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The commencement of the first Royal Australian Navy (RAN) surface warfare officer (SWO) course on 7 January 1985 heralded the end of a more than 75-year period during which the RAN had relied on Great Britain’s Royal Navy to provide subspecialist training for seaman officers. From the outset, the concept of the RAN, developed by the late Rear Admiral Sir William Creswell in the early 1900s, stressed “self-dependence in everything that makes for defence,” and strongly argued that “the training of officers and men should, as far as possible, be carried out in Australia.”1
These guiding principles are still relevant and have inspired the development of the RAN as a highly professional and efficient maritime service. The former principle continues to pose a major challenge to the RAN because the absence of defense-oriented high technology industry in Australia dictates a reliance on overseas suppliers for the majority of weapon and sensor systems.
Current trends exemplified by the government’s Australian Industrial Participation policy and successful shipbuilding projects, such as the North Queensland Engineers and Agents-built Fremantle- class patrol boats and the Carrington- constructed amphibious landing ship, HMAS Tobruk, indicate a sound movement toward self-dependence. Future naval acquisitions, such as the Australian Frigate Project (two Oliver Hazard Perry [FFG-7]-class guided-missile frigates now being constructed at Williamstown Dockyard), new submarine construction, and the aquisition of Seahawk helicopters for RAN frigates will continue this trend and present room for increased Australian industry involvement in defense projects.
Total implementation of the latter principle has eluded the RAN for many years because the resources available for defense were channeled into capital equipment purchases to maintain a naval force structured to meet Australian Defense Force requirements. Although the majority of sailor training has been conducted “in-country” for some time, there has been a reluctance to allocate the manpower and financial resources required to sustain shore training facilities associated with officer and “high-technology” equipment training.
With the establishment of the Royal Australian Naval College in 1913, the evolutionary process of training Australian officers commenced. This process has grown as the RAN has developed so that, today, all general officer training is conducted in Australia. However, until 1985, the RAN traditionally relied on the Royal Navy to provide subspecialist training for seaman officers and continues to rely on the U. S. Navy to provide some high technology equipment training for both officers and sailors.
When breaking down the 1984-85 budget, the Australian treasurer emphasized that the total defense budget allocations reflected government commitment to maintaining an independent defense effort, improving Australia’s defense capabilities over the long-term, and sustaining defense cooperation in neighboring regions. Although capital investment continues to be the major factor associated with this policy, the introduction of RAN SWO training will also contribute to the defense effort in numerous ways.
The genesis of SWO training has its roots in the Naval Warfare Study Group, which was commissioned in 1980 to address the existing system of SWO training and to identify a course of action for the RAN into the 1980s. Aspects of the group’s report were subsequently endorsed by the Chief of Naval Staff Advisory Committee in June 1982, and the SWO Training Project was established in July 1983.
In addition to the general concept of self-reliance, there were a number of determining factors which forced the RAN to discontinue the pre-1985 SWO training system, which relied on the Royal Navy Principal Warfare Officer (PWO) Course. First, escalating tuition costs for the Royal Navy PWO Course were restricting the numbers of RAN officers in the program to the extent that a shortfall of more than 75 SWOs existed in 1984. Although the RAN requires 32 new SWOs per year, in 1983-84 only 16 officers were able to attend the Royal Navy PWO at a total cost of $2.4 million. This was not cost-effective.
Second, Royal Navy equipment differs greatly from that used by the RAN. Subsequently, the Royal Navy PWO course, which emphasizes NATO tactics and procedures in the North Atlantic strategic and environmental conditions, does not specifically help RAN SWOs who must work in a different theater of operations. In view of the increasing irrelevance of the Royal Navy PWO course, considerable “Australianization” was required when RAN officers returned from the United Kingdom to serve in HMA ships-
Third, RAN places on the Royal Navy PWO courses were restricted to the vacancies remaining after Royal Navy requirements were satisfied. Consequently- the RAN had little control over its input and had to adjust RAN postings on the basis of Royal Navy offers rather than RAN requirements.
In the new RAN SWO training system, the two main subsystems are the training organization and the SWO courses. The RAN Surface Warfare School (RANSWarS) was established on 1 January 1984 with the commanding officer - HMAS Watson (at Watsons Bay, Sydney), being designated as the RANSWarS director. In addition, the training commander was redesignated as the deputy director and a SWO course directing start was established.
The RANSWarS director is tasked to direct the coordination and conduct o SWO training in Australia. This responsibility is exercised through the deputy director, who has direct control of the existing warfare schools at HMAS Wtff- son, namely, electronic warfare (EW). antisubmarine warfare (ASW), navigation, action information organization (AIO), and command training team- These schools are combined with the existing training administration and the ne^ SWO Course Directing Staff to form the RAN Surface Warfare School.
Other RAN and joint service establishments such as HMAS Cerberus, HMAS Penguin, HMAS Albatross (Naval Air Station and Australian Joint Anti-Submarine School), Combat Data System Center, Fyshwick, and the Australian Join Warfare Establishment, Williaintown, 10 name a few, play important roles in providing subspecialist instruction and facilities to support SWO training. .
