Australia's Collins-class Submarine Program by Sub Brief

Above and here Sub Brief’s “Jive Turkey” presented Australia's Collins conventional diesel-electric guided-missile submarine (SSG) Program on April 15, 2021. Some sections are supplemented in greater detail by Wiki’s entry on the Collins class:

1:17 The proposal for a new type of submarine to replace the Oberon class submarines began in July 1978, when the RAN director of submarine policy prepared a paper detailing the need to start considering a replacement for the 6 ageing Oberons with a new class of subs, to be built in Australia (Aus), supported by Aus shipyards, equipped with advanced tech, long life-span of greater than 20 years service, must have peace time (intel gathering, covert insertion, periscope and electronic monitoring, etc) and hunter killer (mainly torpedo and anti-ship missile) capability.

2:41 May 1983, development begins. An initial list of 6 SSK/SSG builders considerd. Also Rockwell proposed a new Combat System (CS)(sensors, database, weapons amounting to about 30% of project).

3:12 May 1985 German vs Swedish main foreign contractor designs shortlisted. Rockwell vs Signaal (notional competitor (group of some US companies)) shortlisted for CS. Sweden’s Type 471 design and Rockwell’s (always the favoured company’s) CS selected. Budget was A$4 Billion in 1986.

4:34 June 1987, Osborne Ship and Submarine yard built for all Collins subs to built in Aus (instead of normal practice on winner (Sweden) building first hull in Sweden).

5:26 Aus’s future submarine class was named in honour of Vice Admiral Collins (1899-1989) with first of class. HMAS Collins, launched by his widow on August 28, 1993

6:14 Collins class Specs: built 1990-2003, 3,100 tonnes (surfaced), 77m long, 7m beam, 3 x Garden Island-Hedemora HV V18b/15Ub 18 cylinder diesel engines, 3 x Jeumont-Schneider Generators 1,400 KW each. the GIH diesel engines turn the JS Generators which in turn charge the batteries. which in turn spin the propeller

7:42 more specs – same as on right sidebar here 

9:11 Feb 1990 keel laid, and other milestones. Rockwell’s advanced CS, with each crew station meant to see all, was ahead of its computer power time, and was never completed to specs,

10:25 Construction problems continue including non release of software for Rockwell CS

11:15 Computer Sciences Corporation takes over CS software development problem. Integrating 1990s software with 1980s hardware a major headache. Software not even matured when HMAS Collins goes on sea trials in 1994. See further detail as CS problems gradually resolved by CS companies (including Raytheon) used by USN nuclear subs. In fact the AN/BYG-1 Combat System used on Collins and US nuclear subs, will be carried over to the future Attack-class.

[Pete Comment: After CS problems were resolved the Collins Garden Island-Hedemora https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedemora_Diesel (a small Swedish company which terminated diesel making around the 1980s) diesel engines' limitations on use remains the Collins class's major problem. 

This is a major reason the Attack class will adopt MTU diesels - a multinational company that supplies diesels to a wide range of civilian and naval ships as well as submarines. ]

12:36 Big Problems with Sea Trials:

- Jive says the contract Aus expected was basically appropriate for a nuclear submarine, ie. silent and reliably operating at high speed [ie. in top 10% of its submerged speed tempo], over a long range and with months of endurance. [All this was not appropriate for even a standard-long range diesel-electric sub, like a large Brazilian Scorpene or a "around Africa" Israeli Dolphin 2]. So Aus was bound to be disappointed with the Collin's performance.

- the fuel tanks are backfilled with seawater (as intended) BUT some of that seawater leaks into diesel engine, stopping compressed diesel fuel from igniting, but cylinders and pistons would compress. The whole process stopping engine(s). [This problem has never been completely fixed. Major “sun-roof” cutout of top rear hull has weakened the pressure hulls of the whole Collins class thus reducing diving depth. Removal and overhaul of diesels (to remove rust-corrosion, salt, water ) from diesels is required each major overhaul. This makes the total annual overall bill for the Collins subs about A$700 million!]

