Waterhen
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2026 11:48 am
Approved by 'Bernard'
The New-Old Daring Class
February 2001
The CEO of Cockatoo Dockyard had set up the usual brief for the Minister’s visit.
“So in conclusion, Minister, the yard has been limping along since 1991. The beginning of the end started in 1987 under the Hawke Government. The dockyard was listed was an asset to be sold following a review of defence facilities. The Commonwealth government announced that the dockyard lease would not be renewed beyond 1 January 1993, and that the island would be sold. Then-Treasurer Mr Keating assumed that an island in Sydney harbour would be worth billions when sold for residential purposes. This was nonsense, the dockyard has been leaching all sorts of now-banned pollutants into the sandstone for 150 years and it cannot be cleaned up short of removing the island. The problem was that the 1990 environmental survey showed the island to be a costly liability for Mr Keating, not a cash honey pot.”
The Minister suppressed a small and very political smile.
“New contracts in negotiation were largely cancelled, and operations afterwards largely focused on completing existing contracts. The last submarine to be refitted at Cockatoo Island was HMAS Orion, handed back to the government on 4 June 1991. The dockyard was scheduled for decommissioning on 31 December 1991 but it did not entirely happen. Sure, by the 1980s, much of the dockyard's machinery was obsolete and it was in need of a major and expensive upgrade were it to continue in operation. But the New South Wales thermal power stations had long term maintenance contracts for steam turbine maintenance and construction with the thoroughly modern steam turbine shop, which was and remains state of the art. So the state government wanted the place kept open.”
“The unions were very unhappy even though they had helped ruin the business. So was Navy, the second the cost of moving the Oberon class refits to Garden Island became known. I, as general manager of the yard, got the contract lawyers to actually look at the contracts and they informed the Commonwealth that it intended to act outside the contracts, which meant lawsuits, massive payouts and a typical Australian balls-up. The main problem for the Commonwealth was that the lease was legally enforceable. So, to not get sued, the lease was extended per the contract to EOY 1993 and the last two Oberon refits, that was Onslow and Otama, remained with the yard again to avoid lawsuits. The unions saw the writing on the wall and actually started to work a bit with us.”
He pointed to the screen but spoke to the Minister “so in summary of this bit in dot points as follows. First, the pollution survey revealed massive Commonwealth liabilities for island clean-up. Second, so the site was not worth a cent as it could not be sold for residential development due to the crap soaked into the sandstone: in fact, it will cost a fortune to remediate. Third, breaching the contracts meant massive lawsuits the Commonwealth could only lose. Fourth, those lawuits were worth more than the submarine refit contracts. Fifth, this meant that kicking the can down the road by keeping something commercial going at the site made it Somebody Else’s Problem. Sixth, this meant that the yard lease continued and the subs were refitted here until 1994. Seventh, with some actual help from the unions in productivity terms, the yard survived as a maritime repair and maintenance facility, still doing some Oberon maintenance and the power station work.”
He paused and took a sip of water. “Which brings us to today now that Konfrontasi II has happened. So, yes, we got a cash inflow to expand a modern but modest maintenance facility and make it a modernisation yard for all the new auxiliaries, minesweepers and whatnot. Yes, we’ve been doing work ranging from auxiliary minesweepers to refitting the old frigates Swan and Torrens and converting the old Stalwart to an amphibious transport and command ship. Yes, the old Oberons were laid up here and we reactivated the two museum ships as basic training boats because we still had much of that workforce.”
The Minister nodded, then spoke. “We’ve looked at the proposals and they make financial and strategic sense. The gap, though, lies in new construction of actual warships up to frigate size. This yard built Success, but it can no longer build…”
Johns interrupted. “Oh yes it can Minister Reith, but that requires, as Sir Humphrey Appleby would say, a courageous decision on your part.”
He stood up straight and looked at the Minister, a faint smile on his lips.
“Minister, let us go for a little walk, just you and me, I want to show you something and no, neither your staff nor mine are invited.”
The Minister canted his head, then stood.
“Hmm. Very well.”
Silently, Johns led him out of the office block. They turned right and went around the side of the building and walked toward the tunnel under the empty drawing offices.
“What are you about, Mr Johns? Where are we going?”
“The plate shop, Minister. Then the old furnace shop. You want to build things, we can build things, first we have to train people. The Fitzroy Dock needs to be repaired, the Sutherland Dock needs serious maintenance. Here we are.”
He opened a door with a key and they walked in. Johns turned on the lights, showing a mostly empty and rather dusty building about 120 metres long, with massive racking partly filled with steel plate on the southern wall.
He gestured at it. “A little secret of the island, Minister, that steel is the hull of a ship. The fourth Australian Daring class destroyer in fact. HMAS Waterhen was cancelled in 1954, she was to be built at Williamstown… but Williamstown only had one slip and Vendetta occupied that slip until she was launched in May 1954, and Cockatoo was building the machinery for Waterhen. Dogtown as it’s not affectionally known, had insufficient storage for the materials for both ships simultaneously. So it was made in Newcastle and stored here, Waterhen never made it to the Dogtown slip at all.”
“No-one knows now where Waterhen’s steel had to be stored until Williamstown could lay her down, but it was here at Cockatoo. Why not? Had to be kept somewhere, we had the storage and were building the engines and boilers and machinery. The hull steel has been used a little, much of the machinery was used as parts for the other three Darings but the turbines never were and the hull materials up to the main-deck never were. This is ridiculous in a way but we have the hull to the maindeck, the turbines, gearboxes, shafts and whatnot so we can have a 30-knot 2800 tonner in the water in a year if you want something fast. We still have all the plans.”
He raised his hands. “Yes, Minister, it’s a new-old-stock hull, it’s a steamship, it cannot take a helicopter, it will be acoustically as noisy as a DDG. But if you need a fast heavily gunned ship you can have one quite quickly, especially if we use guns and kit from the Perth and Hobart decommissioned over at the cruiser wharf there. I guess at 36 months from decision to commissioning because we can start hull construction very quickly.”
“Furnace shop next.”
They walked the echoing length of the plate shop in silence, out the end door and across about forty metres of ground to another shabby old building.
“Old furnace shop,” Johns said as he used another key. “Main machinery was stored in here years ago. I have had the old blokes remove the covers so we can see them… bloody hell, talk about exceeding the brief, they cleaned them up.”
He shrugged. “The boys do love turbines.”
The turbines and their gearboxes had been uncovered and carefully cleaned. So had some of the crated major auxiliary machinery.
Reith nodded, they looked crisp and clean, new. “No new paint, but cleaned, are they operational? Do they still work? Do they need repair?”
Johns shrugged. “They were well preserved and packed away very carefully. We will have to survey them, but the turbine blokes say they are fine and the tech plateaued years ago. Efficiency gains since they were built is minimal. The issue with these 1950s designs is that they are acoustically noisy. The DDG’s were notoriously loud. She will be too and that’s fine as she’s not an anti-submarine ship. This class never was. They were anti-surface and anti-aircraft ships and damned good ones for their day.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know the politics,” he lied, “but getting a major warship on the slip in a couple of months can’t be a bad thing in that sense.”
The Minister extended his stay on the island for the rest of the afternoon.
oOo
February 2001 Cockatoo Island
Johns sat at the head of the table. The wall was covered in printed plans, old style.
“Armament first, Peter. That’s the major political selling point.”
“OK, from the worn-out DDG, two refurbished Mk42 5-inch forward, one aft. 13 men each, 400 rounds each and we already have all the equipment, cost is just removal, refurb and repair. No need to update. Same 16 cell VLS as the Anzac class amidships and there’s space for another 8-cell. If they take the full 24, 8 Standard, 32 ESSM and eight Harpoon if they want that mix. Or more SAM. We looked at the alternative, to put a refurbished Mark 13 guided missile launching system. But it only does Standard and would be an orphan system and it costs three additional men and can’t use ESSM. So, VLS with ESSM and Standard. Give it the ANZAC combat suite but with the Raytheon SPS-49(V)8 ANZ L-band Radar, CEAFAR1-S S-band Active Phased Array Radar, Kelvin Hughes Sharp Eye Navigation Radar, CEAMOUNT Fire Control Illuminators with Saab Systems Ceros 200 Fire Control Director. She’ll have a good AAW capability, be a fast gunship, the issue is zero ASW capability and no helo. The CEA mast is heavy, topweight forbids even a helo platform. She’s got less hull volume than an Anzac and something has to go. All that said we’ve been working with Navy and they are very thoughtful. I don’t know why but is must have to do with the northern approaches and Timor.”
“The hull can be built quickly for two reasons: it exists and the plans exist. The downside is that we cannot change the design of the hull below the main deck. We are lucky in that the hull volume demand of three Mk42 5-inch is the same as that for three twin 4.5-inch. We have six Mk42’s available right now, four going to the Tambar class, we have two from the USS Goldsborough in store and Brisbane will decommission at the end of this year. We contacted the USN and they have dozens of them available, we’ll need some as spares and parts. The VLS can sit in the superstructure amidships above the engine rooms.”
“OK propulsion. Original was two Foster Wheeler boilers 650 psi or 4.5 MPa), 850 °F or (454 °C), English Electric turbines, two shafts, 54,000 shp for 30 knots. They were unpressurised so the boiler rooms had airlocks and boiler room overpressure. Nasty idea. Foster-Wheeler is still around of course and has a nice modern boiler of similar size, steam for 28,000 shp each and pressurised close boilers and yes, we can build them here. Same footprint, lighter weight, less volume and much more reliable.”
“We looked at the alternatives, an Anzac plant is impossible for many reasons, the main one is that she cannot be fitted with CP props as the shafts are larger in diameter and the CODAG layout would demand entire redesign of the machinery spaces. We’ve got the steam turbines, need a bit of refurbishment…. but we still get an orphan plant with its own training demands. Australia still has the industry and we certainly have the educational infrastructure to supply the training and the people due to the coal fired plants. These modern boilers are smaller and more efficient and they burn diesel, too.”
“We looked at the alternative of diesel engines and accepting say 25 knots tops. That means designing a new plant and building the high-speed diesels. The delays are too long to risk.”
Johns nodded. “I have to take this to Canberra tomorrow, and I think that steam turbines and high speed with no delay risk might be the better option if the ‘fast gunship’ gets the go ahead. Crew size?”
“Still fairly large, around 200-220 vice 300 and boss, you know how crazy this is, yeah?”
