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The Collins Class Submarine Story Steel Spies and Spin
1st Edition Peter Yule Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Peter Yule, Derek Woolner
ISBN(s): 9780521868945, 0521868947
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 13.18 MB
Year: 2008
Language: english
 TH E C OLLINS CLASS SUBMARINE STORY
STEEL, SPIES AND SPIN

A unique and outstanding military and industrial achievement, the

Collins class submarine project was also plagued with difficulties and
mired in politics. Its story is one of heroes and villains, grand passions,
intrigue, lies, spies and backstabbing. It is as well a story of enormous
commitment and resolve to achieve what many thought impossible.

The building of these submarines was Australia’s largest, most

expensive and most controversial military project. From initiation in
the 1981–82 budget to the delivery of the last submarine in 2003, the
total cost was in excess of six billion dollars.

Over 130 key players were interviewed for this book, and the
Australian Defence Department allowed access to its classified archives
and the Australian Navy archives. Vividly illustrated with photographs
from the collections of the Royal Australian Navy and ASC Pty Ltd,
The Collins Class Submarine Story: Steel, Spies and Spin is a riveting
and accessibly written chronicle of a grand-scale quest for excellence.

Peter Yule is a Research Fellow of the History Department of the

University of Melbourne.

Derek Woolner is a Visiting Fellow of the Strategic and Defence Studies

Centre, Australian National University.
 THE
COLLINS CLASS
SUBMARINE
STORY
STEEL, SPIES AND SPIN

PETER YULE
DEREK WOOLNER
cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,
Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City

Cambridge University Press

477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521868945

© Peter Yule and Derek Woolner 2008

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2008

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication data

Yule, Peter
The Collins Class Submarine story: steel, spies and spin/authors, Peter Yule, Derek
Woolner.
Cambridge; Port Melbourne, Vic.: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
978-0-521-86894-5 (hbk.)
Includes index.
Australia. Royal Australian Navy – Procurement.
Australia. Dept. of Defence – Procurement.
Collins Class (Submarine)
Submarines (Ships) – Australia.
Woolner, Derek, 1946–
359.93830994

isbn 978-0-521-86894-5 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or

accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel
timetables, and other factual information given in this work is correct at
the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee
the accuracy of such information thereafter.
CONTENTS

List of key people vii

List of acronyms xv
Introduction xvii

PART 1: YOU CAN’T BUILD SUBMARINES

IN AUSTRALIA 1
1. ‘The one class of vessel that it is impossible to build in
Australia’: Australia’s early submarines 3
2. Australia’s Oberon class submarines 11
3. The submarine weapons update program and the
origins of the new submarine project 20
4. The new submarine project 30
5. ‘We can’t build submarines, go away’: Eglo
Engineering and the submarine project 37
6. The acts of the apostles 44
7. ‘But how will you judge them?’: the tender evaluation
process 1984–85 58
8. Spies, leaks and sackings: from tender evaluation to
project definition study 76
9. The project definition study 1985–86 89
10. Debating the laws of physics: picking winners 1987 101

PART 2: THE HONEYMOON YEARS 1987–92 117

11. ‘Keen as mustard to do a good job’: setting to work
1987–89 119

v
vi CONTENTS

12. Designing the Collins class 130

13. Building submarines 142
14. The automated integrated vision 152
15. Steel, sonars and tiles: early technological support for
the submarines 166
16. ‘On time and on budget’ 181

PART 3: ‘A STRANGE SENSE OF UNEASE’ 1993–98 191

17. End of the honeymoon 193
18. The trials of Collins 205
19. ‘They were problems we didn’t expect’ 221
20. The role of Defence Science: noise and diesels 235
21. ‘A patch on this and chewing gum on that’: the combat
system 1993–97 244

PART 4: RESOLUTION 255

22. ‘Hardly a day went by without the project getting a
hammering in the press’: the project in crisis 1997–98 257
23. ‘Bayoneting the wounded’: the McIntosh-Prescott
report 274
24. ‘That villain Briggs’ and the submarine ‘get-well’
program 287
25. ‘Inside the American tent’: the saga of the replacement
combat system 299
26. ‘We’ll do it and get rid of the buggers’: Kockums, ASC
and Electric Boat 310
27. ‘We would find that challenging’: comparison and
retrospect 319

Notes 330
Index 349
LIST OF KEY PEOPLE

Note: date/s of interviews with the authors are indicated in square

brackets following the names listed below.

Carl Johan Åberg, Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade

mid-1980s [10 November 2006]
Marcos Alfonso (Commander RAN), submariner; engineer
HMAS Collins [2 August 2006]
Eoin Asker (Commodore RAN), submariner; fourth Project
Director 1997–2000 [14 June 2006]
Paul Armarego, lawyer for SMCT [16 May 2006]
Jack Atkinson, General Manager Design and Engineering, ASC
[31 March 2006]
Tony Ayers, Secretary, Department of Defence 1988–98
John Bannon, Premier of South Australia 1982–92 [11 July
2006]
Paul Barratt, Secretary, Department of Defence 1998–99
[10 April 2006]
John Batten (Commander RAN), project office; developed
Australian industry involvement policy and contract
management system for project [2 March 2006]
Kim Beazley, Minister for Defence 1984–90 [28 February 2006]
Allan Behm, Defence policy analyst [20 April 2006]
Bo Benell, General Counsel, Kockums [21 November 2006]
Fred Bennett, Chief of Capital Procurement, Department of
Defence 1984–88 [8 March 2007]
Jim Berger, executive, CBI and ASC
Doug Bews, Production Manager, ASC
Kurt Blixt (Major General, Swedish army), Assistant
Under-Secretary for Procurement, Swedish Ministry for
Defence [14 November 2006]

