Sailor shortage strands Australian warship HMAS Perth in dry dock for two years   

ABC News
Updated Thu at 11:20am


One of the Navy's recently upgraded Anzac class frigates has been stuck in dry dock since 2017, because the ADF is struggling to find enough sailors to put the warship to sea.
Key points:   

    A report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute confirms military spending will reach the Government's target of 2 per cent of GDP by next financial year
    But the ADF has failed to meet recruitment targets, increasing by 600 people against a target of about 1,730
    The report calls on the ADF to devote more resources to autonomous systems, such as unmanned submarines and aircraft drones

The situation, first uncovered by the auditor-general in March, has been highlighted in a new report that closely examines Australia's $38.7 billion annual defence spend.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's (ASPI) latest "The Cost of Defence" report confirms military spending will easily reach the Government's target of 2 per cent of GDP by next financial year.

However, the ASPI study also found the ADF had failed to achieve "modest" personnel recruitment goals laid out in the most recent defence white paper, published in 2016.

"Overall, it's only increased by 600 actual people against a target of around 1,730 over the period since the white paper," the report concluded.

    "If increasing capital spending quickly is hard, increasing ADF numbers seems even harder."

Report author and former Defence official Marcus Hellyer said the recruitment problem was underlined by the case of an Anzac frigate that had been out of operation since October 2017.

"HMAS Perth, one of Navy's frigates, had gone through a very extensive refit and upgrade, got new radar capabilities, so a lot of investment went into that, but at the end of that process Navy couldn't find a crew for it," Dr Hellyer said.   

"So, it's essentially sitting up on blocks for two years, out of the water because Navy doesn't have the people and I think that's really a microcosm of the challenges the defence force is facing.

    "Defence is finding it really hard to recruit: it takes a long time to train a submarine captain or to train a fighter pilot — you can't just do that overnight."

Australia maintains a fleet of eight Anzac class frigates, although Dr Hellyer noted two of the warships were almost always in deep maintenance, meaning only six at most were available at any one time.
Report calls for more unmanned technology

The ASPI report also called on the Australian Defence Force to "devote more resources to autonomous systems", such as unmanned submarines and aircraft drones.

"One of the advantages of autonomous systems is less people, because these systems can do a lot of the job themselves," Dr Hellyer said.

"Much of the cost of military platforms is due to the need to keep the crew alive, as is much of the complexity of design.

"Remove the crew, and the cost, risk and schedule needed to design and build the platforms decreases dramatically.

Navy shortages can be fixed with Australian merchant seafarers   
Posted by Mua Comms on June 06, 2019

A shortfall of Australian Defence Force personnel that has resulted in an upgraded warship being left in dry dock since 2017 could be addressed by utilising civilian merchant seafarers to fill a range of naval support and auxiliary roles, according to the Maritime Union of Australia.

Anzac class frigate HMAS Perth has reportedly been in dry dock following the completion of a major refit and upgrade because the Royal Australian Navy hasn’t been able to crew the vessel.



MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said a number of naval support vessels were already successfully crewed by civilians, presenting significant opportunities to expand the use of Australian merchant seafarers to free up ADF personnel.



“Australian taxpayers should be shocked to learn that after spending millions upgrading a major warship, it has been left in dry dock because the ADF lacks adequate personnel to put it to sea,” Mr Crumlin said.   



“Additional recruitment and training may provide long-term solutions, but in the short-term the ADF should be looking to expand the use of Australian merchant seafarers in a range of auxiliary roles including supply vessels, training ships and tankers. Australian seafarers already have a proven track record of operating support vessels for the ADF.



“Defence could immediately free up uniformed naval personnel to crew HMAS Perth by transferring them from auxiliary and support vessels, with those roles filled by highly-skilled and experienced civilian seafarers.



“This model has already been successfully demonstrated, with the Navy’s new aviation training vessel MV Sycamore crewed by civilian seafarers since its launch in 2016.



“Australian merchant seafarers work on a range of support vessels for providing government services from crewing AMSA emergency response vessel and across a range of vessels in border protection, but this model has room for substantial expansion, allowing uniformed personnel to fill pressing crew shortages that are undermining the operational capabilities of the ADF.



“While the decline of Australia’s merchant shipping fleet has seen a terrible loss of skills and experience from the Australian coastline, it does provide a unique opportunity for the Navy to put those skilled, experienced seafarers to work.”

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