Description
Title: HMAS Collins – Deployment 2000 – Cruisebook
Author:
Condition: Near Mint
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Date: 2000
ISBN: N/A
Cover: Soft Cover without Dust Jacket – 76 pages
Comments: The HMAS Collins deployment cruisebook – 2000. It covers the crew and details of it’s initial deployment cruise. Now a scarce and highly desirable publication.
HMAS Collins (SSG 73) is the lead vessel of the six-submarine Collins class operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Named for Vice Admiral Sir John Augustine Collins, Collins was laid down in February 1990, and was the only submarine of the class to be partially constructed by Kockums’ Malmo shipyard. The boat was launched in August 1993, but was not completed until ten months later. Numerous problems with the class were exposed by the lengthy sea trials period undertaken by the boat; Collins was not commissioned into the RAN until mid-1996, eighteen months behind schedule, and the submarine was not cleared for operational deployments until 2000.
In mid-2000, Collins was sent to Ketchikan, Alaska for noise testing with the United States Navy. Although noise testing in Australia was believed to have been affected by natural background noise, the Alaskan tests confirmed the Australian results. Low-speed testing showed that the Collins class was almost undetectable at patrol speed.
In August 2000, Collins became the first of her class to fire a Harpoon missile.