vii
viii LIST OF KEY PEOPLE

Richard Brabin-Smith, Chief Defence Scientist [16 February

2006]
Peter Briggs (Rear Admiral RAN), submariner; submarine policy
maker; head of SMCT [7 March 2006; 18 July 2006]
Pår Bunke, executive, Kockums; Deputy Managing Director,
ASC 1990–93 [18 November 2006]
John Butler (Rear Admiral USN), led American assistance to the
project [1 February 2006]
John Button, Minister for Industry 1983–93 [25 October 2005]
Doug Callow, Senior Engineer, ASC [31 March 2006]
Rick Canham (Captain RAN), submariner; led project team in
Sweden
Roine Carlsson, Swedish Minister for Defence mid-1980s
[14 November 2006]
Laurie Carmichael, Australian Metal Workers Union, ACTU
Tony Carter (Captain RAN), Project Support Manager
Don Chalmers (Vice Admiral RAN), Chief of Navy 1997–99
[17 May 2006]
Graeme Ching, executive, CBI and ASC
Göran Christensson, engineer, Kockums and ASC
Bob Clark, Operational Software Manager, SWSC, project and
DMO [6 October 2006]
Peter Clarke (Rear Admiral RAN), ex-RN submariner; Project
Manager [18 May 2006]
Peter Climas, technical officer, DSTO
Janice Cocking, scientist, DSTO
Colin Cooper, ex-RN submariner; engineer; Combat System
Project Manager [18 April 2007]
Orm Cooper (Captain RAN), director of major procurement
projects in the early 1980s [30 March 2006]
Tim Cox (Commodore RAN), Director General of Maritime
Development [15 November 2006]
Harry Dalrymple (Commodore RAN), Director General of
Naval Design 1980–89 [10 March 2006; 3 April 2006]
Geoff Davis, Managing Director, Wormald Limited; first
Chairman ASC [14 August 2006]
Phil Davis (Rear Admiral USN), led USN assistance to Collins
project [28 February 2007]
Peter Dechaineux (Commodore RAN), engineer; prepared
history of project 1999 [18 May 2006]
 LIST OF KEY PEOPLE ix

Paul Dibb, Defence policy strategist [30 May 2006]

John Dickens, scientist, DSTO
Ron Dicker, Dutch submariner; managed Signaal bid; Combat
System Manager, ASC [24 July 2006; 31 August 2006]
John Dikkenberg (Captain RAN), submariner; squadron
commander, test and trials [15 August 2006]
Brian Dixon, scientist, DSTO
Bill Dovers (Rear Admiral RAN), logistics and personnel issues
[30 May 2006]
Jim Duncan (Commander RAN), managed South Australian bid
[27 April 2006]
Mick Dunne (Commodore RAN), submariner; critic of Collins
project [27 April 2006]
Ulf Edman, Swedish submariner; Commodore, Swedish
submarine squadron [14 November 2006]
Martin Edwards, engineer, ASC [10 July 2006]
David Elliston, Commercial Manager at project office [1 March
2006]
Bruce Fairlie, scientist, DSTO
Rod Farrow, Combat System Project Manager, CSA
[19 February 2007]
Rod Fayle (Commander RAN), submariner; Operational
Requirements Manager [26 April 2006]
David Ferguson, lawyer, Minter Ellison; acted for Kockums and
other Swedish companies [22 November 2005]
Mark Gairey, naval architect; sixth Project Director [22 August
2006]
Mike Gallagher (Commander RAN), first CO of Farncomb;
worked for STN and Raytheon [8 August 2006]
Paul Gashler (Captain RAN), Project Support Manager 1988–90
Mark Gobell, engineer, ASC [10 July 2006]
Geoff Goodwin, scientist, DSTO [18 June 2007]
Paul Greenfield (Commodore RAN), submariner; fifth Project
Director [1 March 2006]
Ken Greig (Captain RAN), submariner; Project Manager and
Senior Engineer [1 June 2006]
Steven Gumley, CEO, ASC and DMO [8 June 2006]
Ove Gustafsson, CEO, Pacific Marine Batteries [31 March
2006]
Kenneth Håkansson, welding engineer, Kockums
x LIST OF KEY PEOPLE

