The fast-attack submarine USS Hawaii prepares to moor at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. (Ian Zagrocki/U.S. Navy)
A U.S. Navy fast-attack submarine has docked in Western Australia as a training platform as the Australian navy prepares to maintain its own fleet of nuclear-powered boats.
The USS Hawaii arrived Thursday at HMAS Stirling, near Perth, according to a statement posted Friday by the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The Virginia-class boat joined the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land, which arrived at the naval base on Aug. 16.
Australian technicians at Stirling are honing skills to service U.S. and British nuclear-powered fast-attack boats under the AUKUS defense pact - so named for Australia, the United Kingdom and United States.
The tender’s U.S. and Australian crew will perform maintenance on the Hawaii over several weeks, Lt. Cmdr. Rick Moore, Submarine Force commander, said in the statement.
The 2021 AUKUS agreement aims to position one British and four U.S. nuclear-powered boats as Submarine Rotational Force-West at Stirling.
The defense pact’s first phase is on track to bring the vessels there on a temporary basis within three years, Australia’s nonpartisan Lowy Institute reported last month.
More than 30 Australian sailors, supervised by U.S. personnel, will perform maintenance on the sub, Moore said.
Tasks will include “removal and reinstallation of an antenna located in Hawaii’s sail, divers visually inspecting the underwater towed array and torpedo tube muzzles, and simulating the removal and installation of a trim pump, to include full rigging and preparations,” he wrote.
It will be the first time Australians have maintained a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in Australian waters, Capt. Brent Spillner, commander of the Emory S. Land, said in an Aug. 16 Navy news release.
“This is an important milestone and learning opportunity as we work together to establish Submarine Rotational Force–West, where both U.S. and UK submarines will regularly transit through HMAS Stirling, with maintenance and logistics assisted by Australian personnel,” he said.
Work done in the coming weeks will set Australia on the path toward its own fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, Cmdr. Dan Jones, skipper of the Hawaii, said in Friday’s release.
The sub visit coincides with the deployment of an undisclosed number of Air Force B-2 Spirits to Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley for a bomber task force mission in the east coast state of Queensland.
Meanwhile, the Australian government announced plans for a new missile factory at Newcastle in New South Wales, also on the east coast.
Australia will contribute $577 million toward the facility operated by Norwegian defense contractor Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to build naval and joint strike missiles for the Australian Defence Force and international customers, Australian Defense Industry and Capability Delivery Minister Pat Conroy told reporters Thursday.
The facility, able to produce more than 100 missiles a year, will start production in 2027, Conroy said, according to a transcript of his press conference.
