By NUWC Division Newport Public Relations

Traveling around the world is nothing new for Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport In-Service Engineering Representatives (ISEA) Matthew George, Daniel Braman and Dillon Savitzky, but the trio recently experienced a historic first. Down Under.

Members of the Handling Systems Engineering Branch of the Sensors and Sonar Systems Department attended the first three-week symposium. Submarine Tendered Maintenance Period (STMP) at HMAS Stirling The event, held in Perth, Australia, marks an important step in the Australia, United Kingdom, United States (AUKUS) trilateral partnership.

STMPs are similar to planned maintenance periods typically performed at U.S. subsea ports. They typically last up to three weeks and do not require drydocking the submarine.

When taking the historical aspect into account, Braman, a 14-year employee of Division Newport who has done a lot of secondment travel, said his most recent business trip was at the top of the list.

“I think it’s pretty cool that we’re doing the first modernizations in Australia on a submarine,” Braman said. “Modernizing a submarine is nothing. Everyone does it. “But we are the first ones to modernize in Perth and no one can take that away from us.”

ISEAs worked with submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) personnel, as well as Royal Australian Navy (RAN) counterparts, to perform repairs and modernizations on the ship’s slim-line towed array handling system on the Virginia-class fast attack submarine. USS Hawaii (SSN 776).

This maintenance period helped implement Pillar 1 of the AUKUS partnership, which envisions delivering an independent, conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarine capability to Australia by the early 2030s.

“This is the first time the United States has conducted submarine maintenance in Australian waters since World War II and is certainly the first instance in history of a joint American-Australian team performing maintenance on a nuclear-powered attack submarine,” Rear Admiral Lincoln said. Reifsteck, USA

Navy AUKUS Integration and Acquisition program manager said in a statement in early September following the completion of the STMP. “The importance of this event cannot be overstated. The past few weeks have provided essential maintenance and administration experience for our Australian partners ahead of establishing an independent SSN force in Australia.”

STMPs are an important step towards achieving the AUKUS Pillar 1 target.

“The important thing is that we integrate with a foreign military and train them on how to maintain, repair, troubleshoot and modernize our system,” Savitzky said. “At some point they will acquire these submarines and they are in the process of developing their infrastructure and capabilities. “As Department of Defense civilians supporting the U.S. Navy, we were at the beginning of the process of integrating with a foreign military.”

George, Braman and Savitzky embarked on a 48-hour road trip from Rhode Island to Australia on August 19. Like all other in-service engineering tours, they had to learn the lay of the land and found the RAN sailors to be helpful and willing. to learn.

“They definitely had a great thirst for knowledge and picked things up pretty quickly,” said George, who has been with the Newport Division for 22 years. “Whether it was tracking down shipping parts or equipment, they were very willing to help. “They were on the field in every aspect.”

Savitzky, a certified second-class Navy diver, worked alongside RAN and US Navy divers and Sailors serving on the contract for mechanical and electromechanical equipment in the submarine’s ballast tanks, which can only be accessed by diving while the submarine is docked. George and Braman contacted Savitzky to help execute the on-water modernization, repair plan, and checklist.

“We work as a team, and this is actually a team process,” Savitzky said. “It’s not just the diver in the water doing all the work. I am constantly communicating with them from above, taking things off their shoulders. “It works best when you have someone experienced on top and someone experienced in the water.”

Nick Savage, head of the Transportation Systems Engineering Branch, said George, Braman and Savitzky worked together frequently and were among the best in the industry at what they did.

“They have really high standards for each other and that makes them a really high-performing team,” Savage said. “There was never a situation where they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Other beings will call us when they can’t figure something out. Our role is to be the last line of defense to solve something. “A truly high-performance team is needed and we have that.”

NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country and traces its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC maintains large detachments in Newport, West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros. island in the Bahamas, as well as testing facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher’s Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.

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