John Halfpenny, Secretary, Amalgamated Metal Workers Union

1972–87
Gösta Hardebring, General Manager, Saab Naval Systems
[15 November 2006]
Keith Harper, Project Design Manager 1983–85
Peter Hatcher (Commodore RAN), submariner; Combat System
Development Manager; Project Manager [23 August 2006]
Allan Hawke, Secretary, Department of Defence, 1999–2002
[4 August 2006]
Bill Hicklen, executive, CBI
Peter Hider, Deputy Project Director; negotiated contracts
[22 August 2006]
Ian Hill (Commander RAN), Combat System Project Manager
Robert Hill, Minister for Defence 2001–06
Tomy Hjorth, Managing Director, Kockums; Chairman of ASC
[13 November 2006]
Paddy Hodgman (Captain RAN), Chief Staff Officer to Chief of
Navy 1997–99 [2 March 2006]
Olle Holmdahl, headed Kockums design team; Deputy
Managing Director, ASC [29 August 2006]
Robert Holtsbaum, lawyer, Minter Ellison; acted for Kockums
[17 November 2005]
Peter Horobin (Lieutenant Commander RAN), submariner;
worked as consultant on many aspects of project [7 August
2006]
Mike Houghton (Captain RAN), submariner; engineer; liaison
officer with Kockums [1 February 2006]
Tony Houseman, Contracts Manager, CSA [19 June 2006]
Brian Howe, Minister for Defence Support 1983–84
[25 November 2005]
Mike Hudson (Vice Admiral RAN), Chief of the Navy
1985–91
Oscar Hughes (Rear Admiral RAN), engineer; second Project
Director 1985–93 [16 January 2005; 20 February 2007]
Peter Hugonnet (Captain RAN), submariner; engineer;
responsible for submarine safety system [8 June 2006]
Peter Jennings, Chief of Staff to Minister for Defence 1996–97
[19 July 2006]
John Jeremy, Managing Director, Cockatoo Island Dockyard
1981–91 [23 June 2005; 15 August 2006]
 LIST OF KEY PEOPLE xi

Andrew Johnson, combat system software engineer, SWSC and

CSA [22 March 2006; 27 March 2006]
Doug Jones, lawyer, Clayton Utz [8 February 2007]
Garry Jones, Deputy Secretary Acquisition and Logistics,
1994–99
Wal Jurkiewicz, lawyer for SMCT [16 May 2006]
Bruce Kean, CEO, Boral; Director, ASC [12 December 2005]
Al Konetzni (Vice Admiral USN), Commander of Submarine
Force USN
John Kroll, manager, Bisalloy Industrial Steels
Robert Lemonius, senior engineer, ASC [7 August 2006]
John Lewis, DSTO scientist
Hans Peder Loid, naval architect, SSPA Sweden [23 November
2006]
Ian MacDougall (Vice Admiral RAN), first submariner to be
Chief of Navy [16 June 2006]
Malcolm McIntosh, Deputy Secretary Acquisition, co-author
McIntosh-Prescott Report
Ian McLachlan, Minister for Defence 1996–98
Ron McLaren, Project Financial Manager [18 December 2006]
Roger Mansell, executive, Wormald and ASC
Robert Mansfield, corporate raider
Andrew Millar (Commander RAN), staff officer to Project
Director [12 August 2005; 17 January 2006]
Chris Miller, software engineer, CSA [14 August 2006]
Mick Millington, combat system engineer with SWSC and CSA
[8 July 2006]
Ross Milton, executive, CBI and ASC [10 July 2006]
Dennis Mole (Commodore RAN), submariner; head of
submarine squadron [15 August 2006]
John Moore, Minister for Defence 1998–2000 [28 April 2006]
Maurice de Morton, scientist, DSTO
Jim Muth, executive, CBI and ASC
Rick Neilson, combat system engineer with SWSC, Rockwell
and Boeing [5 July 2006]
Ian Noble (Captain RAN), Operational Technical Requirements
Manager [22 August 2006]
Chris Norwood, scientist, DSTO [12 June 2007]
Hans Ohff, engineer; Managing Director of Eglo Engineering
and ASC [6 February 2006; 9 February 2007]
xii LIST OF KEY PEOPLE

Gunnar Öhlund, Technical Director, Kockums [17 November

2006]
David Oldfield, scientist, DSTO [5 May 2006]
John O’Neill, executive, Kockums and ASC
Bill Owen (Captain RAN), ex-RN submariner; Director of
Submarine Policy 1971–76; head of submarine squadron
1976–79; critic of Collins project [16 May 2006]
Frank Owen (Commander RAN), submariner; Operational
Requirements Manager [17 May 2006]
Chris Oxenbould (Rear Admiral RAN), Deputy Chief of Navy
1997–99 [15 June 2006]
John Pascall, combat system engineer, SWSC and Rockwell [14
June 2006]
Stephanie Paul, Phillips Group; ran public relations for SMCT
[5 July 2006]
Paul-E Pålsson, President of Kockums 1987–91 [18 November
2006]
Olle Person, diesel engine consultant, Kockums and Hedemora
[13 November 2006]
Forbes Peters (Commander RAN), submariner; engineer; navy
supervisor of Waller refit [31 March 2006]
Bob Phillips, scientist, DSTO
John Prescott, Managing Director of BHP; co-author of
McIntosh-Prescott Report; Chairman of ASC [12 April 2006]
Robert Ray, Minister for Defence 1990–96
Peter Reith, Minister for Defence 2000–01
Dick Riddell (Rear Admiral USN), submariner; chief US naval
research and development adviser to allied navies
Simon Ridgway, engineer, ASC [31 March 2006]
Chris Ritchie (Vice Admiral RAN), Chief of Navy 2002–05
John Ritter, scientist, DSTO [21 March 2006]
Juergen Ritterhoff (Professor), head of IKL design team
[22 November 2006]
Terry Roach (Commodore RAN), submariner; leading
submarine policy maker [17 May 2006]
Trevor Robertson (Commander RAN), first CO of HMAS
Collins [8 February 2007]
Mick Roche, head of DMO 1999–2004
Geoff Rose (Commodore RAN), submariner; third Project
Director 1993–97 [20 August 2006]
 LIST OF KEY PEOPLE xiii

