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Diesels
rule
Sheean KICKS in undersea battle
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HMAS
Sheean has triumphed over USS Olympia in a submarine v submarine
battle off the coast of Hawaii.
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HMAS
Sheean (LCDR Tim Brown) has triumphed over USS Olympia in a submarine
v submarine battle off the coast of Hawaii.
Fresh from participating in RIMPAC 2002, HMAS Sheean completed PCO
(Prospective Commanding Officer) operations with USS Olympia and
two Arleigh Burke destroyers, USS Russell and USS O’Kane during
the period 9/23 August.
The joint USN-Australian ops involved twelve USN commanders and
two Australians, LCDR Gary Lawton and LCDR Mark Potter, who both
recently completed the arduous Perisher submarine commanders course.
The PCO Ops was conducted in two phases with the officers divided
into two groups. One group went to Olympia and the other to Sheean,
changing submarines after five days.
This allowed the officers, who each played Duty Commanding Officer
in rotation, to take charge of both a nuclear and conventional diesel
submarine.
According to Sheean’s XO, LCDR Mark Hammond, this gave the
CO “a greater depth of understanding of tactics, and operabilities
of the submarines”.
The first phase of the PCO ops was submarine versus submarine, with
the tempo increasing in the second phase to include Russell and
O’Kane.
LCDR Hammond said Sheean performed extremely well.
“A lot of the tactics we tried against Olympia and the destroyers
were very successful”.
“In all, Sheean fired 28 practice weapons, including two in
shallow water and was found to have had the upper edge on Olympia
in many respects including firing solutions and targeting”.
LCDR Hammond said, “This year the ship’s company of Sheean
will spend approximately 230 days away from home. The crew is perhaps
the best I have ever served with. They are very professional and
morale remains high.
“Sheean continues to ‘Fight On’ ”.
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