Milestone for submarine training

A new submarine training trial which aims to significantly reduce training chokepoints and increase graduate numbers has passed out its first round of trainees this month.

Ten sailors from five different categories were awarded their ‘Dolphins’ on August 9, in front of a large congregation of Submariners, support staff, families and friends at the Submarine Training and Systems Centre, HMAS Stirling. Their graduation marked a significant milestone in the evolution of submarine training.

CMDR Hoffman said the revised Submarine Sea Qualification (SMSQ) process, introduced on 1 July, standardised submarine training and the benefits were beginning to take effect.

“The revised process has been developed to ensure standardisation which can stand up to scrutiny by external agencies, while also aiming to increase the efficiency and throughput of submarine training,” CMDR Hoffman said.

“A ‘non-negotiable’ when we were developing this new process was that the high standards and level of knowledge demanded of submarine trainees would not be compromised. This was evident in the week long board process that was conducted as part of the sailor’s final qualification assessment.”

The Board Chair, LCDR Chris Unwin said each board ran for between two and three hours and the sailors were all assessed against the same criteria, irrespective of category.

“The assessment was an intense interrogation of the prospective submariners knowledge of systems, roles, routines, escape and critically, Emergency Operating Procedures,” LCDR Unwin said.

The revised process provides trainees and trainers with very clear goals and timelines to be achieved while removing a significant training burden from the platforms. - Navy