HMAS Farncombe: Sailors Feared Worst as Submarine Sank

[battlestar]

This was just put up online...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nati...-1226133528725

From the Australian Article...

JUST after midnight off the coast of Perth, navy submarine HMAS Farncomb was slicing below the surface of a rough sea when its engines cut out.

For the 60 men and women aboard the Collins-class boat, the next few minutes would be among the longest of their lives. Like a Hollywood thriller, the sailors found themselves grappling with a double engine failure followed by a terrifying, powerless descent towards the bottom of the Indian Ocean, stemmed only by the cool actions of a veteran commander.

This real-life drama, which took place at 12.30am on August 23 about 20km off the northwest coast of Rottnest Island, was not revealed by Defence at the time. When quizzed by The Australian the following day, officials gave only a brief, sanitised version of the incident, omitting key facts while praising the competence and training of the crew for following "standard operating procedures".

Battlestar

[culverin]

It is a real shame for the RAN with the misfortunes prevalent in these 6 boats.
Farncombe had suffered generator failure in Jan 2010, and a much more serious incident on Dechaineux on 12 Feb 2003 could have been catastrophic.
It now appears that legal action against the builders, initially, is pending.
Sheean and Rankin are in dockyard hands with a multitude of issues, and all this allied to a lack of crews to enable them to perform their tasks.

[Jackaroo]

... CN says the Incident was sensationalist

http://www.navy.gov.au/Report_of_HMA...nsationalis t

[Jackaroo]

On the Record HMAS Farncomb

http://www.navy.gov.au/On_The_Record...23_August_2011