Bill Rourke (Rear Admiral RAN), Chief of Naval Materiel; early

advocate of building in Australia [2 March 2006]
Jeff Rubython, executive, Wormald and ASC
Hans Saeger, headed HDW bid [22 November 2006]
Alan Saunders, ASC engineer, ex-Cockatoo Island
Kevin Scarce (Rear Admiral RAN), DMO division head for
naval project & support [30 March 2006]
Bill Schofield, DSTO scientist, head of aeronautical and
maritime research laboratories
David Shackleton (Vice Admiral RAN), Chief of Navy
1999–2002 [17 May 2006]
Rick Shalders (Commodore RAN), head of submarine squadron
[8 August 2006]
David Simcoe, DMO naval engineer [19 June 2007]
Peter Sinclair (Captain RAN), CO of HMAS Collins during sea
trials [16 June 2006]
Tony Smith (Commander RAN), submariner; worked for ASC,
Boeing and Raytheon [1 February 2006]
Keith Snell, consultant involved at many times during project;
principal SMA [27 July 2006]
Roger Sprimont, Swedish submariner; head of Kockums’ bid;
chairman, ASC 1987–89 [10 November 2006]
Karl Bertil Stein, combat system and weapons engineer,
Kockums [20 November 2006]
Pelle Stenberg, Swedish submariner; executive, Kockums
[16 November 2006]
Greg Stuart, project senior platform engineer [21 August 2006]
Tore Svensson, design engineer, Kockums [17 November 2006]
Ebbe Sylven, Swedish submariner; Swedish representative on
Australia-Sweden government steering committee
[14 November 2006]
John Taylor, welding engineer, ASC
Rod Taylor (Vice Admiral RAN), Chief of Naval Staff 1994–97
Jock Thornton, ASC engineer; ex-RN submariner
Ted Vanderhoek, software specialist with SWSC and submarine
project [16 August 2006]
Patrick Walters, national security correspondent for major
metropolitan dailies [7 August 2006]
Graham White (Captain RAN), first Project Director 1982–85
[5 August 2005; 6 August 2006]
xiv LIST OF KEY PEOPLE

Hugh White, staff member to Defence Minister Kim Beazley;

Deputy Secretary under Defence Minister John Moore
[27 March 2006]
John White, ran campaign to build in Australia and the
unsuccessful HDW bid [20 March 2006]
Don Williams, Managing Director, ASC 1988–93
Jim Williams, head of research, BHP Wollongong
David Wyllie, DSTO scientist; chief of the Maritime Platforms
Division in 1998 [5 May 2006]
Sandy Woodward (Vice Admiral RN), Falklands War
commander and Flag Officer Submarines
Alan Wrigley, Deputy Secretary, Department of Defence
1979–85; queried basis for submarine project;
Director-General of ASIO 1985–88 [15 November 2006]
Charles Yandell, production manager, ASC; ex-Cockatoo Island
John Young, Chairman of the Management Board, Atlas
Elektronik [31 January 2006]
LIST OF ACRONYMS

ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions

AMS Australian Marine Systems Pty Ltd
ASC Australian Submarine Corporation Pty Ltd
CBI Chicago Bridge and Iron Inc.
CSA Computer Sciences of Australia
CSC Computer Sciences Corporation
DAO Defence Acquisition Organisation
DMO Defence Materiel Organisation
DSTO Defence Science and Technology Organisation
FMV Försvarets Materielverk (Swedish Defence Materiel
Administration)
HDW Howaltswerke Deutsche Werft
IKL Ingenieur Kontor Lübeck
MTU Motoren und Turbine Union Friedrichshafen GmbH
RAN Royal Australian Navy
RN Royal Navy
SMA Scientific Management Associates
SMCT Submarine Capability Team
SSPA SSPA Maritime Consulting AB, Göteborg, Sweden
SWSC Submarine Warfare Systems Centre
USN United States Navy

xv
INTRODUCTION

The construction of the Collins class submarines was Australia’s

largest, most expensive and most controversial military purchase.1
The project had its origins in the late 1970s and the last subma-
rine was delivered to the navy in 2003. During that period it was
subjected to an unprecedented level of media scrutiny and criti-
cism, became highly politicised and on several occasions faced the
prospect of being abandoned.
The general public perception of the submarine project is that
it was a hugely expensive failure and that the submarines are
noisy ‘dud subs’. These views are not shared by those who were
involved in designing, building or operating the submarines, or
by the navy leadership and military analysts who see the project
as an extraordinary industrial achievement and the submarines as
potent weapons and among the best of conventional submarines.
There is much that is unique about the Collins submarine
project. It was the first class of major warship designed specifically
for Australian requirements – earlier classes were either bought
from overseas or built to plans developed for other navies. Aus-
tralian industry was more heavily involved than with any other
modern military purchase. It was the largest electronics systems
integration project ever undertaken in Australia. The lengthy list
has led advocates for the project to compare it with the Snowy
Mountains Scheme for its ‘nation-building’ significance.
Nonetheless the project encountered serious difficulties, and
for many different reasons these were not managed well. Even
with the benefit of hindsight there is passionate disagreement on
what went wrong, why it went wrong and what should have been
done. The only agreement among those involved in the project is
that the final result is a fleet of excellent submarines.
I was approached by Cambridge University Press to write this
book, principally, I think, because I was the only person they

