LEUTs Lybrand, Phillips, Westsnott and Williamson.

The Submarine Squadron's newest warfare officers have graduated from STSC, HMAS STIRLING.

The graduating officers were LEUTs Lybrand, Phillips, Westsnott and Williamson (pictured).

The Submarine Warfare Officer course is a four-month practically driven course that has given the students the ability to combine previously learnt navigation skills with formal warfare training. The position of a Submarine Warfare Officer combines the skill sets of a surface OOW and PWO.

On graduation Mr John Kol presented the CSC Sword of Honour to LEUT Tom Phillips for achieving the highest aggregate scores for both theoretical and practical assessment during the SMWO course.

The highlight of the course was a four-week trip to Hawaii.

The course members spent two weeks with the Naval Submarine Training Centre Pacific (NASTYPAC). There the students were instructed in advanced plotting techniques for Target Motion Analysis which they then put to use in the USN's Attack Centres (simulators).

Following this the members went to sea on board HMAS WALLER during the workup phase of RIMPAC for their final sea assessment. This consisted of nine days at sea in which the students fulfilled the roles of watchleader (Super PWO) in situations ranging from passage to advanced CASEXs and finally as the target for US and Australian Mk46 and Mk48 torpedo firings.