Royal Australian navy Lt. Cmdr. Adam Klyne, left, Lt. William Hall, center, and Lt. Cmdr. James Heydon pose aboard the USS Yorktown in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Jan. 12, 2024. (Alex Echols/U.S. Air Force)
The first three future submariners for the Australian navy have completed initial training to become nuclear power operators as the U.S. ally prepares to stand up a modern submarine force.
Royal Australian Navy Lt. Cmdr. James Heydon, Lt. Cmdr. Adam Klyne and Lt. William Hall graduated Jan. 12 from the U.S. Navy’s prerequisite Nuclear Power Training Unit at Goose Creek, S.C., after six months, according to a Navy news release that day.
“Operating a nuclear reactor was thrilling, humbling, and allowed us get that hands-on experience we need to safely operate” the Australian navy’s future fleet of attack submarines, Klyne said in the release.
The trio heads next to the Navy’s basic submarine officer course; their training falls under the AUKUS pact announced in September 2021 by Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The pact calls for Australia to purchase eight nuclear-powered submarines by the 2030s at a cost of about $240 billion over 30 years. A rotating force of U.S. and U.K. submarines is expected to establish itself in Australia by 2027 as part of the plan.
AUKUS was established to counter Chinese expansionism in the Western Pacific. Several nuclear-powered attack submarines have visited Western Australia in the past year as part of the pact.
The U.S. has been actively training its Australian counterparts to “safely operate, maintain and regulate” submarines, U.S. Pacific Fleet said in an August news release.