xvii
xviii INTRODUCTION

could find with no preconceptions of the submarine project. This

was accompanied by an absence of knowledge: I approached the
project as a blank canvas, to be filled in by talking to as many
of the protagonists as possible along with surveying the massive
quantity of documents generated during the project. My training
is in history and I have attempted to carry out the research and
analyse the evidence using the methods of a historian, although
historians are not trained to deal with the strong emotions still
felt about the project by many of those involved.
The aim of the book is simply to tell the story of the submarine
project from its origins to about 2005. It is an extraordinary story
with heroes and villains, intrigue, lies, spies and backstabbing. It is
also a story of enormous commitment and resolve to achieve what
many thought was impossible. There are lessons to be learnt from
the story, but they are for the readers to discover for themselves
rather than the authors to prescribe, and different people will see
different lessons.
The book deliberately avoids military jargon, ‘techno-speak’
and the universal euphemisms of military folk – where weapons
are called capabilities, assets, deterrents or systems, wars are con-
flicts or contingencies, and all military activities, however aggres-
sive in intent, come under the umbrella term ‘defence’. We have
also avoided the military’s compulsive tendency to over-use cap-
ital letters and acronyms. The style of the book will be foreign
for those of service background or military enthusiasts, but is
designed to make the story accessible to those confounded by sen-
tences like, ‘Raytheon has received a NAVAIR contract to further
develop the JSOW AGM-154C1 (formerly JSOW Block III)’. Nor
will the reader find such grandiloquent creatures as CINCPACFLT
or COMNAVSEASYSCOM. Both are (apparently) familiar
figures to modern sailors, though Nelson must be shuddering in
his grave.
This book is not an analysis of what has been written about
the project by journalists and academics and has generally avoided
using secondary sources. It is based on over 130 interviews with
people involved in almost every aspect of the project, and the doc-
uments, minutes, letters and diaries generated during the course of
the project. These include the major evaluation studies of industry
proposals, the Tender Evaluation Board Report and the Subma-
rine Evaluation Team Report, the minutes of the Force Structure
 INTRODUCTION xix

Committee and the Chief of Naval Staff Advisory Committee, the

Project Quarterly Progress Reports, the Vickers Cockatoo Island
Dockyard Report on the construction of submarines in Australia
and many other reports on the strategic and technical justifications
for the project, and departmental files on specific issues.
My task was made possible by the advice and guidance of my
co-author, Derek Woolner, a military analyst long exposed to the
ways of the Canberra bureaucracy. Derek carried out the docu-
mentary research in Canberra, wrote chapters 7–10, 15 and 20,
contributed sections for several other chapters and helped in many
other ways. Admirals Peter Briggs and Boyd Robinson provided
constant help and opened many doors, without in any way deter-
mining the conclusions reached. The staff of the submarine branch
of the Defence Materiel Organisation assisted in many ways and
Colin Cooper deserves special thanks for maximising the authors’
use of the official record by his management of the security restric-
tions of classified documents.
Many people have read portions of the draft and the authors
thank them all for their helpful comments. We owe special thanks
for advice and encouragement to John Jeremy, Ron Dicker, Andy
Millar, Jim Duncan, Olle Holmdahl, Oscar Hughes, Graham
White, Greg Stuart and Hans Ohff. My visit to Sweden and
Germany in November 2006 was made possible by Roger
Sprimont, who arranged my interview program and helped greatly
in many ways. I received welcome help and hospitality from Pelle
Stenberg, Ulf Edman, Pår Bunke, Hans Peder Loid, Karl Bertil
Stein, Kurt Blixt, Ebbe Sylven, Tomy Hjorth, Paul-E Pålsson, Olle
Person, Gösta Hardebring, Roine Carlsson, Carl-Johan Åberg,
Hans Saeger and Juergen Ritterhoff. The staff of Kockums went
out of their way to assist me and Gunnar Öhlund, Tore Svensson
and Bo Benell provided me with much useful information. Simi-
larly, ASC Pty Ltd (formerly the Australian Submarine Corpora-
tion) gave me every assistance and I am grateful to Jayne Correll
for organising interviews with ASC staff.
Geoff Hook and Peter Nicholson have kindly given permission
to reproduce their cartoons, which encapsulate some of the more
acrimonious debates and controversial aspects of the submarine
saga. The following individuals and organisations have generously
allowed us to use their photographs to illustrate significant stages
of the project and some of the key people involved: Peter Sinclair;
xx INTRODUCTION

the Royal Australian Navy; ASC Pty Ltd; Defence Science and
Technology Organisation, Department of Defence; Force Element
Group, Department of Defence.
Of the thousands of people involved in designing, building
and operating the Collins class submarines, no two people fully
agree on the ‘real story’ of the submarine project. Similarly few
people will agree with all details in the book, and many will be
angered by some of the conclusions reached. While the authors
accept responsibility for any errors of fact or interpretation, the
lack of agreement on many issues remains one of the key features
of the Collins submarine project, with the noise of the disputes
still overshadowing the scale of the achievement.

