RAN will get submarines minimum 7 years later than expected :
- 5 years lost - working with the French.
- 2 years now to design some arrangement with US (nothing concrete so far)
and it was supposed to be urgent...
Considering that the production line of US SSNs is fully booked for years to come, what can be expected ?
Probably basing at Darwin a couple of USN submarines, and accomodating on board some Australian crew - dealing witht he nuclear reactor remaining under US control (and the Ossies have no technicians for that, anyway) - what an exciting prospect for the RAN (so they will be "integrated")... but after all, if it does suit them, why bother ?
I had some first-hand knowledge of all that - one of my Academy classmates became Chief Propulsion Engineer of the nuclear carrier "Charles de Gaulle" (finishing later as a 5-stars admiral) There is no way you can build from scratch such a specialised workforce, in a country deprived of Engineering Universites dealing with nuclear matters. Absolutely no way.
It's a pity, considering the pleasant cooperation we did enjoy with RAN on HMAS Success (Durance-class of replenishment ships) - those subs would have been a nice and big adventure.
Last edited by recceguy; 19th Sep 2021 at 14:03.