New Submarines for Australia

Warrigal

Warrigal

SF VIP
Location
Sydney, Australia
I'm not sure why we need them but we have just announced that we will be getting 12 new submarines to replace our current six and the contract has gone to France. The other bidders for the contract were the Germans and the Japanese. They will be built in Australia and fitted with US combat equipment.

This is good news for Australian workers, particularly those in South Australia because we have lost our car manufacturing and this will ensure jobs now and in future decades.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-26/pm-announces-france-has-won-submarine-contract/7357462
 

You now have what Eisenhower warned about when leaving office, the growth of the military/industrial complex...
 
I have high hopes my son will get something out of it. His defence work dried up when the last minesweeper contract finished and he's been struggling since.
 

It will be at least 15 years before the first one gets wet and the design work is being done in France.
Your son may have to wait out some lean years, I'm afraid Laurie.
 
Warrigal said:
It will be at least 15 years before the first one gets wet and the design work is being done in France.
Your son may have to wait out some lean years, I'm afraid Laurie.
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But at least your government had the sense to insist that, French design notwithstanding, the work will be done by Australians, in Australia!
 
Yup, but Uncle Sam is providing the firepower stuff. We have all become attached to the good pay of defense jobs. We have Electric boat in these parts and more and better submarines have just been ordered. The Cold War mentality is getting stoked up again. Nobody heeded Ike's warning for long if ever...
 
ossian said:
Are these nuclear subs and have the government explained why they are doubling the size of the fleet?
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More than two thirds of the world is covered by water, and we are mire familiar with the surface of Mars than we are with the sea bed.

It is not called Inner Space for nothing. I was involved with undersea warfare from 1956 until 1993, and some of the modern underwater weapons make Cruise or Trident look like slingshots.

The British have unfortunately forgotten it, the Russians haven't. Whoever rules the oceans rules the world.
 
Laurie said:
More than two thirds of the world is covered by water, and we are mire familiar with the surface of Mars than we are with the sea bed.

It is not called Inner Space for nothing. I was involved with undersea warfare from 1956 until 1993, and some of the modern underwater weapons make Cruise or Trident look like slingshots.

The British have unfortunately forgotten it, the Russians haven't. Whoever rules the oceans rules the world.
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I understand. And then the Russians double their fleet. Then the US. Next the British and so on........ I am not sure that the Australians would give that reason about ruling the world tho'.
 
ossian said:
Are these nuclear subs and have the government explained why they are doubling the size of the fleet?
Click to expand...
They will not be nuclear powered and I think the reason for the increase in the fleet size is in preparation for trouble close to home over the Sth China Sea claims of China, Japan, Korea and some other players. It is an ominous omen and it is probably better to be prepared than not..
 
ossian said:
I understand. And then the Russians double their fleet. Then the US. Next the British and so on........ I am not sure that the Australians would give that reason about ruling the world tho'.
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I doubt that the Australians wish to rule the world, but I think they may wish to ensure someone else doesn't rule their bit of it.

Russian submarines sail with impunity in British territorial waters and we have to ask the French and the Dutch and the Norwegians (and the North Americans) to deal with it.

Unlike the British, the Australians have not lost sight of the fact that they are an island, albeit a tad bigger, and depend on the freedom of the seas.
 
Laurie, we depend on the American alliance and our defence policy with regard to assets depends on how we will mesh with the US in any shooting war.
 
So do we, but you are prepared to put your share into that alliance.

Successive British governments are not and rely on a non-existent "special relationship" to get something for nothing from the US.
 
Alas, with all of this military hardware floating around out there we could see a provocation that leads to a reaction. The old movie "On the Beach" comes to mind...
 
I am reminded of a book written by Nevi Shute called 'On the Beach' back in the 1950's.

It was a post-apocalyptic story of South-Australia and Tasmania being the last places on Earth where radiation was not killing off the people.

Food for thought...
 
I only saw the movie which ended with everybody dying or about to die. If I can find it on Netflix I'll watch it again; it was very well done...
 
Yes, Warrigal, I have read the book, but not for many years.

I didn't want to spoil the optimism on this thread.

I also met Nevil Shute on the Channel Islands back in the 1970's. He was a manic depressive and very reclusive.

Still.....
 
Ralphy1 said:
Alas, with all of this military hardware floating around out there we could see a provocation that leads to a reaction. The old movie "On the Beach" comes to mind...
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Short memory, Ralphy.

A lot less now, and a lot less paranoia, than there was fifty years ago.
 

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