The US Navy’s operations chief says his country will make good on its commitment to start delivering Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia by 2032, while suggesting the US industrial base will be big and quick enough by the end of the decade to fulfil those orders.
US Naval Operations Chief Admiral Daryl Caudle has been in Australia for the past few days and on Tuesday visited HMAS Stirling and Rockingham in Perth’s south to see progress on base upgrades to begin accommodating a rotating force of US and British submarines from next year.
Under the $368 billion AUKUS agreement, Australia has agreed to purchase between three and five Virginia-class nuclear submarines, with the first set to be delivered by 2032.
Sceptics of the pact, including former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, believe that timeline will be impossible to meet because of the slow rate at which the US Navy is building its own submarines, around 1.3 per year.
In order to meet the “optimal pathway” outlined by the original AUKUS agreement, the US will need to improve that build rate to 2.3 submarines per year.
During his confirmation hearing in July last year, Caudle himself said there needed to be a “transformational improvement” in shipbuilding rates of 100 per cent to reach that target.
Speaking to WA media during his visit, Caudle said he was optimistic that it would happen.
“It’s a tough thing to predict, but I would say, I can confidently say that we should be above two submarines a year by the 2030s…based on our current projections,” he said.
“Improvements in shipbuilding are slow because it took a long time for it to get to the place that it is today and the things that we’re doing, I think, take time to get it back to the place that I mentioned in my confirmation hearing.”
Caudle said the Navy was doing a range of things to improve its industrial base, including improving workforces, advanced manufacturing and using modularisation.
He also said improved shipbuilding maintenance programs would see more US submarines in the water.
Caudle said he visited areas south of Perth where US sailors will eventually live and met with Defence Housing Australia, which will facilitate the housing needs of the sailors arriving from next year.
With Perth in the grips of a housing crisis, Caudle said the number of sailors would be a “blip” in the population increases, but that US sailors would fall in love with Perth and would have a big impact on the local economy.
“The actual impact of what US sailors will bring to the local economy there, I think, will be significant and a big opportunity for your country,” he said.
Caudle revealed the name of the squadron that would be based in WA as Submarine Squadron 3, which he commanded when it was based on Pearl Harbour before it was dismantled in 2012.
With Australia purchasing Virginia-class submarines Caudle said it would be an “implicit expectation” that the two countries’ respective navies would work closely together in the decades to come.
“You’re such a great partner. You’ve been with us in conflict since World War II, just in earnest,” he said.
“When you have a great relationship with a country, and you have the same, generally, the same national interest and to protect the international rules-based order to protect sea lanes of communication, to protect critical choke points, the flow of commerce. Those types of missions are just common to like-minded navies.
“I think what comes with the selling of Virginia-class submarines is that we will just naturally work together to accomplish those missions together.
“So I wouldn’t put it too much as a hard expectation is, I would just [say it’s] what two great partners do together.
“We operate together today with your Collins class, and we’ll operate together with the Virginia class of the future.”
The Australian Government is investing $8 billion to expand HMAS Stirling’s infrastructure over a decade so it can accommodate a rotating force of UK and US nuclear submarines, as well as eventually the Royal Australian Navy’s own Virginia Class submarines and the Australian-built SSN-AUKUS.
Hamish Hastie is WAtoday’s state political reporter and the winner of five WA Media Awards, including the 2023 Beck Prize for best political journalism.Connect via X or email.
