The first cohort of Royal Australian Navy submariners have qualified to deploy as marine engineers on the UK’s conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines.
Three submariners – Lieutenant Commander James, Lieutenant Isabella, and Lieutenant Steve – qualified as Marine Engineering Officers (submarine) on 18 March 2025 after 2 years of training on the Royal Navy’s Astute class submarines.
The qualification means the trio can now deploy on UK Astute class submarines and be responsible for the boats’ nuclear engineering systems.
The trio is the first Australian cohort to qualify within the UK training system as part of the Royal Navy’s role in AUKUS, the trilateral defence and security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the United States.
The training provided by the Royal Navy will help build Australia’s capability and capacity to safely operate our own future fleet of conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines.
The qualification of this first cohort paves the way for future cohorts of Australian submariners to enter the UK training system as part of the Royal Navy’s commitment to the AUKUS Optimal Pathway.
VADM Jonathan Mead, AO, Director-General of the Australian Submarine Agency congratulated the trio on their qualification.
“These are significant personal achievements, and also represent another significant step towards Australia becoming ready to safely operate our own sovereign fleet of conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines,” said VADM Mead.
“The naval nuclear propulsion training and experience our Royal Australian Navy personnel have access to through our AUKUS partners is as strong and important as the nuclear-powered submarine technology itself.”
“This is AUKUS in action, and takes our country one step closer to operating our own nuclear-powered submarines.”
This AUKUS first follows another recent AUKUS milestone, the US Virginia class submarine, USS Minnesota’s (SSN 783) port visit to Western Australia.
This was the first of several planned US SSN submarine visits to Australia this year. Visits from the UK’s Astute Class submarines will increase from next year.
These milestones help the AUKUS countries collectively prepare for the start of Submarine Rotational-Force West at HMAS Stirling from as early as 2027, during which one UK Astute class submarine and up to four US Virginia class submarines will have a rotational presence at the base.
The start of Submarine Rotational-Force West is the first phase in the AUKUS Pillar I program, which will ultimately result in Australia’s acquisition of a future fleet of conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines.