U.S. Submarine Force Looking
to ‘Cross-Pollinate' with Allies
Sharing underwater techniques and tactics is the main objective
By Robert A. Hamilton

Groton — As the first U.S. Navy officer to pass through the vaunted British “Perisher” course for submariners, Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Mack had to make quite a few adjustments.
First, there was the lexicon difference — “port rudder” instead of “left rudder,” for instance. Then there were different methods of measurement — meters rather than feet.
And, perhaps more importantly, there were different ways of doing business; officers handle navigation on British submarines, while in the U.S. fleet enlisted quartermasters handle the task.  

In the undersea community there was considerable trepidation about Mack's departure for England early this year. About 50 percent of those who get to Perisher are drummed out before graduation. The Royal Navy made it clear that standards would not be relaxed for “the colonial.”

“I was a little nervous,” Mack said. “I don't think anyone wouldn't be. But I looked at it as just too big an opportunity to pass up.”
Mack did well enough that, when he completed the course, “Teacher” — Royal Navy Cmdr. Paul Avraham, head of the Perisher course — pinned on the American his own set of British dolphins that he had earned 20 years earlier.  

“That's not something we share lightly, even within the profession,” said Capt. Mark Breor, director of officer training at the Naval Submarine School in Groton, where Mack reported after returning home. “That was a very significant gesture. You can bet when this guy goes to be an executive officer, there's going to be a bidding war to get him on board.”  

In the meantime, the British are preparing to send some of their submarine officers to the United States for the Prospective Commanding Officer (PCO) course offered in Groton. The exchange is one of several under way or in the planning stages to “cross-pollinate” and share tactics and techniques with allied forces.  

In the Pacific, U.S. submariners trained with their Australian counterparts this summer, and Vice Adm. John J. Grossenbacher, the Navy's Commander of Submarine Forces, has proposed similar exchanges with the Dutch and the Canadians.  “As a force, we're going to learn a lot about how other people operate,” Grossenbacher said.  

Cmdr. Barry Bruner, who directs the PCO course for the Pacific submarine force, said the exchanges bring a couple of benefits. First, they provide a better understanding of the capabilities of allied navies. The Australians, for instance, operate the diesel-electric Collins class of boat; the U.S. Navy operates only nuclear submarines.
“The PCOs come out of this course with a much better understanding of diesel submarines than anyone else in the Navy,” which is important, Bruner said. “There's a good chance, if we do go to war, it will be against a country that operates diesel submarines.”  

Given the participation of Australian forces in Operation Enduring Freedom and other recent multination coalition actions, it is likely that the Australian navy's submarine force would participate in any naval action involving the United States in the Pacific.
“If that happens, we've already had the experience of doing in-depth, detailed operations with our allies,” Bruner said.  

•Mack was navigator on the USS Memphis when Breor was captain, and the second officer chosen to enroll in the Perisher course, Lt. Cmdr. Edward Pittman, worked for Breor at the Atlantic Fleet Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board. Breor said he got a chuckle out of the coincidence, but said it was nothing more than that.
“I wish I could take credit for it, but I really can't,” he said. “I was just blessed to work with great people.”  

Mack said he had just returned from a six-month deployment when he was approached about taking the assignment to the Perisher course, which meant another extended absence from his family. Because the program is so intense — courses start at dawn and discussions often go past midnight — it made no sense to move his family to England. 

Mack was given an eight-week introductory course when he arrived in England last January, then enrolled in the 16-week Perisher. He said the two forces do many things differently, particularly when it comes to navigation. In the U.S. Navy, enlisted quartermasters do most of the charting; in the Royal Navy, the officers handle the task. In addition, their charting techniques are different.
Some of the equipment on board the British submarines was different as well, though, in the tradition of the Silent Service around the world, Mack would not elaborate.  

Every Perisher graduate from 1917 until today has had his name carved into large wooden panels in the hallways of the school, and Mack's classmates have promised to send him a picture of his own name when the latest class is added.

Graduates of the Perisher course go directly into an executive officer's spot on a British submarine, and depending on how they do there, some will be chosen to move up to command. Mack's classmates were surprised to learn he would spend the next 18 months at sub school, teaching tactics in a simulated attack center instead of going to sea. Breor said the intention was to get Mack to share some of what he has learned.

Mack gave his first briefing on the British program to Submarine Group Two staff last week, and he will soon deliver a presentation to the Navy's top submarine and fleet officers.
“There is a pretty significant amount of interest in how it worked,” he said.
“And I think it's only healthy for us to look at how everyone else operates, and say, ‘Maybe there are better ways we can do things.' They were always asking me the same thing over there — ‘What can we do better?' ”  

• The exchange course in the Pacific fleet goes back to August 2000, when the HMAS Waller visited Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and participated in PCO operations there, Bruner said.
Last year, 11 PCO students and two instructors from Pearl Harbor flew to Perth, where they took part in an exercise that pitted the USS Asheville against the HMAS Sheehan.
The two navies have decided to formalize the relationship, alternating every other summer at Pearl Harbor and Stirling Submarine Base in Australia.

Each class typically spends a little less than three weeks underwater, taking part in the submarine-on-submarine operations. The officers who finish the course are much better equipped to deal with the diesel submarine threat, Bruner said. "The knowledge level on both sides goes up quite a bit every time we do this," he said. "There's no question in my mind that this is the key to increasing the experience level of submarine commanding officers."

[Back to SNS]