Half of Australia’s Collins Class submarine fleet will remain out of the water for the rest of the year with unprecedented corrosion problems discovered on two of the ageing boats.
Officials from ASC, formerly Australian Submarine Corporation, have confirmed three submarines are currently in shipyards receiving upgrades and urgent maintenance, meaning just three others are available for the Navy during 2024.
At a Senate estimates hearing, ASC CEO Stuart Whiley revealed that engineers had discovered significant corrosion damage on board HMAS Sheean during full cycle docking work which will require further repairs until at least Christmas.
“The delays have been primarily caused by hull preservation issues relating to the weapons discharge and a number of hull forgings which we’ve not seen before,” Mr Whiley told the committee.
“You have to remove all of the corrosion, so you have to grind it out, then you have to replace the metal you’ve removed effected by wielding techniques and then you have to machine the wield to effectively get the tolerances to fit for the equipment that then goes on to it.
“That’s effectively what we’re trying to do here, and these are in fairly difficult, unique places to do [the work],” Mr Whiley explained to the committee under questioning from Liberal senator Simon Birmingham.
While work continues on HMAS Sheean at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyard, different corrosion issues have also been discovered on HMAS Farncomb which has extended her scheduled intermediate docking at the Henderson shipyard in Western Australia.
“There’s a variety of corrosion on a number of areas throughout the boat… it’s relating to corrosion of frames and parts of tanks that we’ve not seen a level of for a boat of this nature.”
At the same time HMAS Rankin has also arrived at the Osborne shipyard for a scheduled maintenance full cycle docking period but Navy has not yet handed the boat over to ASC.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, whose department wholly owns ASC, was also questioned about when she had been informed of the extent of the problems on the Collins Class fleet.
“I’m satisfied that ASC are doing what they need to do and engaging with Defence and in terms of matters relating to Defence’s overall budget I work closely with the Minister of Defence on those matters.”
When pressed by Senator Birmingham on when she was last formally briefed by ASC on the Collins Class fleet, Senator Gallagher confirmed she met with the organisation in February but could not recall precisely what was discussed.
Australia is hoping to continue operating Collins Class submarines well into the 2030s when they’re gradually replaced by second-hand nuclear powered Virginia class boats purchased from from the United States under the AUKUS partnership.