First Australian sailors head to submarine officer school in Groton

US officials announced the first three Royal Australian Navy personnel graduated from the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power Training Unit last week. The sailors previously graduated from the Nuclear Power School in July 2023. Next month they will report to Submarine Officer Basic Course in Groton, Connecticut. “The graduation of the first three Royal Australian Navy personnel from both Nuclear Power School and the Nuclear Power Training Unit in South Carolina is another bold, tangible step forward to make the AUKUS security pact a reality,” said US Congressman Joe Courtney. “The centrepiece of AUKUS is to create a fleet of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines for the Australian Navy. The threshold requirement for success is training Australia’s Navy to operate these submarines. That is exactly why I led enactment of legislation in 2022 to establish a Naval training pipeline—the first AUKUS provision passed into law by the U.S. Congress. “The next stop for these graduates is Groton, Connecticut. Our community—home to America’s oldest submarine base—will welcome these extraordinary guests, and many more in the coming years, with open arms. While in Groton, they will enroll in the rigorous Submarine Officer Basic Course. Their arrival to Groton marks the beginning of a great ‘mateship’ between the City of Groton, the Naval Submarine School, and the Royal Australian Navy,” Courtney said. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]