Tag Archives: AUKUS

Shipyard News

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Lots of developments on the shipyard beat in the past week or so…

Welcome, Bob!

Saturday saw the christening at Bollinger Shipyards in Pascagoula (Escatawpa) of the future Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey vessel  USNS Robert Ballard (T-AGS 67), with the principal address delivered by the famed Dr. Robert Ballard (CDR, USNR, Ret), the ship’s namesake.

The 353-foot/5,000 ton AGS is equipped with just about every precision survey tool you can think of, and the class is vital in making hyper-accurate charts of the sea floor, something especially important for modern submarine warfare.

Speaking of which…

NoDak Undocks

The storied Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, last week  undocked the early Virginia-class attack submarine USS North Dakota (SSN 784), “marking a significant milestone in its maintenance and modernization availability.”

NoDak, commissioned in 2014, the first of eight Virginia-class Block III boats, has been under overhaul since April 2023. The work was scheduled to take 33 months and was cleared in just 34, which is great when it comes to SSN overhauls.

Virginia-class attack submarine USS North Dakota (SSN 784) undocking at Portsmouth, wrapping up a 34-month overhaul. (U.S. Navy photo by Branden Bourque)

Vermont wraps first SMP in Australia

In a quiet development from down under, the Virginia-class hunter killer USS Vermont (SSN 792) arrived at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia late last October and soon underwent something that is a first for both the class and the Royal Australian Navy– a four-month submarine maintenance period (SMP) by a blended American and Australian maintenance team without a sub tender alongside for support.

It’s the first time that was done outside of the U.S. and is an important milestone for the AUKUS SSN program, which will, eventually, see the RAN operating 774s.

Garden Island, HMAS Stirling, Western Australia, Australia (Nov. 10, 2025) – A bilateral team of U.S. Navy Sailors and civilians of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Dive Locker, and Australian members of Clearance Dive Team 4, dive under the hull of the USS Vermont (SSN 792) in support of a planned submarine maintenance period (SMP). The bilateral team completed multiple jobs, including installing patches under the hull to allow access to main ballast tank three. The maintenance period showcased Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility’s ability to conduct maintenance in Western Australia and its training of Australian maintainers to support the establishment of Submarine Rotational Force – West as early as 2027 as part of AUKUS Pillar I, the trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The AUKUS Integration & Acquisition Program Office is the U.S. Navy office responsible for executing the trilateral partnership to assist Australia in acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarines while setting the highest nuclear stewardship standards and continuing to maintain the highest nonproliferation standards. (U.S. Navy Photo by Cmdr. Erik Wells)

Austal finishes the last EPF, keeps up with EMS, and ATS

The vessel that got Austal’s Mobile, Alabama yard on the map, the 16-vessel Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport, is wrapping up with the launching last week of the future USNS Lansing (EPF 16), capping a program that began in 2010.

The 337-foot vessels are big enough to land a CH-53K King Stallion on their aft deck and can schlep 412 troops around the theatre at 43 knots or, with a 20,000 sq ft mission bay, can fill a Swiss army knife of support roles– all with a crew of 41.

Austal says that, once delivered, the production efforts on EPF 16 will shift to final outfitting and system activation to support future USNS Bethesda (T-EMS-1), the first of three EPF Flight II medical variants, getting underway for sea trials. The white-painted EMS series will have four operating rooms and 124 medical beds, separated into acute care, acute isolation, ICU, and ICU isolation spaces.

Austal, in the same week, also successfully launched the future Navajo-class rescue and salvage ship USNS Solomon Atkinson (T-ATS 12) into the Mobile River, some 75 percent complete.

The future Navajo-class rescue and salvage ship USNS Solomon Atkinson (T-ATS 12)

The 263-foot/5,100-ton T-ATS will provide ocean-going towing, salvage, and rescue capabilities to support fleet operations. T-ATS will be a multi-mission common hull platform capable of towing U.S. Navy ships and will have 6,000 square feet of deck space for embarked systems. The large, unobstructed deck allows for the embarkation of a variety of stand-alone and interchangeable systems. The T-ATS platform will combine the capabilities of the retiring Rescue and Salvage Ship (T-ARS 50) and Fleet Ocean Tug (T-ATF 166) platforms. T-ATS will be able to support current missions, including towing, salvage, rescue, oil spill response, humanitarian assistance, and wide-area search and surveillance. The platform also enables future rapid capability initiatives, such as supporting modular payloads with hotel services and appropriate interfaces.

And in Submarine News…

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Lots of stuff for those interested in periscopes lately.

New Dutch Boats

The Dutch, eschewing a domestic(ish) submarine-making initiative between Sweden’s Saab Kockums and Damen, and opting not to go German, have instead turned south and tapped France’s Naval Group to build four new SSKs to replace their aging Walrus-class boats which have been in service since the late 1980s.

The $6 billion project will see the Dutch go with conventional Shortfin Barracuda models similar to the ones proposed to Australia a couple of years ago, capping a 10-year initiative to replace the RDM-built Walruses.

A Naval Group mockup showing a Shortfin Barracuda with the current Walrus class sailing off into the sunset

The class will be known as the Orka class and will carry traditional Dutch submarine names (Orka, Zwaardvis, Barracuda, and Tijgerhaai). The first two will be delivered within a decade after the contract has been signed.