Peter Yule
PART 1

YOU CAN’T BUILD

SUBMARINES
IN AUSTRALIA
 CHAPTER 1
‘The one class of vessel that it is
impossible to build in Australia’:
Australia’s early submarines

THE NEW SUBMARINES:

A R E T H E R E FATA L D E F E C T S ?
This headline appeared in the Melbourne Age, not in the 1990s,
but on 12 July 1928. It referred not to the Australian-built Collins
class submarines, but to the British built O class. In 1925 two of
these submarines were ordered for the Royal Australian Navy
from Vickers’ shipyard at Barrow in the north-west of England.
Delivery was 12 months late due to industrial problems and short-
ages of skilled workers, but the worst problems were not seen until
the submarines, Oxley and Otway, had entered the Mediterranean
Sea on their way to Australia. Cracks and fractures were found in
the diesel engines of both boats, and they were stranded in Malta
for eight months.
Inevitably the delay and cost led to debate in Australia. The
government and the navy were accused of buying an experimental
design that had not been properly tested and of hiding the truth ‘in
a fog of mystery’.1 Official responses were vague and misleading
and, failing to quell public concerns, led to ever more extreme
claims about the boats’ failings.2 The lack of open and public

3
4 THE COLLINS CLASS SUBMARINE STORY

discussion led to a general belief that the faults were far worse than
they really were. Further, the debate was deliberately fanned by
leading figures in the navy and the government who were opposed
to having submarines at all.
Submarines have long been controversial in Australia. From
the earliest days of the navy the same topics have been debated.
Should the navy have submarines? If so, should they be built in
Australia or overseas? Does Australia have the ability to build
submarines? What are the most suitable submarines? Will they
prove too expensive? Will they perform as intended? The debates
have been more bitter and prolonged with the Collins class than
with any other, but most of the issues raised in the controversies
over Collins have familiar resonances over the century since Alfred
Deakin first proposed submarines for the Australian navy.
In April 1904 Admiral Sir John Fisher, the architect of British
naval policy before the First World War, described an incident he
observed during British naval exercises off Portsmouth:
Here . . . is the battleship Empress of India engaged in
manoeuvres and knowing of the proximity of Submarines, . . .
so self-confident of safety and so oblivious of the possibilities
of modern warfare that the Admiral is smoking his cigarette,
the Captain is calmly seeing defaulters down on the
half-deck, no one caring an iota of what is going on, and
suddenly they see a Whitehead torpedo miss their stern by a
few feet! And how fired? From a submarine [which] followed
that battleship for a solid two hours under water.3

He concluded: ‘In all seriousness I don’t think it is even

faintly realised – The immense impending revolution which the
submarines will effect as offensive weapons of war’ [original
emphasis]. Fisher’s enthusiasm for submarines was reflected in
the original vessels ordered for the Royal Australian Navy.
When Prime Minister Alfred Deakin announced his plan for
an Australian navy after discussions with the British Admiralty
in 1907, it was based on a flotilla of nine submarines and six
destroyers. Deakin met strong opposition from Captain William
Creswell, Australia’s senior naval officer, who argued that sub-
marines would ‘be useless for Australia under present conditions
or against any attacks possible to occur’ and they were expensive
to maintain and difficult to crew.4
 A U S T R A L I A’ S E A R LY S U B M A R I N E S 5

However, Deakin had the endorsement of Admiral Fisher, had

seen a demonstration of submarines in England and remained
committed. This was not to be the last time that Australian politi-
cians were more enthusiastic about acquiring submarines than the
navy itself was.
In the decade before 1914 Britain became increasingly fearful
of Germany’s rapid naval expansion and this led Admiral Fisher to
advise Australia to create a ‘fleet unit’ of one battle cruiser, three
cruisers, six destroyers and three submarines. This proposal was
endorsed by Deakin’s government in September 1909 and formed
the basis for Australian naval planning until the First World
War, although the three C class submarines originally proposed
were replaced by two of the more modern and more expensive
E class.
While most of the fleet was ordered from British shipyards,
there was great political enthusiasm for building some vessels in
Australia, and a destroyer ordered under the 1907 scheme was
reassembled at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney. This took six
months longer than planned and ‘was not without its problems’
but the government and the navy were satisfied that Cockatoo
Island could attempt more substantial projects. Orders were
placed in August 1912 for a cruiser and three more destroyers and
all were delivered during 1916. The construction of the 5400-ton
cruiser HMAS Brisbane has been cited as ‘the most complex indus-
trial project undertaken in Australia to that time’ and, while there
might be arguments that the BHP steel works at Newcastle has
stronger claims, there is no doubting that Brisbane was a sig-
nificant achievement.5 At her launch the Minister for the Navy,
Mr J. A. Jensen, said: ‘There is no reason why the Australian work-
man should not be able to produce practically everything required
on a destroyer, a cruiser, a battleship or a submarine.’6
In reality, Cockatoo Island, the only Australian yard able to
build large naval ships, had numerous drawbacks. Together with
the higher wages of Australian workers, these meant that Cocka-
too’s ships cost roughly double that of British vessels.7 In response
to an Australian query, Vickers argued that reassembling prefab-
ricated submarine parts and machinery was impractical but that
submarine hulls could be built in Australia with British fittings,
machinery and skilled workers. Vickers was clear this would be
an extremely expensive operation.8
6 THE COLLINS CLASS SUBMARINE STORY

