Russian ships expose failings of Australian submarine operations

Australia was unable to send a submarine to monitor a fleet of Russian warships in the Coral Sea during the G20 meeting because all of its available boats were on the other side of the country.

The predicament robbed the navy of a chance to gather valuable intelligence against the Russian flotilla and will increase pressure on the federal government to consider a new submarine base on the east coast in the forthcoming defence white paper.

It also meant the navy could not ascertain for certain whether a Russian nuclear submarine was accompanying the four Russian ships as they sailed off northern Australia in a show of force designed to coincide with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Brisbane for the G20 meeting.

Read more