HMAS Farncomb docks first
9 Jun 2010
HMAS Farncomb achieved a significant milestone today, when she became the first Collins Class Submarine to be docked at the new $35-million ASC facility, just a bit more than a stone’s throw from her homeport at HMAS Stirling.
Farncomb is presently manned by Crew Four, a reduced sized crew. Throughout 2010 the submarine is being utilized as a training platform and concurrently undergoing a series of maintenance periods. Whilst at ASC the submarine is conducting an Intermediate Docking (ID) at the purpose-built West Australian Submarine Support Facility (WASSF).
Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Peter Ashen, Senior Officer of Crew Four, said the new ASC facility marks not only a ‘first’ for Farncomb but all the Collins submarines, which now only need to travel to ASC in South Australia for Full Cycle Docking (FCD) or maybe other equally significant maintenance.
“It was an 18-hour evolution to get Farncomb from Stirling to Henderson, position her in the new floating dock and by the end of the day have her transferred to the hard-stand ashore,” he said. “The entire evolution went very well and reflected much credit on the wide range of agencies involved, be they RAN or commercial. On the RAN side the support to Crew Four by Fleet Base West Port Services and the Submarine Support Group were critical", he added.
“Docking a submarine at WASSF is a much less time-consuming undertaking than sailing to Adelaide, as submarines have previously been required to for some maintenance periods, which could mean months away from home in WA.”
LCDR Ashen explained that during her ID Farncomb is having a wide range of critical maintenance and rectification work undertaken onboard. In addition to this, Farncomb will still be able to help Part Three trainees complete many sections of their task book, and ultimately earn their Dolphins. These new submariners are critical to the regrowth of the submarine workforce and the expansion of Crew Four to a fully manned crew by December 2011.
“During the ID the nucleus of Crew Four will have a dozen or more Part Three trainees with us at anyone time,” he said. “There is the potential for a good many trainees to complete two thirds of their task book onboard, before going to sea on one of the three operational boats, where they will earn their Dolphins.”
“To be a good submariner you must know your platform and Farncomb will help many budding submariners achieve this, before they undertake the challenge of serving in a boat at sea, which is always a mighty steep learning curve. These boats are very complex platforms, it takes a lot of time and effort just to get around the boat and learn how she works.”
LCDR Ashen said the aim of the Navy, ASC, Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) and the other contactors is to have Farncomb ready for sea in 2011, when Crew Four will transfer submarines with Crew Two, presently serving in HMAS Collins. Crew Two, already well experienced, should then have a submarine in good shape ready for a busy year of operational commitments. “The level of co-operation between all agencies to achieve this demanding schedule is excellent” he said.
He said Crew Four would then take Collins and subsequently HMAS Waller through busy maintenance periods next year, whilst gradually building up crew numbers and continuing to support Part Three trainees.
LCDR Ashen said Crew Four is scheduled to be fully manned in December 2011, when it is required to man HMAS Sheean on completion of her FCD in Adelaide, and take her through work-ups to being a fully operational submarine.