The Dutch have been in the sub business for the past 118 years, commissioning the Damen-built Onderzeeboot Hr. Ms. O-1, a Holland 7P type boat, in 1906. (NIMH 2158_012475)

During WWII, Free Dutch subs gave a good account of themselves, with 10 successful subs credited with sinking 168,813 tons of shipping across 69 Axis vessels.

Welcome USS Idaho

Over the weekend, the Navy christened its newest Virginia-class hunter killer, the future USS Idaho (SSN 799), during a ceremony at EB in Groton.

The submarine, which began construction in 2017, will be the 26th Virginia and the fifth U.S. Navy ship to be christened with the name Idaho. She will be one of ten advanced Block IV boats of her class.

The last Navy warship named Idaho was the historic battleship BB 42, commissioned in 1919. That Idaho received seven battle stars for her World War II service and witnessed the signing of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay before she was sold for scrap in 1947.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 83900 

USS Idaho (BB-42). Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 83900

More SSNs Appearing Down Under

And finally, the “improved” Los Angeles-class boat, USS Annapolis (SSN 760), recently arrived in HMAS Stirling in Perth.

ROCKINGHAM, Western Australia (March 10, 2024) – U.S. Navy Sailors assigned to the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Annapolis (SSN 760) and HMAS Stirling Port Services crewmembers prepare the submarine to moor alongside Diamantina Pier at Fleet Base West in Rockingham, Western Australia, March 10, 2024.

Why is this important?

Via DOD: 

This marks the second visit by a U.S. fast-attack submarine to HMAS Stirling since the announcement of the AUKUS [Australia, United Kingdom, United States] Optimal Pathway in March 2023. The Optimal Pathway is designed to deliver a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarine capability to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

“Historically, we’ve had allied SSNs visit Australian ports for many decades totaling more than 1,800 days,” said Rear Adm. Matt Buckley, Head of Nuclear Submarine Capability at the Australian Submarine Agency. “Starting with USS North Carolina (SSN 777) last August, these visits are taking on a more important meaning for the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Submarine Agency as we build the infrastructure, knowledge, and stewardship needed to establish SRF-West in 2027.”

Great SSN Memorial Concept

Speaking of 688s, the planned USS Cincinnati Cold War Memorial & Peace Pavilion was formally unveiled last week by the Cincinnati Navy League. It’s slated to open in spring 2025. USS Cincinnati (SSN-693) was commissioned in 1978 and, decommissioned in 1996, was fully recycled by 2014 with her reactor stored at Hanford.
 
Unlike some SSN memorials that are just sails or diving planes, the innovative Cinncinatti memorial will be full length, 360 feet long, and include about 100 tons of material from the former submarine including much of the fairweather, the 17-foot tall rudder, and a back-up diesel engine, which was painted red and referred to as the “Big Red Machine” in homage to the Reds’ baseball team lineup in the ’70s.
 
Which I think is very cool and would be a great way to better salute the memory of all these SSNs and SSBNs that have sailed since Nautilus. Add a small building for additional relics, photos, and keepsakes, and you are in business
 

Freemantle, ahoy!

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In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the idea to keep the Japanese Combined Fleet fenced in its home waters was through investing a lot in submarines. Admiral Hart’s Asiatic Squadron, based in the Philippines, had no capital ships and just a few old cruisers and destroyers, but it did have subs– 29 of them!

As noted in IJNH:

Following his arrival as CinCAF in 1939, Hart had steadily increased the number of submarines assigned to his small fleet from six to seventeen, including the first modern fleet-type boats. As the war clouds gathered in November 1941, another squadron of twelve modern fleet boats with their submarine tender Holland sailed into Manila Bay from Pearl Harbor as reinforcements.

Likewise, the Dutch spent a bunch of guilders in buying Koloniën (“colonial”) submarines for use in barring the door to the Dutch East Indies.

Of course, events soon proved that almost nothing was enough to stop the Japanese juggernaut in December 1941-April 1942 and (almost) all of these boats soon found themselves forced to withdraw to the best friendly option available at the time— Freemantle in Western Australia.

Freemantle was a submarine hub in the West Pac during WWII, with Allied boats of all stripes including British and Dutch vessels, mixing with locals and Americans. In all, some 170 Allied subs at one time or another passed through Fremantle between 1941 and 1945.

In fact, during the war, no less than 127 American submarines operated out of Fremantle at one time or another, carrying out 353 patrols. Added to this were 10 Dutch boats and, after August 1944, an increasing number of British Pacific Fleet boats. All told the Allies mounted something like 416 submarine patrols from Fremantle during the war.

“From 1943 to 1945 Fremantle-based boats sank over 273,000 tons of enemy tankers as well as 19 destroyers, 16 frigates, 4 minesweepers, 9 submarine chasers, and 6 patrol craft.”

And, in this edition of Everything Old is New Again, an American sub-tender is headed to HMAS Stirling, just outside of Freemantle.

From Navy Times:

The Navy plans to conduct its first-ever submarine maintenance work in Australia this summer using the sub tender Emory S. Land, with 30 Australian sailors embarked to learn how to repair the Virginia class of submarine.

This step will help establish a nuclear-powered attack submarine maintenance capability at the HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia in the next few years as part of the trilateral AUKUS arrangement.

And the beat goes on…