“Oh yes, I sure do. What our advantage is that we did a good, tight job on the Tambar and her sister patrol ships and that navy’s very happy with them. Bring up the brief as I want to use that.”
“OK boss. Main points. Firstly, Navy ordered four T class AMS-PC, Tambar, Terka, Tolga and Tongkol specifically to protect the offshore oil and gas industry. Woodside and the rest put pressure on and they were right to do so. They are a modified standard rig tender. Secondly, they were delivered in 12 months unarmed of course, built to the same standards, DNV assured that, builds were in Chile, Yugoslavia and South Korea on a Woodside order and came here on delivery to be sold to the RAN and fitted with their mostly second hand weapons fit.”
“Basic design, mods included engine room amidships and superstructure moved from the bow to forward of amidships to provide space for a forward gun and Harpoon SSM, twin screw and bow thrusters, 22kt full load. Lengthened to about 350 feet, increased beam, reduced draft so they use all the existing oil and gas commercial infrastructure. Hulls are heavy, full double hull, heavy scantlings, 20mm for both double hulls with both horizontal and vertical framing. The aft superstructure has a hangar, able to operate a small helo, something the size of a Huey but they never have yet. Basically have an austere ASUW fit based on the Barcoo class.”
Johns leaned back in his chair. “You know what the real irony is here?”
“Sure you’re gonna tell us boss.” There was laughter in his voice.
He smiled. “Yep, the yard tried for most of a century to get a land link. Failed. Now the government is building a road connection for us and we didn’t even ask for it.”
There were nods.
“All the auxiliaries are based here now boss. And that’s a lot of ships. Need to get trucks out here without double handing delays.”
“True. Still ironic. The marina to Spectacle Island to the north-eastern edge of the island. I’m still amazed.”
He shrugged, “one lane each way and can take a max-loaded B-double and we’ll pay for a shuttle tram in the middle, rails flush with the road. Just end to end to keep private cars off the island. What are the cost control implications for the yard? That’s the big issue here and I need that data fast.”
His Financial Director’s head snapped up. “Why fast, Jeremy?”
“Several reasons,” Johns replied, “firstly to argue for a level one form of investment from Government to lower their costs and the second does not leave this room.”
He waited for the nods. “I’ve been contacted by a friendly foreign company interested in partnership and with that, investment.”
“Workforce…”
Johns cut him off. “No, close that question down.”
Johns did not smile. If Samsung Heavy Industries did invest, they’d have to get rid of the unions. That was actually easy, sack everyone, him included, and rehire on salaried contracts, no union at all needed. Or wanted. Multi-skilled workforce on the South Korean model. That and modernisation would revitalise the damned industry. And as the yard was now a closed military facility, what went on there was not public record. They’d been planning.
The old power station building still stood there complete. Originally coal and steam turbine, then diesel, closed in the late 60s. They’d done the numbers. The Wallerah mine at Catherine Hill Bay would probably close next year. One last sixty-miler existed, the 5717-tonne MV Wallerah, a 1986-built modern self discharger. Her unique system of being able to unload itself kept it successfully operating for years, taking the mine’s coal to Newcastle for export.
Coal was much cheaper than diesel or avtur or even gas and it was locally available in abundance. So the plan was for a small, modern high-efficiency low-emissions coal-fired power station in the original building. It would be automated as the 1980s-built SS River Embley’s coal-fired steam turbines had been. The coal would be loaded into gravity-fed hoppers. Automatic coal handling systems would deliver the coal on to moving conveyor grates running through the boilers, driving steam turbines. Hunter valley steaming coal was low-sulphur, low-ash and exported all over the world, hundreds of millions of tons of it. They’d get the ship cheap, maybe build a second, or at least an extension to the coal store. She was 15 years old after all. They’d get power at a cheaper cost than the grid even with the investment needed, a serious cost advantage for the yard long-term.
oOo
Canberra – Security Committee of Cabinet
“Third agenda item. Chief of Defence Force will speak to the brief.”
The CDF nodded. It was no longer unusual for him to attend, war changed things.
“Prime Minister, Ministers. The Cockatoo yard in Sydney was moribund and being kept alive by a few existing contracts. The yard’s equipment is mostly outdated or obsolete. Since 1998 it has become a critical facility. The work done on the Tambar class minesweeper-patrol ships, the old Stalwart, the many minesweeper conversions, the old submarine conversions, the maintenance load reduction on Garden Island has freed their capability at all the lower-end work and actually lowered their costs. In addition, it is the base for all the lower-end warships in Port Jackson, the auxiliary sweeper force, the boom defence and guardships, and the harbour and coastal patrol boats. The linking of the base to the shore will lower costs and boost operational capability. The modernisation package for the yard is recommended for those reasons.”
He drew breath. “The proposal for rapid construction of a fast anti-aircraft and gunnery frigate using equipment from the decommissioned Perth class destroyers and an existing hull and propulsion system is supported. Although steam powered, such a ship is a sound complement to the amphibious force we have formed. Stalwart is now an amphibious command ship, Tobruk, Manoora and Kanimbla the transports, Swan and Torrens the light amphibious transports which also provide naval gunfire support. Adding the modified Daring class will more than double the naval gunfire support inherent in the amphibious force and provide air defence to the force. In doing so it will relieve one frigate from anti-aircraft duty with the group, or two from gunfire support duty. Navy has recommended the order and,” he smiled slightly, “that’s to be expected of ships and Navy’s view of them, both Army and Air Force concur with the reasoning. That concludes my verbal commentary.”
oOo
Two hours later, CDF wandered down to Russell offices R1 level 4, passed through Chief of Navy’s double sliding security doors, nodded to his staff at the desk and told them he had to interrupt for a moment.
