AUKUS: Aussie nuke sub training expands, 37 sailors head to Guam

SYDNEY — Australia is getting serious about nuclear submarine maintenance as 37 sailors head to Guam to train aboard the sub tender USS Emory S. Land.

Later, the sailors will be put to the test in the second half of this year when a US nuclear attack boat visits Western Australia (WA), according to the Australian Ministry of Defence. They will support the sub’s maintenance after five months embedded for training aboard the Land.

That training will be part of their preparation for regular visits of US and British boats to WA set to begin “as early as 2027,” when one British Astute class and up to four US Virginia-class boats will begin regularly calling at HMAS Stirling, as the sub base near Perth is known.

This is all, of course, part of the trilateral effort known as AUKUS. Australia, the UK and the US have committed to provide and help build nuclear-powered attack submarines. That is known as PiIllar I of AUKUS, while Pillar II is focused on eight streams of advanced tech capabilities.

“The opportunity for our Navy personnel to learn from our AUKUS partners demonstrates meaningful progress along Australia’s pathway to acquiring nuclear-powered submarines,” Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a Feb. 4 statement. “The maintenance of a United States nuclear-powered submarine at HMAS Stirling in the second half of the year will be an important milestone in the development of skills within Australia’s submarine and industry workforces.”

Guam hosts the U.S. Navy’s only submarine tenders, the Land and USS Frank Cable. The US Navy says tenders can provide “expeditionary intermediate-level maintenance and repairs, services, and logistics support to submarines,” as well as other Navy ships. In April 2022 the USS Frank Cable called at Brisbane, Sydney and HMAS Stirling in what was likely an early introduction to her capabilities for Australian sailors and the Royal Australian Navy’s leadership. The ships are manned by a unique hybrid crew of uniformed sailors and Military Sealift Command civilian mariners.

This is not the first group of Australians to be initiated into the highly classified world of US naval nuclear reactors. In January three Royal Australian Navy officers graduated from the U.S. Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU) program in Charleston, South Carolina.

Lt. Cmdr. James Heydon, Lt. Cmdr. Adam Klyne, and Lt. William Hall started at NPTU in July 2023. They had already graduated from Nuclear Power School in July 2023.

That presumably means that at least some of these two groups have been granted Q clearances, required for involvement with many nuclear submarine issues. In itself, granting of Q clearances to an Australian would mark a landmark in Australia’s preparations to buy and maintain its own nuclear fleet.