Publication:Sea Talk Autumn 2005/Submariners - making the TV series
Story by LCDR Graham Spencer, CMDR Stu Wheeler and CPO Nola Eccles
For 15 months, Navy has been assisting a local WA based Film Company, Electric Pictures Pty Ltd (EP), to produce six episodes of a new TV series called Submariners.
The series is to provide the public an insight into life on board an Australian submarine deployed overseas - to raise the public profile of submarines.
And early reports by people close to the vision editors reckon the series will be 'a corker' in 'observational reality' styling with two or three themes running simultaneously in any one episode.
CEO of Electric Pictures Andrew Ogilvie in late 2003 wrote to Chief of Navy (CN) seeking help with the production. VADM Ritchie agreed and the rest is history, as they say in the movies.
Preparation began with writer and director Hugh Piper and cameraman Paul Warren joining the Submarine Force Element Group (FEG) for medical examinations, submarine familiarisation and emergency escape briefs from the Submarine Escape and Rescue Centre (SERC) and the underwater medical unit in HMAS Stirling.
The Service's newest boat, HMAS Rankin, was nominated to embark them. Fitted out with black overalls, boots, bunk bags they were invited to participate in and shoot HMAS Rankin's workup between February and April last year.
Behind the scenes, a formal agreement was drafted and signed by the EP CEO and the Maritime Commander. The Defence Security Branch-WA (DSB-WA) were invited to review the clearance procedures and handling of vision shot onboard Rankin and to undertake personnel security clearances for the EP cameramen and other editorial staff. A separate security protocol was produced by DSB-WA and agreed to by both parties. Personal Participation Forms were issued to the Rankin's crew to protect their privacy and they were briefed on what was involved as Rankin was completing her workup.
It all came together in a rush on Easter Saturday 2004, when Rankin was to sail at noon. But the omens were not good: the boat's refrigerators leaked refrigerant moments before they were to sail and a technician was called to re-gas the freezers, only hours earlier filled with fresh meat for the deployment. Undaunted, the families stood patiently on the wharf, quietly happy to spend an extra two hours with their loved ones. The submarine finally slipped her lines, glided slowly away from her berth and, a short time later, disappeared from view as the crew took their last look at the hot Western Australian sunlight for several months.
For the men and women of Rankin, the following weeks were filled with a busy program of operations and the submarine rescue exercise known as Pacific Reach; the first multi-national exercise organised and hosted entirely by the South Koreans. An episode of the film features the docking of underwater submarine rescue vehicles shot during the exercise.
After the outstanding success of Exercise Pacific Reach, Rankin made a goodwill visit to the city of Kure on Japan's inland sea. A brave formal reception by the Japanese in pouring rain was captured for the series.The following long transit across the Pacific provided opportunities for some surface steaming, a steel-beach picnic and a spot of golf on the casing.
Meanwhile at home vision was arriving by safe-hand mail from Korea and Japan for security vetting by Captain SM CAPT Mark Sander back at Stirling and another EP camera crew was busy interviewing some of the crew's spouses in the Rockingham area ... to strike a balance between the operational deployment and the spouses left to manage their families in Australia.
United States Navy Public Affairs operatives CDR J. Fleming, CDR Kelly Merrel and LT Erik Reynolds worked with Australian authorities to authorise filming at Pearl Harbor and access to USN help with boat transfers, interviews with American personnel and help from a combat camera team and their helicopters to take footage of RIMPAC ships and submarines participating in RIMPAC 04. Some of this latter footage is seen in the fourth and fifth episodes.
Also in Hawaii, Rankin technicians mounted some underwater cameras on the casing and took some very interesting footage of the submarine while diving. After a break in Australia, the EP camera team returned to Hawaii to film Rankin participating in Exercise Rimpac 04 yielding vision used in the fifth episode. They also flew to Sydney to shoot some spectacular aerial footage of Rankin as she surfaced off Sydney Heads - vision that features prominently throughout the series.
The Navy's submarine training and system school in Western Australia, Training Authority - Submarines, supported EP with the services of computer graphics specialists Peter Brooke and Andrew Widdis who produced a computer- generated virtual 3-D image of a Collins Submarine which appears at the start of each episode and throughout the series.
Recently, Submarine FEG Commander CDRE Richard Shalders, CAPTSM Mark Sander, Rankin's CO LCDR Steve Hussey and the Director of Navy Reputation Management, CMDR Richard Donnelly, previewed the draft six episodes. There is still a lot of work to be done by EP before the May 05 hand-over, but at this stage of development everyone agrees the series is progressing well and should be a 'corker' of a series that will be well received by the public. You will have to see the series to learn what happens onboard Rankin.
During the six-month deployment, Rankin trained a number of submariners for the award of their Dolphins (submariners' brevets). The first two months of the deployment saw four submariner trainees work their way through competency logs and task books under ideal training conditions. In Hawaii they graduated as submariners. The new submariners returned to Stirling and were replaced by another eight trainees who sailed Rankin back to her Western Australian homeport. Over the six-month deployment more trainees qualified in Rankin that ever before and this represented another significant achievement for Rankin and a boost for the submarine workforce.
Overall, the six Submariners episodes will provide a balanced view of operational life in HMAS Rankin and the challenges faced by spouses and families back in Australia, while their loved ones are deployed. The series also caters for the drama enthusiasts who thrive on excitement and intrigue.
It's understood SBS Television has brought the series. Look for the first of the six episodes any time from the end of April.
Navy, Army and Air Force personnel interested in a career in submarines can test the waters first, by attending an obligation-free five-day course in HMAS Stirling Western Australia. The enhanced selection process (ESP) is conducted on a monthly basis by the Training Authority Submarines at the Submarine Training and Systems Centre (STSC) - a modern purpose-built submarine training facility with state-of-art simulators and specialist training equipment for the COLLINS class submarine. Over the five-day course trainees are provided with a variety of briefs and tours plus a general in-sight on the employment, conditions of service and lifestyle of a Collins Class submariner. The submarine service offers highly motivated servicemen and women an opportunity to become part of a close-knit, special breed of sailor.
For more information on a career in submarines, contact Steve Thomas, the ESP Coordinator on 08 9553 3719 or the ESP office on 08 9553 3692. DI(N) PERS 75-41 is the reference for Submarine Selection and Initial Training.
Applicable Website Links are:
a. intranet.defence.gov.au/navyweb/Sites/SMFEG/