His Chief of Staff walked over. “Sir, that’s fine, he’s got ten minutes to the next meeting.”
He walked to the door, knocked and opened it. “Sir, CDF wants a quick word?”
“Of course.” He stood up from behind his loaded desk.
The CDF just shook his head, then spoke. “SCC approved the yard package as briefed, complete, and with the frigate. Paperwork will follow as usual but it’s also been fast-tracked per the brief.”
He frowned slightly. “As discussed, I need progress reports on this one as it has the implications you know about.”
CN nodded at his CoS, add a dot point to the weekly brief.”
“Sir.”
oOo
Cockatoo, 5 April 2001
The old crane had been refurbished and repainted, but safety certification had not been completed. No real issue as they had two mobile cranes on the island doing other work.
Johns kept his thoughts to himself. Laying Waterhen’s keel on the slip might be happening 47 years late, but it is happening. The very openness of the long disused construction side of the yard meant the process was simpler. Starting up from a bare site and bare slipway was easier.
The Samsung Heavy Industries, ah, observers had been most helpful with their suggestions. Especially in relation to documentation on modern yard procedures, policies and multi-skilling of the workforce. The union bosses had not worked it out yet and that was deliberate.
There was no big ceremony, just a short one at the yard itself, with only yard people present. It did not interrupt the work. Over in the plate shop, the old hull material was progressively surveyed, the plating and structural members checked and their galvanising verified. Some had to be re-galvanised, which was not an issue as the galvanising shop was in full service. The turbine shop was carefully surveying the turbines and gearboxes for micro-cracks, corrosion and other issues. The inspections were going well and the piping shop was building the steam pipes and valves. Lithgow was already busy refurbishing the guns.
8 December 2001
Johns looked at the day, a beautiful hot summer’s day. The narrow rakish hull looked odd to modern eyes, and with the foc’sle extended 25 feet aft. She’d look a little different to what they had originally planned, they had decided to move the blocky radar mast forward, to just aft of the bridge. The funnel for the forward boiler had been split in two and raked aft, hence the foc’sle extension. They enabled the heat of the exhaust gases to be kept well clear of the radar panels. This had meant moving the VLS a bit further aft but there were now three 8-cell systems, one athwartships forward of the aft funnel and one on each side of it. But all of that was in design or being assembled, Waterhen was just the hull right now and amidships she was open from the main deck to the keel so the engines and boilers could be fitted, which explained the weather-cover.
She looked a bit odd to Australian eyes as she was actually decorated. Bunting and half-roundels decorating the deck edges forward. The Samsung representatives had been delighted.
The bottle broke across her bow on the first swing, the chock-men swung their sledge hammers and the hull slid smoothly into the calm salt water. Tugs immediately took charge of her and started to move her to the refitted Fitzroy graving dock where fitting out would begin.
oOo
June 2004 – Sydney
Waterhen and Toowoomba had spent the week starting her workups in the Jervis Bay Exercise Area, weekly running, they called it. And it was tedious, running through all the systems. Live firings were part of the program, but they were weeks away. The crews of both ships were tired, sixteen-hour days were perfectly normal at sea and it was wartime. They had to get the ships worked up to Operational Level of Capability (OLOC) fast. Toowoomba was at OLOC, Waterhen was not at minimum level (MLOC), she could not be, she’d only just been commissioned. The Fleet Training Staff were stretched thin. Still, they were reasonably pleased with the first week.
Commodore Flotillas was waiting on the cruiser wharf when Waterhen berthed. He came on board as soon as the brown was positioned and headed straight to the CO’s cabin where they waited for him. Like everyone else he was very tired.
“I have ten minutes tops gents. So speak.”
The Commander spoke. “Minimum of another month sir. Machinery is good, experienced steamer hands from the DDGs. The acoustic range, yeah, she’s bloody noisy. Data management in the Ops room has a long way to go but the basics are there. All the obvious real issues with the combat suite and weapons systems. Integration gaps up the wazoo. Overall, nothing unexpected, nothing training won’t fix. She’s got pretty much an Anzac combat suite and VLS fit frankensteined with DDG guns. So there are no issues with unique systems, just unique integration matters and the rest is training.”
The Commodore nodded. “Good enough and it’s not ASW ships we are short of. CO?”
“She’s a good ship sir. Fast, very fast, with the upgraded seals, valves, pipes and boilers she does 33 knot flat out and can keep it up until the fuel runs out, she’s manoeuvrable and handles like a dream. Sub says she’s a brass band they can hear fifty miles away, but she’s a little quieter than a DDG. Combat suite is sound and the new CEA radars are spectacular, better than the ones on the Anzacs as they are more developed. Ops room, we’ll get there. I’d like a sonar but there’s just not the hull volume or the space even for a pair of triple tubes if I had one. That’s life in a 1950s hull I guess. Accommodation is relatively cramped by modern standards. 1950’s hull, they’re used to it now.”
