The troubled Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyer has yet another problem in surviving modern combat.
The state of play is that the Pacific Rim is becoming even more awash in all kinds of submarines.
One can look at the Falklands war and the dramatic photos of the General Belgrano sinking, and think: well it was an old ship with no proper anti-submarine-warfare (ASW) protection. But consider the following: at that time UK Royal Navy nuclear attack submarines were at their peak performance doing precise real-world missions against the Soviet bear.
Royal Navy submarine commanders were the best they ever had been at that time. When one looks at their command qualification course called "perisher", that forging of submarine command ethos is understood to deliver a submarine boss that can produce results under stress.
Had the order been given, Royal Navy subs could have sunk everything. The escorts for the Belgrano (one did suffer a hit but it was a dud); the Argentine navy aircraft carrier, and its escorts (at a different location).
All gone.
The Royal Navy submarine combat effort was restrained.
I doubt any future enemy we face will be restrained or see any reason to act such a way.
Think unrestricted warfare using submarines.
And as it is today, we have yet another reason (not just the air threat) to see that if we send Hobart-class destroyers out in a real shooting war, it is unlikely they will return home.
The Hobart should avoid submarine encounters at all costs. A RAN task group with the Hobart-class as its crown jewel of protection is in grave danger. It will not go to sea with the RUM-139 VL-ASROC.
RUM-139 VL-ASROC is a rocket that can reach out 22km in a short amount of time and drop a mark 54 anti-submarine torpedo right on top of an enemy's head.
This is important because without this weapon, the Hobart class is out of options if its' one helicopter is unavailable due to maintenance, weather, sortie cycle or combat-loss/mishap.
The Belgrano sinking reminds us (again) that war at sea has its own kind of special cruelty. At impact, crew on a ship hit by a torpedo are easily incapacitated. Broken legs, head injuries and so on just from the terrier-shaking-a-rat effect. Their ability to get off the ship is going to be problematic. Same for escaping fire. Then there is the oil/kerosene (burning and not burning) in the water. The cold. Sharks and so on. And that is just death-by-torpedo.
Since the end of The Cold War, there has been a massive under investment in anti-submarine-warfare, all across the spectrum. When the butcher's bill is read in the next war, the damage caused by a motivated enemy submarine force will be horrific.
What to do?
Hobart needs an ASROC capability or something similar. This could even be good work for DSTO to get involved in to find a solution.
I would treat this as a priority.
War at sea means attrition. It means being able to continue the fight in the face of attrition.
Putting ASROC-like capability on the Hobart-class might just save some lives and even a battle.
Let us endeavor to fix the obvious flaws in our concept of operations.
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