HMAS Stuart’s principal warfare officer Lieutenant Sebastian Chee is no stranger to working with partner nation navies, and Exercise Kakadu was no different.

One might expect working in the ship’s operations room to be isolating, but during Australia’s largest multinational exercise, Lieutenant Chee and his team were involved in multiple cross-decks and partner training opportunities.

Lieutenant Chee spoke about the opportunities provided by exercises like Kakadu.

“It’s important to work with our partner nations because there are always times when we need to operate together for real,” he said.

“From high-end naval warfighting to humanitarian aid and disaster relief, working together on exercises means we learn each other’s processes and can seamlessly integrate when the situation demands it.”

Lieutenant Chee joined Navy straight out of high school in 2012. Having grown up on the water in Mollymook Beach, NSW, and with ADF service being a family tradition, Navy seemed like a natural choice for the budding warfare officer. 

He studied a Bachelor of Business at the Australian Defence Force Academy before completing the Maritime Warfare Officer Course at HMAS Watson.

“I chose principal warfare officer because I love the tactical side of being a naval officer,” Lieutenant Chee said.

“As officer of the watch, I was concerned with the safe navigation of the ship and executing manoeuvres as required.

“But as the principal warfare officer, I’m focused on the tactical defence of the ship, ensuring that we continue to fight and execute our mission, regardless of what we may have to defend against.”

It was on posting to west-based helicopter frigate HMAS Toowoomba that Lieutenant Chee’s international collaboration began. 

'Kakadu has been a fantastic experience both in developing relationships and our warfighting skills.'

While on board the ’Purple Pony’, Lieutenant Chee engaged in multinational exercises such as Exercise La Perouse and Exercise Bersama Shield, and an Operation Manitou deployment to the Middle East. 

Lieutenant Chee’s warfare and multinational experience came together during Kakadu, when Stuart engaged in a naval gunfire support exercise not only with the Royal Australian Navy and Australian Army, but also with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force ship JS Kumano. 

“I was put in charge of executing the surface shoot with Stuart’s 5-inch Mark 45 gun,” Lieutenant Chee said.

“This involved preparing the overarching safety brief for the serial and delivering to all our participating partner nations.

“This meant we all understood what the safety rules were and were operating synchronously.”

Naval gunfire support is live-fire action by which a ship provides naval artillery support to ground troops, destroy enemy equipment and installations, and aid in the capture of enemy positions.

“Using ships to provide this effect negates the need to land and position artillery in hostile enemy territory,” Lieutenant Chee said.

Most importantly, Lieutenant Chee and his team were involved in bilateral training with the crew of Kumano before the shoot.

“Our commanding officer invited the Kumano team on board Stuart, and I executed a drill run so that they could hear our voice commands, while my colleague explained our process in detail,” Lieutenant Chee said.

“Then we were invited onto Kumano for a reciprocal session and were able to share tips and expertise to enhance and align our drills.”

Lieutenant Chee had observed a naval gunfire support exercise before, but the Kakadu serial was his first live one conducted as the principal warfare officer.

“Having trained for 12 months to do this job, and now being able to do it for real, feeling the ship move as the 5-inch gun fired was definitely a riveting experience,” Lieutenant Chee said.

“The shoot itself was highly successful, and we fired accurately at the targets on Beecroft Weapons Range.

“This was a great training opportunity for the 2 Royal Australian Regiment soldiers who were ashore directing our fire onto target, and we all worked very well together.”

Kakadu is the Royal Australian Navy’s premier multinational maritime engagement exercise, conducted biennially to strengthen maritime security cooperation, enhance interoperability, and build partnerships across the Indo-Pacific. 

At its peak, the exercise involved more than 6000 personnel from Australia and 18 partner nations, with activities conducted across northern and eastern Australia.

“Kakadu has been a fantastic experience both in developing relationships and our warfighting skills,” Lieutenant Chee said.

“Aside from the naval gunfire support exercise, being able to stand out on the upper decks as we entered Sydney Harbour with all our partner nations for the Kakadu Fleet Review was definitely one of my career highlights.”