The Commodore looked at his watch. “Gotta go. We need the ship. Get it done.”
oOo
The New-Old Daring Class
February 2001
The CEO of Cockatoo Dockyard had set up the usual brief for the Minister’s visit.
“So in conclusion, Minister, the yard has been limping along since 1991. The beginning of the end started in 1987 under the Hawke Government. The dockyard was listed was an asset to be sold following a review of defence facilities. The Commonwealth government announced that the dockyard lease would not be renewed beyond 1 January 1993, and that the island would be sold. Then-Treasurer Mr Keating assumed that an island in Sydney harbour would be worth billions when sold for residential purposes. This was nonsense, the dockyard has been leaching all sorts of now-banned pollutants into the sandstone for 150 years and it cannot be cleaned up short of removing the island. The problem was that the 1990 environmental survey showed the island to be a costly liability for Mr Keating, not a cash honey pot.”
The Minister suppressed a small and very political smile.
“New contracts in negotiation were largely cancelled, and operations afterwards largely focused on completing existing contracts. The last submarine to be refitted at Cockatoo Island was HMAS Orion, handed back to the government on 4 June 1991. The dockyard was scheduled for decommissioning on 31 December 1991 but it did not entirely happen. Sure, by the 1980s, much of the dockyard's machinery was obsolete and it was in need of a major and expensive upgrade were it to continue in operation. But the New South Wales thermal power stations had long term maintenance contracts for steam turbine maintenance and construction with the thoroughly modern steam turbine shop, which was and remains state of the art. So the state government wanted the place kept open.”
“The unions were very unhappy even though they had helped ruin the business. So was Navy, the second the cost of moving the Oberon class refits to Garden Island became known. I, as general manager of the yard, got the contract lawyers to actually look at the contracts and they informed the Commonwealth that it intended to act outside the contracts, which meant lawsuits, massive payouts and a typical Australian balls-up. The main problem for the Commonwealth was that the lease was legally enforceable. So, to not get sued, the lease was extended per the contract to EOY 1993 and the last two Oberon refits, that was Onslow and Otama, remained with the yard again to avoid lawsuits. The unions saw the writing on the wall and actually started to work a bit with us.”
He pointed to the screen but spoke to the Minister “so in summary of this bit in dot points as follows. First, the pollution survey revealed massive Commonwealth liabilities for island clean-up. Second, so the site was not worth a cent as it could not be sold for residential development due to the crap soaked into the sandstone: in fact, it will cost a fortune to remediate. Third, breaching the contracts meant massive lawsuits the Commonwealth could only lose. Fourth, those lawuits were worth more than the submarine refit contracts. Fifth, this meant that kicking the can down the road by keeping something commercial going at the site made it Somebody Else’s Problem. Sixth, this meant that the yard lease continued and the subs were refitted here until 1994. Seventh, with some actual help from the unions in productivity terms, the yard survived as a maritime repair and maintenance facility, still doing some Oberon maintenance and the power station work.”
He paused and took a sip of water. “Which brings us to today now that Konfrontasi II has happened. So, yes, we got a cash inflow to expand a modern but modest maintenance facility and make it a modernisation yard for all the new auxiliaries, minesweepers and whatnot. Yes, we’ve been doing work ranging from auxiliary minesweepers to refitting the old frigates Swan and Torrens and converting the old Stalwart to an amphibious transport and command ship. Yes, the old Oberons were laid up here and we reactivated the two museum ships as basic training boats because we still had much of that workforce.”
The Minister nodded, then spoke. “We’ve looked at the proposals and they make financial and strategic sense. The gap, though, lies in new construction of actual warships up to frigate size. This yard built Success, but it can no longer build…”
Johns interrupted. “Oh yes it can Minister Reith, but that requires, as Sir Humphrey Appleby would say, a courageous decision on your part.”
He stood up straight and looked at the Minister, a faint smile on his lips.
“Minister, let us go for a little walk, just you and me, I want to show you something and no, neither your staff nor mine are invited.”
The Minister canted his head, then stood.
“Hmm. Very well.”
Silently, Johns led him out of the office block. They turned right and went around the side of the building and walked toward the tunnel under the empty drawing offices.
“What are you about, Mr Johns? Where are we going?”
“The plate shop, Minister. Then the old furnace shop. You want to build things, we can build things, first we have to train people. The Fitzroy Dock needs to be repaired, the Sutherland Dock needs serious maintenance. Here we are.”
He opened a door with a key and they walked in. Johns turned on the lights, showing a mostly empty and rather dusty building about 120 metres long, with massive racking partly filled with steel plate on the southern wall.
He gestured at it. “A little secret of the island, Minister, that steel is the hull of a ship. The fourth Australian Daring class destroyer in fact. HMAS Waterhen was cancelled in 1954, she was to be built at Williamstown… but Williamstown only had one slip and Vendetta occupied that slip until she was launched in May 1954, and Cockatoo was building the machinery for Waterhen. Dogtown as it’s not affectionally known, had insufficient storage for the materials for both ships simultaneously. So it was made in Newcastle and stored here, Waterhen never made it to the Dogtown slip at all.”
