Navy’s surface fleet to double, but not jobs

Very few additional crew members will be required to man a Navy surface combatant fleet ‘twice as large’ as originally planned, with more reliance on automation.

The shake-up of the navy’s surface ship fleet will be “reliant on the success” of aggressive recruitment drives, with defence officials last week revealing the Royal Australian Navy currently has a deficit of 881 personnel.

Very few additional crew members will be required to man a Navy surface combatant fleet “twice as large” as originally planned, with the rationalisation of crew sizes and more reliance on automation, according to a long-awaited review of the Navy’s surface fleet.

The blueprint for a “more lethal” Navy will see a doubling of the Navy’s major surface combatant fleet, from 11 warships to 20 by the mid to late 2040s in addition to six semi-autonomous Large Optionally Crewed Surface Vessels (LOSV).

The shake-up of the navy’s surface ship fleet will be “reliant on the success” of aggressive recruitment drives, with defence officials last week revealing the Royal Australian Navy currently has a deficit of 881 personnel.

“The larger surface combatant force we have recommended require a minimal increase to crew complement due to a rationalisation of crew sizes and an increased reliance on technology and automation,” an independent analysis of the Navy’s surface combatant fleet states.

“This increased workforce demand does not exceed the current plan before 2040. We considered the impact of crewing when analysing options noting this is a significant risk to achievability.”

The government has set the ambitious goal of increasing Defence’s workforce by about 30 per cent or 18,500 by 2040. The Navy is set to grow from its current strength of 15,000 to 20,000 by 2040.

The independent analysis, released on Tuesday, said the Navy’s “biggest challenge” was assuring “an adequate workforce to sustainably meet enterprise priorities.”

“We encourage Defence to adopt a more dynamic and aggressive approach to recruiting and endorse the workforce strategy to generate the required crews.

“We note that the crewing numbers for our recommended fleet design are reliant on the success of these strategies and the achievement of the projected forecasts.”

Chief of Navy Mark Hammond laid bare the extent if the workforce crisis in a Senate estimates hearing last week, saying the service could now muster only 41/2 crews for its eight workhorse frigates. On Tuesday, the government announced the first-of-class ship HMAS Anzac would be retired after The Australian revealed in November the frigate had been taken out of the water indefinitely, amid shortages of engineers.

But Defence Minister Richard Marles hopes the Navy restructure will entice new recruits.

“A person who is joining the Navy today has the prospect over the course of a decade or so from now on crewing an Australian-flagged nuclear-powered submarine or a state-of-the-art general frigate or the most advanced anti-submarine warfare capability in the world,” he said aboard HMAS Canberra on Tuesday.

The Albanese government is also promising 3700 direct jobs over the next decade with continuous shipbuilding in South Australia and Western Australia.

South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas welcomed the news. “We have got a workforce here that’s going to be building surface ships into the future for as far as the eye can see,” he said.

The government scrambles to re-arm and reform the ADF to prepare for a feared conflict between China and the US over the status of Taiwan sometime in the next decade.