Royal Australian Navy lumbered with sub-par hardware

Couriermail.com.au ^ | 2/1/2010 | Mike O'Connor

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

WE are, as the torturous lyrics of our national anthem remind us, a nation girt by sea, a condition that ensures that we rely heavily for our continued existence on ships.

One wonders, then, why the Royal Australian Navy and the contractors that supply it have such an appalling record in delivering naval vessels that go anywhere near performing the tasks required of them to defend our island continent.

[Ronin]

Two words: Union Labor.

[freedumb2003]

WE are, as the torturous lyrics of our national anthem remind us, a nation girt by sea

Well, here they are: Australian National Anthem (quite lovely, actually).

God, this sounds like Grand Fenwick meets Fredonia.

But of course they know, just as the entire civilized world that the US is he ulimate and final backstop.

[GATOR NAVY]

Did they have any experience with submarine construction prior to the Collins class? If not it would seem like a partnership with an experienced submarine shipbuilder would have been a good idea.

[sukhoi-30mki]

The Collins were designed with Swedish help.

[naturalman1975]

Designed with Swedish help as mentioned - and the thing is, the Collins class boats are nowhere near as bad as the media makes out. They’re not perfect, but they are actually pretty capable. Early problems lead to a media meme that they were awful, and they’ve kept it running. Every minor problem is turned into an absolute disaster in the press.

What some people in the media don’t seem to realise is that bringing a vessel into port for repairs doesn’t always mean it couldn’t be deployed if it had to be deployed. A vessel that is working at 80% of full capacity can still be very capable if you need it to be, even while it obviously needs some work to be done. They act as if every problem is a fatal problem.

[GATOR NAVY]

Having served on my share of naval vessels that makes sense. Thanks.