“No-one knows now where Waterhen’s steel had to be stored until Williamstown could lay her down, but it was here at Cockatoo. Why not? Had to be kept somewhere, we had the storage and were building the engines and boilers and machinery. The hull steel has been used a little, much of the machinery was used as parts for the other three Darings but the turbines never were and the hull materials up to the main-deck never were. This is ridiculous in a way but we have the hull to the maindeck, the turbines, gearboxes, shafts and whatnot so we can have a 30-knot 2800 tonner in the water in a year if you want something fast. We still have all the plans.”
He raised his hands. “Yes, Minister, it’s a new-old-stock hull, it’s a steamship, it cannot take a helicopter, it will be acoustically as noisy as a DDG. But if you need a fast heavily gunned ship you can have one quite quickly, especially if we use guns and kit from the Perth and Hobart decommissioned over at the cruiser wharf there. I guess at 36 months from decision to commissioning because we can start hull construction very quickly.”
“Furnace shop next.”
They walked the echoing length of the plate shop in silence, out the end door and across about forty metres of ground to another shabby old building.
“Old furnace shop,” Johns said as he used another key. “Main machinery was stored in here years ago. I have had the old blokes remove the covers so we can see them… bloody hell, talk about exceeding the brief, they cleaned them up.”
He shrugged. “The boys do love turbines.”
The turbines and their gearboxes had been uncovered and carefully cleaned. So had some of the crated major auxiliary machinery.
Reith nodded, they looked crisp and clean, new. “No new paint, but cleaned, are they operational? Do they still work? Do they need repair?”
Johns shrugged. “They were well preserved and packed away very carefully. We will have to survey them, but the turbine blokes say they are fine and the tech plateaued years ago. Efficiency gains since they were built is minimal. The issue with these 1950s designs is that they are acoustically noisy. The DDG’s were notoriously loud. She will be too and that’s fine as she’s not an anti-submarine ship. This class never was. They were anti-surface and anti-aircraft ships and damned good ones for their day.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know the politics,” he lied, “but getting a major warship on the slip in a couple of months can’t be a bad thing in that sense.”
The Minister extended his stay on the island for the rest of the afternoon.
oOo
February 2001 Cockatoo Island
Johns sat at the head of the table. The wall was covered in printed plans, old style.
“Armament first, Peter. That’s the major political selling point.”
“OK, from the worn-out DDG, two refurbished Mk42 5-inch forward, one aft. 13 men each, 400 rounds each and we already have all the equipment, cost is just removal, refurb and repair. No need to update. Same 16 cell VLS as the Anzac class amidships and there’s space for another 8-cell. If they take the full 24, 8 Standard, 32 ESSM and eight Harpoon if they want that mix. Or more SAM. We looked at the alternative, to put a refurbished Mark 13 guided missile launching system. But it only does Standard and would be an orphan system and it costs three additional men and can’t use ESSM. So, VLS with ESSM and Standard. Give it the ANZAC combat suite but with the Raytheon SPS-49(V)8 ANZ L-band Radar, CEAFAR1-S S-band Active Phased Array Radar, Kelvin Hughes Sharp Eye Navigation Radar, CEAMOUNT Fire Control Illuminators with Saab Systems Ceros 200 Fire Control Director. She’ll have a good AAW capability, be a fast gunship, the issue is zero ASW capability and no helo. The CEA mast is heavy, topweight forbids even a helo platform. She’s got less hull volume than an Anzac and something has to go. All that said we’ve been working with Navy and they are very thoughtful. I don’t know why but is must have to do with the northern approaches and Timor.”
“The hull can be built quickly for two reasons: it exists and the plans exist. The downside is that we cannot change the design of the hull below the main deck. We are lucky in that the hull volume demand of three Mk42 5-inch is the same as that for three twin 4.5-inch. We have six Mk42’s available right now, four going to the Tambar class, we have two from the USS Goldsborough in store and Brisbane will decommission at the end of this year. We contacted the USN and they have dozens of them available, we’ll need some as spares and parts. The VLS can sit in the superstructure amidships above the engine rooms.”
“OK propulsion. Original was two Foster Wheeler boilers 650 psi or 4.5 MPa), 850 °F or (454 °C), English Electric turbines, two shafts, 54,000 shp for 30 knots. They were unpressurised so the boiler rooms had airlocks and boiler room overpressure. Nasty idea. Foster-Wheeler is still around of course and has a nice modern boiler of similar size, steam for 28,000 shp each and pressurised close boilers and yes, we can build them here. Same footprint, lighter weight, less volume and much more reliable.”
“We looked at the alternatives, an Anzac plant is impossible for many reasons, the main one is that she cannot be fitted with CP props as the shafts are larger in diameter and the CODAG layout would demand entire redesign of the machinery spaces. We’ve got the steam turbines, need a bit of refurbishment…. but we still get an orphan plant with its own training demands. Australia still has the industry and we certainly have the educational infrastructure to supply the training and the people due to the coal fired plants. These modern boilers are smaller and more efficient and they burn diesel, too.”
“We looked at the alternative of diesel engines and accepting say 25 knots tops. That means designing a new plant and building the high-speed diesels. The delays are too long to risk.”
Johns nodded. “I have to take this to Canberra tomorrow, and I think that steam turbines and high speed with no delay risk might be the better option if the ‘fast gunship’ gets the go ahead. Crew size?”
“Still fairly large, around 200-220 vice 300 and boss, you know how crazy this is, yeah?”