Consequently there was no opposition to the government’s

decision in late 1910 to order two E class submarines from
Britain. Delayed by Vickers’ high workloads and shortage of
skilled labour, AE1 and AE2 arrived in Sydney in May 1914.
They needed maintenance and repair after a 12 000-mile voyage,
but support arrangements were incomplete: the submarine depot
ship, HMAS Platypus, was not ready, and even their base was
undecided. Reflecting both unfamiliarity with, and in some quar-
ters disdain for, the requirements of submarine operations, the
purchase of AE1 and AE2 also demonstrated a continual feature
of Australian defence procurement – the failure to appreciate both
the full costs of supporting equipment and the opportunities for
integrating local industry support.
With the outbreak of war in August 1914 the new submarines
joined the fleet for the attack on the German wireless station
at Rabaul, but AE1 failed to return from patrol on 14 Septem-
ber and was never seen again. AE1 was the first vessel lost by
the Australian navy and its sailors were among Australia’s first
casualties of the First World War.
AE2 sailed to the Mediterranean where she played a dramatic
but little-known role in the Gallipoli landings. On 25 April 1915
AE2 was the first allied vessel to penetrate the Dardanelles and
her radio message giving notification of her success helped sway
General Ian Hamilton against withdrawing land forces from the
peninsula. Over the next few days AE2 torpedoed a Turkish
gunboat and caused great disruption to Turkish shipping, but
she did not return from her mission. Hit by Turkish gunfire,
AE2 was scuttled by her crew, who spent the rest of the war as
prisoners.9
In spite of these losses the Australian government remained
committed to an Australian submarine arm and made sev-
eral approaches to the British Admiralty for new submarines.
However, British shipyards were too busy and Australia would
have to wait upon the Admiralty’s priorities for access to
submarines.10
This raised the question: why not build submarines in Aus-
tralia? The opening of BHP’s steel plant at Newcastle, the wartime
need to replace imports with local production, and the enor-
mous military demand led to a rapid increase in industrial capac-
ity during the war years. Cockatoo Island successfully built two
 A U S T R A L I A’ S E A R LY S U B M A R I N E S 7

cruisers, three destroyers and several large auxiliaries for the

navy between 1913 and 1919, with the destroyers being the first
steel ships wholly built in Australia.11 During the war, Canada,
whose economic and industrial development was at a similar
level to Australia’s, built 18 complete H class submarines for
the British and Italian navies and a further 17 in kit form for
Russia.12
The matter of replacements for AE1 and AE2 was raised in
parliament on 27 May 1915. Jens Jensen, the assistant minister
representing the Minister for Defence in the House of Representa-
tives, said, ‘I hope we shall soon have more than two submarines’,
to which Joseph Cook, always a passionate advocate of Australian
self-reliance, responded: ‘And I should like them all to be built in
Australia if possible.’ To which Jensen replied: ‘The submarine is
the one class of vessel that it is impossible to build in Australia.’13
This statement was not contested. Naval experts and politicians
agreed that building submarines required specialised skills and
materials that were unavailable in Australia.
After the First World War the problem of excess demand for
military equipment quickly became a problem of excess supply. In
January 1919 the Australian government accepted a British offer
of six surplus J class submarines, which arrived in Sydney Harbour
on 15 July 1919. They were in poor condition and required exten-
sive refits. Although the management of Cockatoo Island had had
many months notice, the yard was quite unprepared for the work.
The repairs were slow and had scant regard for quality, primarily
because of shortages of skilled workers and delayed British spare
parts,14 and were not completed until the J boats were no longer
wanted. The navy’s budget had been slashed due to post-war hopes
for disarmament and an increasingly stagnant economy and, des-
perate to keep its surface ships, the service chose to sacrifice the
obsolete and expensive J boats. Laid up in 1921, they were sold
for scrap the following year.15
Yet government policy and Admiralty advice continued to sup-
port the development of an Australia submarine force. Even before
the J class boats were paid off, the navy was again looking at the
possibility of building submarines in Australia. On 23 November
1920 the chief of the naval staff wrote to Vice-Admiral Sir William
Clarkson, the member of the Naval Board in charge of engineering
and shipbuilding:
8 THE COLLINS CLASS SUBMARINE STORY

I shall be glad if you will investigate the possibility of

building submarines in Australia . . .
The following information is what is particularly
required:
a Can Submarines be built at the present time and if so
where
b Is the necessary skilled labour available locally
c What additional plant if any is required in order to
commence such construction and a rough estimate of the
cost of such plant and all it involves.16
The blunt reply came in just two days:
With reference to your enquiry, the following information is
appended . . .
a No
b Sufficient skilled labour is not available locally. A few
men have been trained in establishments where
submarines are built, but they are not sufficient.
c Will be investigated.17
The general manager of Cockatoo Island Dockyard was asked to
give an answer to the third question. He replied with a detailed
report on 16 December listing and pricing the equipment that
would be required to build submarines, and concluded that con-
struction in Australia would be feasible but certain raw mate-
rials and the batteries and electrical equipment would have to
be imported.18 However, in early 1923 Clarkson concluded that
‘the marine engineering development of Australia was at present
emphatically incapable of constructing submarines’. A submarine
built at Cockatoo Island would cost more than double the British
price and ‘ran the gravest risk of ultimate failure’.19 Consequently,
in late 1924 when the government agreed to buy two new O class
submarines, no voices urged construction in Australia.
The ill fate that had dogged the Australian submarine service
since the loss of AE1 in September 1914 continued with the O
boats, Oxley and Otway. Lengthy delays, mechanical failures
and public furore turned both political and naval opinion against
them. By mid-1929, when they were finally ready for service,
the economy was spiralling into depression, and it had already
been decided not to complete the planned flotilla of six. As in the
early 1920s, the navy leadership was determined to maintain its
 A U S T R A L I A’ S E A R LY S U B M A R I N E S 9

