RIMPAC ships steam in formation off Hawaii

The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force ship JS Shirane (DDH 143) and the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Reuben James (FFG 57) sail in close formation during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012.

Twenty-two nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in the biennial RIMPAC exercise from June 29 to Aug. 3, in and around the Hawaiian Islands. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2012 is the 23rd exercise in the series that began in 1971.

Ships and submarines participating in the Rim of the Pacific naval exercises lined up for their class portrait Friday in sun-dappled waters off Hawaii.

The flotilla, led by the carrier USS Nimitz, included the Pearl Harbor-based cruisers USS Chosin, USS Lake Erie and USS Port Royal, destroyers USS Chafee, USS Chung-Hoon and USS Paul Hamilton, frigates USS Crommelin and USS Reuben James, submarines USS Charlotte, USS Cheyenne and USS North Carolina, and the salvage ship USS Salvor.

Meanwhile, days after sinking the decommissioned USNS Kilauea, the Australian navy’s HMAS Farncomb was sidelined last week due to a flooding incident.

According to the Australian Defense Force, the Collins-class submarine was cruising at periscope depth during an exercise on Wednesday when a water hose in the vessel’s weight compensation system split, resulting in minor flooding.

No one was hurt in the incident and the submarine was able to safely return to Pearl Harbor for repairs. The cause of the malfunction is under investigation.

The submarine was responsible for one of the most publicized and impressive RIMPAC demonstrations this month. On July 23, the Farncomb sank the 12-ton target ship with a MK-48 torpedo.

The blast split the ship in two, causing it to sink within 40 minutes.

Collins submarines like the Farncomb were subjected to rigorous examination following a near disaster in 2003, in which a seawater cooling hose burst while the HMAS Dechaineux was deep under water.

The accident resulted in significant design upgrades to similar vessels, including the Farncomb.

Two years ago, the Farncomb was also forced to withdraw from exercises due to a generator failure.

Australia is one of 22 nations participating in this year’s RIMPAC exercises.

Collins submarine problems.

Sailors aboard a Collins-class submarine forced to return to base for repairs during a multinational exercise near Hawaii last week would have been profoundly disappointed, a former senior submariner says.

It is the second time in just over a year a Collins-class submarine has had to withdraw from a major international exercise because of mechanical issues.

The former commander of the Australian Navy Submarine Group, Steve Davies, said the officers and crew of HMAS Farncomb would have been riding high after successfully sinking a decommissioned United States warship with a Mk 48 torpedo during RIMPAC 2012.

HMAS Farncomb experienced ''a minor flood'' shortly after the firing exercise while snorkelling to recharge its batteries.

One of the hoses in the submarine's weight compensation system split, spraying water into a machinery space.

Emergency measures were invoked with the ship withdrawing from the exercise and returning to Pearl Harbour for repairs.

HMAS Dechaineux was unable to take part in Exercise Bersama Shield last May when issues with her engines left her stranded in Singapore.

Mr Davies, who was in Canberra last week as part of his new role as executive director of the Submarine Institute of Australia, said he had experienced similar disappointments during his own service and could feel for the 60-strong crew.

It was unfortunate the hose failure had drawn attention away from the excellent job HMAS Farncomb had done in sinking the former US ammunition ship, USNS Kilauea, with a single Mk 48 torpedo.

Hitting a target that was dead in the water was far more challenging than locking on to a moving ship.

''Torpedoes like speed,'' he said. ''A moving object is much easier to spot. One of the tactics you can use against a torpedo attack is to stop near a border or boundary of some kind.''

The firing exercise, or SINKEX as it is known, would have been a very costly undertaking.

In addition to missing out on Kilauea's value as scrap, the United States Navy would have also had to spend a lot of money decontaminating the vessel to make sure she was safe to sink. The torpedo alone costs more than $3.5 million.

''The Mk 48 Model 7 has been developed jointly by Australia and the US,'' Mr Davies said.

''It has sonar, guidance and tracking systems and trails a wire.''

The torpedoes, which carry just under 300 kilograms of explosives, are fitted with sophisticated magnetic sensors that allow them to detonate under their targets to inflict the maximum possible damage. They weigh almost 1700 kilograms and are 5.8-metres long.

Classified as a heavy torpedo, the Mk 48s are designed to break a ship in two.

VX-1 Flies P-8 Poseidon during RIMPAC 2012

The P-8A Poseidon jet, a replacement maritime patrol aircraft for the P-3C Orion, made its Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise debut this year, flown by two air crews from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 1 at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay, during the 23rd edition of the biennial exercise .

"While the P-3C Orion is a very forgiving aircraft and has served the fleet very well, the P-8A Poseidon is easier to fly, trims well, and handles flawlessly [at low altitude]," said Lt. Cmdr. Chris Artis, VX-1 maintenance officer and integrated training team pilot. "It's easy to maneuver, and the situational awareness in the cockpit is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Getting used to the technology and the different displays can be a challenge, but overall it's fun to fly."

The VX-1 crews flew two P-8As during 24 exercise events ranging from routine test flights to simulated anti-submarine warfare. VX-1 officials said training requirements are extensive in the P-8A because of the complexity and the speed of the aircraft, and that RIMPAC provided extensive, open airspace and a robust exercise schedule where the squadron could demonstrate the capability of the new aircraft.

"The addition of two P-8A aircraft from Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 enabled us to get an early look at how we can integrate this new platform in a Joint and Combined operating environment," said Adm. Cecil D. Haney, U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, who flew a mission with VX-1 earlier in the week. "I had the opportunity to personally observe its great potential during a flight where the crew demonstrated each weapon system while we conducted ASW and ISR."

