Retired admiral urges Australia to expand submarine recruiting for AUKUS

Royal Australian Navy targets 400 submarine-trained personnel by 2030

Retired admiral and former submariner Peter Briggs said Australia faces a difficult challenge recruiting and training enough naval personnel for the future nuclear-powered fleet under the $368bn AUKUS deal. He spoke as the Virginia-class USS Colorado arrived Tuesday at HMAS Stirling, south of Perth, for a month of routine maintenance intended to help build Australian expertise.

Under the trilateral agreement, Australia will acquire between three and five Virginia-class, nuclear-powered submarines from the United States to replace five diesel-electric Collins-class vessels that are becoming obsolete. The Virginia class is intended to bridge the transition from the Collins-class fleet to the future SSN-AUKUS submarine, an even bigger design being developed by Australia and the United Kingdom.

The change in submarine size comes with a much larger crew requirement. A Virginia-class submarine requires up to 134 crew, almost three times the number needed for the Collins class, while approximately 850 submariners are qualified to operate the Collins vessels.

The Royal Australian Navy said 230 personnel were at various stages of the US nuclear-powered submarine training pipeline. A navy spokesperson said approximately 145 had completed US Naval nuclear-power training and were now building experience on US Navy SSNs, the hull classification for nuclear-powered submarines. By 2030, the navy expects 400 officers and sailors trained and ready to serve.

Briggs urged a more intensive recruitment plan: “We have got to triple the size of the submarine arm and we’ve got to train them in nuclear skills,” he said. “You are heading toward needing a submarine arm of 3,000, that’s the hill you have to climb.”

He described personnel as “a huge issue” but said it was not the only one. The former submariner argued that maintaining two different submarine types would add complexity to training, logistics, maintenance and spare-parts arrangements.

The Australian government did not respond to questions about recruitment targets or whether a workforce development program was on track. The recruiting requirement spans more than a dozen trades, from radio and sonar operators to cooks and electricians.

The confined demands of living and working aboard a submarine present another recruitment challenge. Sleeping arrangements can involve bunks stacked three high, while “hot racking” allows three sailors to share two beds by rotating their sleeping schedules around watch duties. In some circumstances, when accommodation is limited, sailors may sleep in torpedo rooms. Reeves said the vessel is “built for combat, not for comfort.”

After spending the next month in Perth, the Colorado will return in late 2027 as part of the Submarine Rotational Force-West program. The program is designed to help Australia build the skills and infrastructure needed to operate its own nuclear fleet. From 2027, up to four US and one UK nuclear-powered submarine will rotate through HMAS Stirling.

Paul Johnson, HMAS Stirling fleet base west commodore, said the Colorado maintenance period would be used to “practise and test our procedures across a range of nuclear-related operational scenarios”. Officials stressed that no radiological material would be transferred during the maintenance period and that nuclear-related exercises would be simulated.

Late last year, Senate estimates heard that US submarines carrying nuclear weapons could rotate through Australian ports despite a non-proliferation commitment. USS Colorado captain Justin Reeves said the US government would not “confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons on specific platforms”.

The Colorado was built in 2018 and arrived carrying conventional weapons, including four torpedoes and four “payload tubes” that can house and launch weapons. It took two weeks to travel from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to Perth with 160 men and no women aboard. A sign labelled “Berth Rules”, taped to the wall near the submarine’s entryway, listed “Don’t be stinky” as the crew’s top priority once they reach port.

Nuclear submarines do not need to refuel, giving them an effectively infinite range. “The limits of its endurance are really food and toilet paper, and that’s several months’ worth,” Reeves said. “Being nuclear powered is a massive advantage.”