The Collins Class Submarine Story: Steel, Spies and Spin

by Peter Yule , Derek Woolner

• ISBN13: 9780521868945
• ISBN10: 0521868947
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-02
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Collins Class submarine project was a major undertaking on a national scale for the Australian Defence Department. At its initiation it was the most expensive Defence project ever undertaken in Australia, with a final cost in excess of six billion dollars and lasted for twenty-two years. In this book, the Australian Defence Department have allowed total access to their classified archives as well as access to cabinet papers and the Australian Navy's archives. It addresses all of the controversies surrounding the project throughout its existence, from its initiation in the 1981-82 budget to its completion and delivery in 2003. It is vividly illustrated with photographs from the naval collection.

Author Biography

Derek Woolner is a Visiting Fellow of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University.

Table of Contents

List of key people	p. vii
List of acronyms	p. xv
Introduction	p. xvii
You Can't Build Submarines in Australia	p. 1
'The one class of vessel that it is impossible to build in Australia': Australia's early submarines	p. 3
Australia's Oberon class submarines	p. 11
The submarine weapons update program and the origins of the new submarine project	p. 20
The new submarine project	p. 30
'We can't build submarines, go away': Eglo Engineering and the submarine project	p. 37
The acts of the apostles	p. 44
'But how will you judge them?': the tender evaluation process 1984-85	p. 58
Spies, leaks and sackings: from tender evaluation to project definition study	p. 76
The project definition study 1985-86	p. 89
Debating the laws of physics: picking winners 1987	p. 101
The Honeymoon Years 1987-92	p. 117
'Keen as mustard to do a good job': setting to work 1987-89	p. 119
Designing the Collins class	p. 130
Building submarines	p. 142
The automated integrated vision	p. 152
Steel, sonars and tiles: early technological support for the submarines	p. 166
'On time and on budget'	p. 181
'A Strange Sense of Unease' 1993-98	p. 191
End of the honeymoon	p. 193
The trials of Collins	p. 205
'They were problems we didn't expect'	p. 221
The role of Defence Science: noise and diesels	p. 235
'A patch on this and chewing gum on that': the combat system 1993-97	p. 244
Resolution	p. 255
'Hardly a day went by without the project getting a hammering in the press': the project in crisis 1997-98	p. 257
'Bayoneting the wounded': the McIntosh-Prescott report	p. 274
'That villain Briggs' and the submarine 'get-well' program	p. 287
'Inside the American tent': the saga of the replacement combat system	p. 299
'We'll do it and get rid of the buggers': Kockums, ASC and Electric Boat	p. 310
'We would find that challenging': comparison and retrospect	p. 319
Notes	p. 330
Index	p. 349
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