Navy Puts Safety First With Submarine Force

Department of Defence Media Mail List
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, 31 January 2009

DEFENCE MEDIA RELEASE

Navy Puts Safety First With Submarine Force

Australia’s Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Russ Crane AM CSM, RAN says he is determined to keep the RAN’s submarine force at a world class operating and safety standard.

Up to 100 submariners will travel to Canada later this year to conduct pressurised escape training as part of their ongoing safety training program. This is a temporary measure designed to overcome issues caused by a failure to achieve a satisfactory contractual outcome between the Defence Materiel Organisation and the preferred tenderer for the operation of the Australian Submarine Escape and Training Facility (SETF) at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.

Vice Admiral Crane has rejected media reports critical of the cost of sending sailors to Canada, pointing out that the money for this overseas training does not require new funding. The training will be paid for with money already allocated for training that would have been conducted at the SETF.

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our sailors and we rely on contractors to provide us with a world class service”, Vice Admiral Crane said. “Defence will not enter into contracts that do not represent value for money for the Australian taxpayer but I will do whatever it takes to provide appropriate safety traini΅g for our sailors.

Vice Admiral Crane also rejected suggestions that the sailors would be travelling to Canada in business class and the false impression that this has created. “Any assertion that this is an additional taxpayer funded expense is just not true” Vice Admiral Crane said. The cost of training will be offset by not using the west coast facility for pressurised training until a satisfactory contractual outcome is achieved.

Navy personnel can still take part in unpressurised escape training at the SETF which will minimise the time required to continue their training in Canada.

The Navy also has robust submarine rescue procedures. The recent unavailability of the defence owned rescue vehicle Remora currently requires rescue support to be provided by a major contractor in the UK until the Australian system is fully certified and available. This contractor was recently successfully integrated into ADF practices. œA number of submarine operating nations rely on international contractors in the event of a submarine rescue, Vice Admiral Crane said. œIndeed prior to the arrival of the submarine rescue capability this is how the RAN provided this capability to our Oberon Class submariners. While I am extremely keen to see the Australian system back on line as soon as possible I am confident that should the worst occur, the interim overseas contractor solution means we are ready to respond.

ends

© Scoop Media