"Serious Problems" reported with new Australian SSKs

Sea Power, Dec 1998 by Preston, Anthony

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has acknowledged that serious problems have come to light in the RAN's new Collins-class diesel-electric submarines (SSKs). Deputy head of the Navy Rear Adm. Chris Oxenbould told reporters that there are "design problems which are associated with the submarines and bringing them into service....

"The principal problems," he said, "... relate to the acoustic signature of the submarines ... and the combat system."

Oxenbould apparently was replying to a local press story about a leaked U.S. Navy report which alleges that the Collins-class SSKs have "useless combat system software, inferior construction [causing] the propellers to crack," and flow noise so loud that the boats cannot be risked in combat. The article quoted an unnamed source as saying that the SSKs "make as much noise as a rock concert under water."

The report is alleged to have been prepared by the U.S. Navy's Undersea Warfare Center on the authority of the Chief of Staff of the RAN, Vice Adm. Don Chalmers, following the discovery of problems with the first two boats.

Oxenbould denied knowledge of the "top-secret document" and of the report that repairs would cost $610 million. He did acknowledge, though, that the submarines will need extensive repairs before they are fit for combat. He also said that the U.S. Navy is helping to deal with the hydroacoustic problems that have been reported. Most of the repair work will be done as part of the original contract, at no additional expense to the RAN. "The problems are serious," Oxenbould said, "but they are fixable and we will fix them." He predicted that the submarines already completed would be operational by the end of next year.

Ross Milton, spokesman for the builders, Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC), admitted to certain "teething troubles," but said that the company is dealing with them. Software-integration problems with the Rockwell Collins combat system also have been reported, and some analysts have predicted that initial operational capability (IOC) of the SSKs will not be achieved until 2002.

Two ships of the class, HMAS Collins and HMAS Farncomb, already have been delivered, and the third, HMAS Waller, is scheduled to be delivered by the end of this year. The Dechaineux is now fitting out, and the Sheean and Rankin are projected to be delivered in 2000-2001.