“Oh yes, I sure do. What our advantage is that we did a good, tight job on the Tambar and her sister patrol ships and that navy’s very happy with them. Bring up the brief as I want to use that.”
“OK boss. Main points. Firstly, Navy ordered four T class AMS-PC, Tambar, Terka, Tolga and Tongkol specifically to protect the offshore oil and gas industry. Woodside and the rest put pressure on and they were right to do so. They are a modified standard rig tender. Secondly, they were delivered in 12 months unarmed of course, built to the same standards, DNV assured that, builds were in Chile, Yugoslavia and South Korea on a Woodside order and came here on delivery to be sold to the RAN and fitted with their mostly second hand weapons fit.”
“Basic design, mods included engine room amidships and superstructure moved from the bow to forward of amidships to provide space for a forward gun and Harpoon SSM, twin screw and bow thrusters, 22kt full load. Lengthened to about 350 feet, increased beam, reduced draft so they use all the existing oil and gas commercial infrastructure. Hulls are heavy, full double hull, heavy scantlings, 20mm for both double hulls with both horizontal and vertical framing. The aft superstructure has a hangar, able to operate a small helo, something the size of a Huey but they never have yet. Basically have an austere ASUW fit based on the Barcoo class.”
Johns leaned back in his chair. “You know what the real irony is here?”
“Sure you’re gonna tell us boss.” There was laughter in his voice.
He smiled. “Yep, the yard tried for most of a century to get a land link. Failed. Now the government is building a road connection for us and we didn’t even ask for it.”
There were nods.
“All the auxiliaries are based here now boss. And that’s a lot of ships. Need to get trucks out here without double handing delays.”
“True. Still ironic. The marina to Spectacle Island to the north-eastern edge of the island. I’m still amazed.”
He shrugged, “one lane each way and can take a max-loaded B-double and we’ll pay for a shuttle tram in the middle, rails flush with the road. Just end to end to keep private cars off the island. What are the cost control implications for the yard? That’s the big issue here and I need that data fast.”
His Financial Director’s head snapped up. “Why fast, Jeremy?”
“Several reasons,” Johns replied, “firstly to argue for a level one form of investment from Government to lower their costs and the second does not leave this room.”
He waited for the nods. “I’ve been contacted by a friendly foreign company interested in partnership and with that, investment.”
“Workforce…”
Johns cut him off. “No, close that question down.”
Johns did not smile. If Samsung Heavy Industries did invest, they’d have to get rid of the unions. That was actually easy, sack everyone, him included, and rehire on salaried contracts, no union at all needed. Or wanted. Multi-skilled workforce on the South Korean model. That and modernisation would revitalise the damned industry. And as the yard was now a closed military facility, what went on there was not public record. They’d been planning.
The old power station building still stood there complete. Originally coal and steam turbine, then diesel, closed in the late 60s. They’d done the numbers. The Wallerah mine at Catherine Hill Bay would probably close next year. One last sixty-miler existed, the 5717-tonne MV Wallerah, a 1986-built modern self discharger. Her unique system of being able to unload itself kept it successfully operating for years, taking the mine’s coal to Newcastle for export.
Coal was much cheaper than diesel or avtur or even gas and it was locally available in abundance. So the plan was for a small, modern high-efficiency low-emissions coal-fired power station in the original building. It would be automated as the 1980s-built SS River Embley’s coal-fired steam turbines had been. The coal would be loaded into gravity-fed hoppers. Automatic coal handling systems would deliver the coal on to moving conveyor grates running through the boilers, driving steam turbines. Hunter valley steaming coal was low-sulphur, low-ash and exported all over the world, hundreds of millions of tons of it. They’d get the ship cheap, maybe build a second, or at least an extension to the coal store. She was 15 years old after all. They’d get power at a cheaper cost than the grid even with the investment needed, a serious cost advantage for the yard long-term.
oOo
Canberra – Security Committee of Cabinet
“Third agenda item. Chief of Defence Force will speak to the brief.”
The CDF nodded. It was no longer unusual for him to attend, war changed things.
“Prime Minister, Ministers. The Cockatoo yard in Sydney was moribund and being kept alive by a few existing contracts. The yard’s equipment is mostly outdated or obsolete. Since 1998 it has become a critical facility. The work done on the Tambar class minesweeper-patrol ships, the old Stalwart, the many minesweeper conversions, the old submarine conversions, the maintenance load reduction on Garden Island has freed their capability at all the lower-end work and actually lowered their costs. In addition, it is the base for all the lower-end warships in Port Jackson, the auxiliary sweeper force, the boom defence and guardships, and the harbour and coastal patrol boats. The linking of the base to the shore will lower costs and boost operational capability. The modernisation package for the yard is recommended for those reasons.”
He drew breath. “The proposal for rapid construction of a fast anti-aircraft and gunnery frigate using equipment from the decommissioned Perth class destroyers and an existing hull and propulsion system is supported. Although steam powered, such a ship is a sound complement to the amphibious force we have formed. Stalwart is now an amphibious command ship, Tobruk, Manoora and Kanimbla the transports, Swan and Torrens the light amphibious transports which also provide naval gunfire support. Adding the modified Daring class will more than double the naval gunfire support inherent in the amphibious force and provide air defence to the force. In doing so it will relieve one frigate from anti-aircraft duty with the group, or two from gunfire support duty. Navy has recommended the order and,” he smiled slightly, “that’s to be expected of ships and Navy’s view of them, both Army and Air Force concur with the reasoning. That concludes my verbal commentary.”
oOo
Two hours later, CDF wandered down to Russell offices R1 level 4, passed through Chief of Navy’s double sliding security doors, nodded to his staff at the desk and told them he had to interrupt for a moment.
