Right, got that sorted! :thumbsup:
SSBN-404 HMAS BuccaneerIn the late-1950's Australia, fed up with being treated as a useful place to test nuclear weapons without being "allowed" to join the club, denied the UK further use of its territory for testing of its nuclear warheads & the missiles that were to carry them. As the USA was explicitly against allowing any newcomers into the Nuclear Family & would offer no assistance, Australia took what information it had gleaned from its scientists, who had worked with the British & Americans on their tests, & developed their own power stations, enrichment plants, nuclear weapons & missiles. Initially somewhat inferior to those of their allies, by their third generation of weapons they had caught up in both yield & delivery performances.
Australia's first nuclear submarine, HMAS
Woomera (possibly named as something of a snub to the British) was commissioned in 1964, & was armed with 8
Wiiny Dunha (Fire Stick) SLBMs & 6 torpedo tubes (4 forward, 2 aft). A further 3 of her class were built by 1970, alongside 6 diesel-electric hunter-killer submarines.
Australia was formally accepted as a nuclear power in 1973.
By 2020 the RAN were bringing their 4th Generation SSNs on line. This was the "modular*"
Pirate-class**, designed to be fast & almost undetectable, & the first vessels to be powered by a magnetohydrodynamic propulsion system. The final submarine of the class was commissioned on the 11th of November, 2045.
The
Pirate-class SSNs are divided into 3 sub-classes;
The largest number of vessels are of the
Bushranger sub-class (HMAS's
Bushranger,
Highwayman,
Outlaw,
Brigand,
Bandit,
Blackleg,
Hunter,
Huntress,
Stalker &
Tracker), which are attack (hunter-killer) submarines, & carry a
lot of VLS cells plus 8 torpedo tubes (6 forward, 2 aft). [Note:
Brigand,
Bandit &
Blackleg could be considered a sub-sub-class, as they are fitted out for covert op's insertion, extraction, command & control.]
Then there are the
Smuggler sub-class (HMAAV***'s
Smuggler,
Gunrunner,
Bootlegger,
Freebooter,
Drummer,
Merchanter,
Trader &
Courier) which have a large hump along the centre section of their spine used for carrying cargo, as they are submarine freighters designed to re-supply the other submarines & supply ground forces operating adjacent to heavily contested waters & where air superiority/supremacy has not been attained. They have a self-defence suite of two 8-cell VLS & 4 torpedo tubes (2 forward, 2 aft).
Finally, there are the
Privateer sub-class of submarines (HMAS's
Privateer,
Buccaneer,
Corsair,
Seawolf &
Marauder). The smallest of the three sub-classes of the the
Pirate-class of submarines, they are the RAN's "deterrent" force of SSBNs, each carrying 16 Bullroarer nuclear armed missiles (similar in size & performance to the US Trident II) in a hump identical in profile to that of the
Smuggler sub-class, two 8-cell VLS systems & four torpedo tubes (2 forward, 2 aft).
Here we have SSBN-404 HMAS
Buccaneer, the second of the
Privateer sub-class of the
Pirate-class
