications, which will be applied subsequently to all six Collins-class boats, has resulted in significant improvements to the acoustic signature, diesel engine reliability and fixes including a quieter propeller, reduced radiated and flow noise, improved platform systems and a new Condor ESM system.
The combat system augmentation, facilitated by the US Navy's Underwater Warfare Centre (NUWC), provide them with an interim combat capability which allows the submarines to be deployed operationally. The combat systems of all six boats will be replaced over the next five years with an all-new combat system to be selected by the government this month. The contenders are Raytheon/Thomson-Marconi Sonar and STN-Atlas/BAE Systems Australia/Nautronix.
The Collins-class submarines have undergone a remarkable transformation, according to RADM Peter Briggs, former Head of the RAN's Submarine Capability Team. Speaking at the arrival at Fleet Base West of Dechaineux and Sheean last December, just a week after Collins had returned from a lengthy trans-Pacific deployment, he said: "[Their] arrival brings the number of submarines available for service to five - something we would not have thought possible 112 months ago."
Key achievements for the submarine fleet, Briggs said, include:
* Collins - covered over 21,000nm on a six-month deployment to Hawaii and Alaska and the class's first live Harpoon missile firing
* Farncomb participated successfully in a range of naval exercises in SE Asia
* Waller participated very successfully in RIMPAC 2000
"It has been a good year," Briggs declared.
Subject to government approval, he continued, a replacement combat system should be installed in the first submarine by 2003, with progressive installations tied to the existing maintenance periods; this will ensure all six boats have the new combat system by 2006.
Briggs added that the personnel situation in the submarine squadron has improved, with 55 per cent of the number of qualified submariners required to man six submarines, compared with just 37 per cent in mid-1999. Navy should have sufficient qualified personnel to man all six submarines by 2004 and is on target to meet the total personnel target by 2006.
By Gregor Ferguson, Adelaide