RAN SWO courses are conducted >n two consecutive phases: .
- Phase 1: Common warfare training qualifies students as PWOs (appro*1 mately 33 weeks).
- Phase 2: Subspecialist training is con
ducted in the traditional areas of ASW’ communications, direction, gunnery- and navigation (approximately I O'1 weeks). .
The SWO Course is supported by a J°in Warfare Course during Phase 1 and a four-week period of advanced tactic training at the U. S. Fleet Combat Train ing Center, Pacific, in San Diego.
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Proceedings / March
1986
W,
gineering School, HMAS Cerberus,
At a later stage in their careers, a small Percentage of experienced SWOs will be selected for advanced warfare technology gaining (AWTT) to prepare them for bile’s which involve the development of j!aval staff proposals and requirements °r future equipment acquisitions. Al. °ugh details of AWTT are not yet final- 1Ze<l> it is envisaged as a one-year study eourse at the post-graduate level covering °Pics associated with maritime defense technology.
Development of the SWO Phase 1 c°urse is complete, and two 33-week c°urses will be conducted annually with Approximately 16 students per course.
he navigation and communication subspecialist courses have been conducted y the RAN since 1981 and 1983 respec- 1Vely, and are considered established c°urses. The first ASW sub-specialist bourse was held in September 1985, and he direction and gunnery subspecialist c°urses were conducted in January 1986. Over the last 20 years, the RAN has udt up an impressive array of training ac|lities at shore training establishments, .hough the ideal situation of having jhoiulations of all equipment fitted in AN ships does not prevail, there is suf- teient equipment available ashore to in- r°duce SWO students to the principles of naval combat systems.
Students are introduced to systems
bchnology at the Weapons Electrical tng' estemport, Victoria, where they have access to weapon and sensor equipment tepresentative of systems fitted in the eet- Practical weapon training is con- heted at the West Head Gunnery Range, ahd an introduction to tactical communi- bA’ions principles, equipment, and proce- „Ures is held at the Communication chool, also at HMAS Cerberus.
The longest segment of the SWO c°urse is devoted to the study of AIO,
ASW, EW, equipment, operating techniques, and tactical procedures at the RAN Surface Warfare School. Simulators and tactical cubicles in the Tactical Trainer Building are extensively used. Practical ASW training will use the Mul- loka sonar trainer being installed at the ASW school.
At present, the operations room simulators at RANSWarS are manual and therefore representative of only the older River-class destroyer escorts. Consequently, the manual models are used to develop the basic principles of naval operations, which are then applied to the automated environment at the Combat Data System Centre (CDSC), Fyshwick. At CDSC, all SWO students are instructed in the operation of FFG and DDG naval combat data system equipment, and undertake simulated operations at advanced levels.
Heavy reliance is placed on the availability of fleet units for “hands on” time. Access to equipment not held ashore is essential to ensure that all SWO students are well versed in all RAN weapons and sensor systems.
The highlight of the course is a week at sea, during which time all SWO students are given the opportunity to practice their newly acquired warfare skills during an extensive exercise period off the East Australian coast.
The availability of video equipment for training also helps breach the credibility gap when actual equipment is not available ashore. RANSWarS staff have commenced production of an impressive list of video films, effectively bringing equipment into the classroom and thereby reducing the reliance on ship visits.
Experience has shown that simulators tend to become obsolescent as ships are modernized and shore training equipment is not. There is some area to replace these simulators with emulators which use ge-
Many factors—such as the introduction of U. S.-designed frigates like the Sydney—influenced the Australians to discontinue their pre-1985 practice of receiving their SWO training from the Royal Navy.
neric hardware and rely on software to present the student with an emulation of a piece of equipment. Consideration should also be given to the use of computer- aided instruction, which can be most useful in exposing students to large amounts of data in a more structured manner than is possible in the traditional classroom.
While some critics may be apprehensive about the introduction of SWO training in Australia, such training is an essential part of improving self-reliance and professionalism in the fleet. This historic milestone in the development of the RAN will present many challenges and place further demands on scarce training resources. However, the end result will be worthwhile, because for the first time in 75 years, the RAN will have a surface warfare officer course tailored to meet the RAN’s requirements, using RAN combat systems in the Australian environment.
'G. L. Macandie, The Genesis of the Royal Australian Navy (Sydney, Australia: Government Printer, 1949), pp. 319; 232.
Commander McLennan graduated from the Royal Australian Naval College in 1966 and later qualified as a principal warfare officer and gunnery subspecialist. His active duty as a surface warfare officer includes an exchange tour with the Royal Navy and a tour as operations and gunnery officer of HMAS Brisbane (DDG-41). Since promotion to commander in 1981, he has served at the RAN Office in Canberra as patrol craft project director and as surface warfare officer training project officer. He is now the commanding officer of HMAS Adelaide (FFG-01).
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r°ceedings / March 1986