Navy People: Finding Her Niche in the Navy

11 May 2011

Petty Officer Marine Technician Tammy Sprott in the engine room of HMAS Sirius during Exercise Triton Storm 2.

Blackwater local Tammy Sprott has been in the Navy 17 years, and she took her love of soccer with her.

Tammy played for the Young Matildas, Australia’s national women’s soccer youth team, before she enlisted.

She now represents both Navy and the Australian Defence Force in competitions that take her across the country.

Tammy joined the Navy in 1994 and specialised as a Marine Technician. She’s now a Petty Officer.

“After Blackwater State High School, I did a four-year diesel fitting apprenticeship with one of the local mining companies,” Tammy said.

“But by then I had decided to join the Navy so, after my basic training, I went on to specialise as a Marine Technician which took about 12 months.”

Now aboard HMAS Sirius, one of the Navy’s two replenishment ships, Tammy’s job is to maintain the ship’s propulsion plant and the auxiliary machinery in the engine room.

There have been many stand-out moments in the last 17 years but if Tammy had to pick only one it would be when she was in HMAS Success tracking illegal poachers after Patagonian Tooth Fish in the Southern Ocean.

And what next for this Liverpool Football Club supporter from Blackwater?

“To further my career — and to continue representing the Navy and the Defence Force in competitive soccer!” she said.