The P-8A is based on the Boeing 737-800ERX airliner, but incorporates a host of modifications. The Poseidon will replace the P-3C Orion, now in its 50th year of service, as a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. It will maximize the experience and technology of the Orion but with significant growth potential, greater payload capacity, advanced mission systems, software and communications. Six additional fuel tanks in P-8As allow for the jet's extended range.

"The P-3C is an aging airframe with aging systems on board." said Cmdr. Gregory Sleppy, VX-1 operational test director for the P-8. "It's becoming very expensive to operate because of the age of the airframe, and has been up for 50 years; that's half the life of [naval] aviation."

P-8As feature Raytheon multi-mission surface search radars, and incorporate a short bomb bay aft of the wings for torpedoes, sonobouys (small expendable sonar capsules that are dropped or ejected from the aircraft for anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustic research), and cargo. Additionally, the jets will use new hydrocarbon sensors to detect vapors from diesel submarines and other conventionally powered ships.

"We can look forward to an increased availability rate right off the bat," said Sleppy. "Next you're going to see a more interoperable platform. The communications suite on the aircraft is far more advanced. Those are going to be the immediate things that the fleet commanders are going to see."

Twenty-two nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, over 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in the RIMPAC exercise from June 29 to Aug. 3 in and around the Hawaiian Islands. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2012 is the 23rd exercise in the series that began in 1971.

Gotcha! HMCS Victoria torpedoes US navy ship

The USNS Concord went to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in minutes after being hit by a torpedo fired from the submarine HMCS Victoria.

Two weeks ago the Royal Canadian Navy achieved something that, as recently as a year ago, many thought impossible: One of its submarines fired a fully armed torpedo.

Not only that, it hit the mark and sank a decommissioned U.S. navy ship in less than 15 minutes.

The submarine was HMCS Victoria and it fired a heavyweight MK48 torpedo as part of RIMPAC naval exercises off the island of Kauai, Hawaii.

Vice-Admiral Paul Maddison, Commander RCN, was there to see it for himself. He left nobody in any doubt about the significance of the event.

“This is a clear demonstration of the full weapons capability of the Victoria-class and marks a significant achievement in HMCS Victoria’s return to operations,” said Vice-Admiral Maddison.

“This platform provides Canada with a unique strategic capability unrivalled in stealth, persistence and lethality that can act decisively on and below the surface of the sea at a time and place of the government’s choosing.”

It’s not recorded if he added a sigh of relief, but it would have been understandable if he did.

The sinking of the USNS Concord means Canada’s troubled four-boat submarine fleet may be finally approaching full operational capability, thus ending one of the most troubled defence procurement projects in Canadian military history.

The story began in the 1990s when Canada wanted to replace its 1960s-era diesel-electric Oberon class subs. The boats were reliable, quiet, well crewed and operated but were simply too old to put back in the water.

New submarines seemed an impossible fiscal and strategic dream, because the cost of replacement would have been upwards of half a billion dollars each.

Step forward Britain. The Royal Navy had four slightly used Upholder class diesel-electric subs that it was willing to part with for a mere $188 million each.

Britain launched these boats in the late 1980s, commissioned them between 1990 and 1993, but then mothballed the fleet as the Cold War drew to an end and the RN went solely with nuclear submarines.

So the deal was made in 1998, with delivery of the Upholders to begin in 2000.

Canada decommissioned its Oberons before discovering that the British boats needed more work (removing rust, fixing electrical flaws, installing Canadian compatible equipment and repairing key welds) than anticipated.

The reason for the massive works program was simple. The British had chosen to retire the Upholders rather than upgrade them, so the submarines’ first deep refit work was left to Canada.

Canada also wanted compatibility with its Oberon-legacy MK48 torpedoes rather than replacing them with the British Spearfish torpedoes that the subs had been built for.

Added to the basic refit work was the task of replacing some Upholder systems with fire control devices from the Oberons, a decision that was meant to be economical.

It wasn’t. Canada learnt a multi-million dollar lesson that any other non-nuclear submarine operating country like South Korea, Australia, Germany, Israel or Japan could have told them for free.

Submarine fleets are expensive to buy (even second hand) and even more expensive to run in the long term.

Unsurprisingly, final refit and refurbishment costs for Canada’s renamed Victoria Class soared well past the initial $750-million estimate. This was on top of the initial purchase price.

There was plenty of political flack along the way and a near catastrophic fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi that combined to have some experts predicting in mid-2011 the program would be wound up.

That was then and this is now.

The RCN remains confident it will have three submarines fully operational by 2013. The final one, HMCS Chicoutimi, is expected to be ready by 2016.

That will be good news for Canadian taxpayers, politicians, the RCN and, interestingly enough, our neighbours south of the border.

The U.S. Navy needs to train against diesel-electric subs, but doesn’t operate any. Canada’s next-door fleet will be a much sought after partner for joint naval exercises.

It will also bring back a few memories for the U.S. Navy — maybe not all of them good.

During the 1981 NATO exercise Ocean Venture, an unnamed RCN Oberon class submarine infiltrated one of two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups.

It evaded the screening destroyers and “sank” the carrier USS America without once being itself detected.

Later in the same North Atlantic exercise a second unidentified diesel sub “sank” the carrier USS Forrestal.

This is the experience that RCN submariners are rebuilding with the Victoria class — one torpedo at a time.