His Chief of Staff walked over. “Sir, that’s fine, he’s got ten minutes to the next meeting.”
He walked to the door, knocked and opened it. “Sir, CDF wants a quick word?”
“Of course.” He stood up from behind his loaded desk.
The CDF just shook his head, then spoke. “SCC approved the yard package as briefed, complete, and with the frigate. Paperwork will follow as usual but it’s also been fast-tracked per the brief.”
He frowned slightly. “As discussed, I need progress reports on this one as it has the implications you know about.”
CN nodded at his CoS, add a dot point to the weekly brief.”
“Sir.”
oOo
Cockatoo, 5 April 2001
The old crane had been refurbished and repainted, but safety certification had not been completed. No real issue as they had two mobile cranes on the island doing other work.
Johns kept his thoughts to himself. Laying Waterhen’s keel on the slip might be happening 47 years late, but it is happening. The very openness of the long disused construction side of the yard meant the process was simpler. Starting up from a bare site and bare slipway was easier.
The Samsung Heavy Industries, ah, observers had been most helpful with their suggestions. Especially in relation to documentation on modern yard procedures, policies and multi-skilling of the workforce. The union bosses had not worked it out yet and that was deliberate.
There was no big ceremony, just a short one at the yard itself, with only yard people present. It did not interrupt the work. Over in the plate shop, the old hull material was progressively surveyed, the plating and structural members checked and their galvanising verified. Some had to be re-galvanised, which was not an issue as the galvanising shop was in full service. The turbine shop was carefully surveying the turbines and gearboxes for micro-cracks, corrosion and other issues. The inspections were going well and the piping shop was building the steam pipes and valves. Lithgow was already busy refurbishing the guns.
8 December 2001
Johns looked at the day, a beautiful hot summer’s day. The narrow rakish hull looked odd to modern eyes, and with the foc’sle extended 25 feet aft. She’d look a little different to what they had originally planned, they had decided to move the blocky radar mast forward, to just aft of the bridge. The funnel for the forward boiler had been split in two and raked aft, hence the foc’sle extension. They enabled the heat of the exhaust gases to be kept well clear of the radar panels. This had meant moving the VLS a bit further aft but there were now three 8-cell systems, one athwartships forward of the aft funnel and one on each side of it. But all of that was in design or being assembled, Waterhen was just the hull right now and amidships she was open from the main deck to the keel so the engines and boilers could be fitted, which explained the weather-cover.
She looked a bit odd to Australian eyes as she was actually decorated. Bunting and half-roundels decorating the deck edges forward. The Samsung representatives had been delighted.
The bottle broke across her bow on the first swing, the chock-men swung their sledge hammers and the hull slid smoothly into the calm salt water. Tugs immediately took charge of her and started to move her to the refitted Fitzroy graving dock where fitting out would begin.
oOo
June 2004 – Sydney
Waterhen and Toowoomba had spent the week starting her workups in the Jervis Bay Exercise Area, weekly running, they called it. And it was tedious, running through all the systems. Live firings were part of the program, but they were weeks away. The crews of both ships were tired, sixteen-hour days were perfectly normal at sea and it was wartime. They had to get the ships worked up to Operational Level of Capability (OLOC) fast. Toowoomba was at OLOC, Waterhen was not at minimum level (MLOC), she could not be, she’d only just been commissioned. The Fleet Training Staff were stretched thin. Still, they were reasonably pleased with the first week.
Commodore Flotillas was waiting on the cruiser wharf when Waterhen berthed. He came on board as soon as the brown was positioned and headed straight to the CO’s cabin where they waited for him. Like everyone else he was very tired.
“I have ten minutes tops gents. So speak.”
The Commander spoke. “Minimum of another month sir. Machinery is good, experienced steamer hands from the DDGs. The acoustic range, yeah, she’s bloody noisy. Data management in the Ops room has a long way to go but the basics are there. All the obvious real issues with the combat suite and weapons systems. Integration gaps up the wazoo. Overall, nothing unexpected, nothing training won’t fix. She’s got pretty much an Anzac combat suite and VLS fit frankensteined with DDG guns. So there are no issues with unique systems, just unique integration matters and the rest is training.”
The Commodore nodded. “Good enough and it’s not ASW ships we are short of. CO?”
“She’s a good ship sir. Fast, very fast, with the upgraded seals, valves, pipes and boilers she does 33 knot flat out and can keep it up until the fuel runs out, she’s manoeuvrable and handles like a dream. Sub says she’s a brass band they can hear fifty miles away, but she’s a little quieter than a DDG. Combat suite is sound and the new CEA radars are spectacular, better than the ones on the Anzacs as they are more developed. Ops room, we’ll get there. I’d like a sonar but there’s just not the hull volume or the space even for a pair of triple tubes if I had one. That’s life in a 1950s hull I guess. Accommodation is relatively cramped by modern standards. 1950’s hull, they’re used to it now.”
The Commodore looked at his watch. “Gotta go. We need the ship. Get it done.”
oOo