“Collectively, we want to thank our instructors right here in Groton and in addition in Goose Creek, South Carolina, for getting us thus far,” mentioned Lt. William Corridor. Corridor, Lt. Cmdr. James Heydon and Lt. Cmdr. Adam Klyne are the primary RAN officers to finish Naval Nuclear Energy College and Nuclear Energy Coaching Unit, positioned in South Carolina, and now SOBC. “Now, we’re seeking to be a part of our boats and persevering with our careers as a part of Australia’s conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine pressure.”
The Submarine Officer Fundamental Course is the final step within the U.S. Navy’s 15-month nuclear submarine coaching pipeline earlier than project to the fleet. The three RAN officer graduates can be assigned to Virginia-class assault submarines primarily based out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Upon project, the graduates function division officers, main a crew of extremely educated enlisted submariners. On this capability, they are going to be examined and certified on the ship’s methods and in numerous warfighting and management roles.
“During the last two months, these three officers have educated alongside our Sailors, studying the basics of working and tactically using SSNs,” mentioned Naval Submarine College Commanding Officer Capt. Matthew Fanning. “At SOBC, they utilized each their earlier expertise and the brand new expertise they developed by means of our nuclear coaching colleges, to find out how we function the ocean’s apex predator, the nuclear-powered assault submarine.”
“These officers are the long run leaders of Australia’s sovereign conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarine fleet,” mentioned the U.S. Navy’s AUKUS Integration and Acquisition Program Supervisor Rear Adm. Lincoln Reifsteck. “Their time in Groton bridged the operational hole between the Collins-class SSKs and the Virginia-class SSN. These excursions on U.S. Virginia-class submarines are the important thing skilled growth step towards incomes the privilege to develop into submarine govt officers and the primary commanding officers of Australian SSNs.”
Almost 100 RAN officers and enlisted personnel will enter the submarine and Naval Nuclear Propulsion coaching piplelines in 2024.
“These three officers are trailblazers for the Royal Australian Navy,” mentioned Rear Admiral Matt Buckley, Head of Nuclear Submarine Functionality throughout the Australia Submarine Company. They don’t seem to be solely the primary Australians to be totally educated throughout the U.S. system however may also achieve real-world expertise aboard Virginia-class SSNs, which can be foundational to Australia’s means to sovereignly function, preserve, and steward these world-class platforms.”
AUKUS is a strategic partnership that may promote a protected, free, and open Indo-Pacific, improve nationwide safety, and uplift the three industrial bases. AUKUS Pillar 1 is delivering a conventionally armed SSN functionality to the Royal Australian Navy by the early 2030s. The AUKUS I&A Program Workplace is liable for executing the trilateral partnership to ship conventionally armed, nuclear-powered assault submarines to the RAN on the earliest doable date whereas setting the best nuclear stewardship requirements and persevering with to keep up the best nonproliferation normal.