“During trials of the first submarines, the propulsion system was found to be prone to failure for a variety of reasons.^[93] Most failures were attributed to the fifteen-tank diesel fuel system: the tanks were designed to fill with salt water as they were emptied to maintain neutral buoyancy, but water would regularly enter the engines due to a combination of poor design, gravity separation of the fuel and water being insufficient, and operator error resulting from poor training.^[93] Problems were also caused by bacterial contamination of the diesel fuel, which, along with the salt water, would cause the fuel pumps to rust and other components to seize.^[94] The fuel-related issues were solved by installing coalescers, improving training and operational procedures, and adding biocides to the fuel.^[94]”

- shaft seals not aligned properly during construction causing seawater leaks in of up to 984 liters per minute in a deep test dive, almost sinking Collins. Quick action permitted sub to rapidly move to surface. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins-class_submarine#Propulsion_system
“Propeller shaft seals were a significant problem on Collins and Farncomb.^[95] Although designed to allow for a leak of 10 litres per hour, during trials it was found that the seals would regularly misalign and allow hundreds of litres per hour into the boat—during one deep diving test the flow rate was measured at approximately 1,000 litres a minute.^[95] ASC claimed that solving these problems could be done by manually adjusting the seals as the submarine dived and rose, but this would have required a sailor dedicated solely to that task, affecting efforts to minimise the required number of personnel.^[95] It was found that the problem could be temporarily alleviated by running the propeller in reverse for 100 revolutions, pulling the seal back into alignment, although a permanent solution could initially not be found, as ASC refused to accept responsibility for the problem, and the original manufacturer of the seals had closed down.^[95] New suppliers were found, with modified seals fitted to the first two submarines in late 1996, before completely re-designed seals were fitted to the boats in late 1997, solving the problem.^[96] 

- Propeller problems: 

“The propellers themselves were also found to be poorly manufactured, having been shaped by hand, with at least one cast at the wrong pitch.^[97] This was rectified by using a five-axis milling machine for future shaping work and replacing the miscast propeller.^[98] The material used for the propellers was also found to be weaker than expected, developing fatigue cracks after only a few years of use.^[97] Instead of going to Kockums, which had started to go into decline after the end of the Cold War, the submarine project office sent the propeller to the United States Navy for redesigning.^[99] Despite the Americans fixing the problems with the propeller design, resulting in significant performance improvements, the Swedish company was dissatisfied with the Australian actions; the dispatch of the propellers was one of the points of contention in the company's legal action in the mid-2000s against the Australian government over ownership of the intellectual property rights to the submarine's design.^[100]“Bad cavitation problem causing lengthening of sail.

- Other propulsion problems: See:

“Other propulsion problems included excessive motor vibrations at certain speeds which damaged various components (which was attributed to the removal of a flywheel and to corrosion caused by the fuel problems), and excessive fuel consumption in Collins at high speed (found to be caused by manufacturing problems with the turbines and turbochargers).^[101] The propulsion system was also found to be a secondary source of noise: poor design of the exhaust mufflers, weight-saving measures in the generator mountings, and an incorrect voltage supply to the battery compartment exhaust fans were noise-creating factors found and eliminated during studies by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.^[102]

In March 2010, the Department of Defence revealed that the generators in five of the submarines were flawed and had to be replaced.^[103] The three Australian-made generators aboard each of the five submarines (the generators aboard Collins were French-built, and exhibited no defects) are to be replaced in the submarines as they come in for their next maintenance docking.^[103]

- Periscopes and Masts
Periscopes had two problems, the first of which was shared with the other masts.^[104] They were not streamlined; raising a periscope while moving would create enough drag and turbulence to shake the entire submarine.^[105] As with many elements of the submarine, there were disagreements as to who was responsible for the problem.^[105] It was solved by modifying the masts to redirect the water flow around them (for example, a spiral wrap was fixed around the head of each periscope).^[106]

The periscopes also had problems with their optics: periscope users reported difficulty in refocusing after changing magnification, duplication of images, and bands across the field of vision.^[106] These problems were attributed to RAN demands that the optical view be the first exposed when a periscope was raised above the water, instead of placing the infrared sensor and single-pulse radar at the head as on other submarines, requiring the optical path to be routed around these components.^[106] The periscopes were gradually improved, and were no longer a problem by the time the fast track submarines entered service.^[56]

17:00 July 1996 HMAS Collins commissioned

17:35 - 6 x horizontal torpedo tubes capable of carrying 22 heavyweight shots, including top mod Mk.48 torpedoes, also Harpoon missiles and UK mines, no Tomahawk hardware  capability. SURTASS towed sonar array, LINK-11 datalink for big picture situational awareness.

19:22 History of Service. Great Record including October 21, 1999 HMAS Waller inserted Clearance Divers into Oecussi/Ambeno enclave, East Timor. Lots of exercise sinkings by Collins subs of “enemy” ships and subs (including Los Angeles class) ,

21:06 In mid 2000s begin some rather early 10 Year Mid-Life Upgrades (totalling 24 months per sub). The Collins class of today much better than Collins class of 2001.