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From Submersibles to SWUP: The First Seventy-five years of Submarines in Australian Defence and Naval Policy

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Subjects
Early warships, Ship design and development
Tags
submarine design, Oberon class submarine
RAN Ships
Publication
September 2011 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

[17] Rear Admiral G.W.G. Simpson Periscope View: A Professional Autobiography Macmillan, London, 1972, p. 37.

[18] Admiral Sir Frederick Dreyer The Sea Heritage: A Study of Maritime Warfare Museum Press, London, 1935, pp. 318-319. Dreyer was C-in-C China 1933-1936.

[19] Between 1928 and 1938 a total of 31 boats (including the short lived ‘X-1’ cruiser submarine) were built for the RN and RAN for the Far East. This represented a substantial commitment of resources in a period of retrenchment and disarmament. See H.T. Lenton British Submarines MacDonald, London, 1972, p. 4 and pp. 39-53. See also David Henry ‘British Submarine Policy 1918-1939’ Bryan Ranft (Ed.) Technical Change and British Naval Policy 1860-1939 Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1977, p. 92.

[20] See The Navy List for July 1939 (corrected to 18th June 1939) HMSO, London, 1939, pp. 244-247.

[21] First Naval Member Minute to Minister 16 November 1922. Cited Michael W.D. White Australian Submarines: A History AGPS, Canberra, 1992. p. 117.

[22] Stephen Roskill Naval Policy Between the Wars Vol. 1 The Period of Anglo-American Antagonism 1919-1929 Collins, London, 1968, p. 404.

[23] James Neidpath The Singapore Naval Base and the Defence of Britain’s Eastern Empire, 1919-1941 Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1981, pp. 51-52 and p.88.

[24] The quality of the radio equipment was explicitly commented on by the Australian naval staff in 1929. See Michael W.D. White Australian Submarines: A History, Op. Cit., p. 160.

[25] James J. Halley Famous Maritime Squadrons of the Royal Air Force Hylton Lacey, Windsor, 1973, p. 30.

[26] Alastair Mars British Submarines at War 1939-1945 is particularly useful on British submarine training and operations in the Far East between 1937 and 1940. See pp. 21-23, 37-64 and 239-247.

[27] Arthur J. Marder Old Friends, New Enemies: The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy Vol. 1 Strategic Illusions 1936-1941 Oxford University Press, 1981, pp. 354-356.

[28] Alastair Mars, while known for his forthright language, had a point when he labelled Otway an ‘electro-mechanical monstrosity’. British Submarines at War, Op. Cit., p. 119.

[29] Lieutenant (later Rear Admiral) G.B.H. Fawkes, RN (writing as ‘G.B.F.H.’) ‘Narrative in Log Form of Passage of Fourth Submarine Flotilla to Hong Kong, 1930’ The Naval Review February 1931, Vol. XIX, No. 1, pp. 69-89. Even so, three out of four of the submarines experienced defects with their main motors on passage but, unlike the diesel defects of the early O class, they were rectified within a week at Malta.

[30] B.N. Primrose ‘Australian Naval Policy 1919-1942: A Case Study in Empire Relations’ PhD Thesis, The Australian National University, 1974, p. 123.

[31] Ibid. pp. 173-177.

[32] The Sverdlov, as a post war designed and built ship, caused something of a sensation at the 1953 British Coronation Naval Review. Although some authorities were inclined to discount the type as an oceanic threat, the size of the construction program meant that it could not be ignored. See Wilhelm Hadeler ‘The Ships of the Soviet Navy’ M.G. Saunders (Ed.) The Soviet Navy Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 1958, pp. 147-150.

[33] First Naval Member to First Sea Lord letter of 25 June 1956 UK National Archives ADM 205/110. Cited Eric Grove ‘British and Australian Naval Policy in the Korean War Era’ T.R. Frame, J.V.P. Goldrick & P.D Jones Reflections on the Royal Australian Navy Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1991, p. 269.

[34] ‘Report by the Joint Planning Committee at meetings during Tuesday 13th to Saturday 17th October 1959 re Report No. 77/59 – Composition of the Forces 75/59 – Proposed Introduction of a Submarine Service into the Royal Australian Navy.

[35] Stephan Fruhling A History of Australian Strategic Policy since 1945 Australian Department of Defence, Canberra, 2009, p. 262.

[36] See both ‘The Strategic Basis of Australian Defence Policy (October 1975)’ and ‘Australian Strategic Analysis and Defence Policy Objectives (September 1976) Stephan Fruhling (Ed.) A History of Australian Strategic Policy Defence Publishing Service, Canberra, 2009, p. 536 and pp. 616-617.

[37] For the story of SWUP see Michael W.D. White Australian Submarines: A History, Op. Cit., pp. 201-203; Peter Yule & Derek Woolner Steel, Spies and Spin: The Collins Class Submarine Story Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, 2008, pp. 23-26.

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