surface ships and quickly agreed to sacrifice the submarines. In

May 1930 Oxley and Otway were paid off and a year later they
were returned to the Royal Navy.20
An important lesson from the failures of the J and O class
submarines in the Australian navy was the importance of a mod-
ern and growing economy to the possession of modern weapons.
The Australian economy in the 1920s and 1930s had a narrow
industrial base, relying heavily on the export of primary prod-
ucts to Britain, itself with a steeply declining economy. The pitiful
state of Australia’s military preparedness in the late 1930s was not
entirely due to myopia – an empty federal treasury was unable to
fund rearmament and a tiny industrial base was unable to supply
more than a trickle of modern weapons and equipment.
The Australian shipbuilding industry expanded enormously
during the Second World War, building over 100 naval ves-
sels between 1939 and 1946, including 60 Australian-designed
Bathurst class minesweepers and 12 River class frigates.21 To keep
Cockatoo Island and Williamstown dockyards in work a post-
war program began to build 12 destroyers every 10 years. The
first were begun in 1949 but only three had been completed by
1959, with the cost between order and completion rising from
£2.6 million to more than £7 million each. This experience typ-
ified Australian post-war naval shipbuilding. Local construction
cost more and took longer than planned. While the quality of
the work of the local shipyards was good, productivity was low,
labour relations were a nightmare and many projects were never
completed.22
In May 1964 two Type 12 frigates, Swan and Torrens, were
ordered from Cockatoo Island and Williamstown. Although based
on the earlier River class, the designs were radically altered, con-
stituting a virtual re-design. Political pressure led to the ships being
laid down prematurely and ‘construction was hampered by design
delays, late equipment deliveries and constant design changes’.23
When Torrens was finally completed at massive expense in
January 1971, ‘it was to be the last major combat ship completed
in an Australian shipyard for 21 years’.
Naval shipbuilding reflected deeper problems in the Australian
economy. While manufacturing expanded rapidly in the 1940s
and 1950s, stimulated first by the war and later by a rapidly
rising population, it was dependent on high tariffs on imports.
10 THE COLLINS CLASS SUBMARINE STORY

Australian manufacturers were small-scale, technologically back-

ward and focused solely on the domestic market. Industrial rela-
tions were poor, labour costs high and productivity low. These
factors lay behind the malaise of the Australian economy in the
1970s and early 1980s when high inflation and unemployment
accompanied a rapid decline in the country’s manufacturing base.
 CHAPTER 2
Australia’s Oberon class submarines

Although Allied submarines based in Fremantle and Brisbane

wreaked havoc on Japanese shipping during the Second World
War, Australian naval authorities showed no interest in acquir-
ing submarines afterwards. Yet submarines were needed for anti-
submarine warfare training and in 1949 it was arranged that the
Royal Navy’s fourth submarine flotilla (normally consisting of
two or three submarines) would be based in Sydney. This forced
Cockatoo Island Dockyard to develop expertise for maintaining
and refitting submarines – complex tasks requiring advanced tech-
nical skills lacking in Australia during its brief periods of subma-
rine ownership. Until 1960 the British submarines were refitted in
Singapore but between 1961 and 1966 five refits were successfully
carried out at Cockatoo Island.1
In the late 1950s Australia again began to debate the ownership
of a submarine force, led by John Gorton, whose term as Minister
for the Navy was noted for his questioning of many of the
navy’s dogmas. In 1959 the Chiefs of Staff considered the issue
and decided that ‘the institution of a submarine service would
be a valuable addition to balanced Australian Defence Forces’.
Their report argued that the main role of Australian submarines

11
12 THE COLLINS CLASS SUBMARINE STORY

would be to train anti-submarine forces and, in wartime, to ‘hunt

and kill’ enemy submarines. By now they had recognised that
Australian anti-submarine training could not rely indefinitely on
Britain maintaining its squadron in Sydney. They saw little poten-
tial for the use of submarines for offensive action.2
The Chiefs of Staff considered the possibility of acquiring
nuclear submarines but decided against it until either:

1 The Indonesians or Chinese Communists have attained a

high degree of A/S efficiency, or have themselves
introduced nuclear submarines: or
2 The cost of nuclear submarines approaches twice that of a
conventional submarine, when, for a similar capital
expenditure the same effective number of submarines on
patrol could be obtained.

The report asserted that ‘one nuclear submarine can do the effec-
tive patrol work of two conventional submarines’ but, at one-
sixth the cost, conventional submarines were more efficient. The
report did not consider whether Australia could maintain nuclear
submarines without a nuclear industry.
In July 1959 Gorton advised Athol Townley, the Minister for
Defence, that he was preparing to recommend the purchase of
submarines to cabinet. Townley was cautious. When questioned
in parliament he commented that: ‘Australia will have to be pretty
careful before it goes into the submarine arm again and will have to
take every precaution and examine the position very thoroughly,
because three times this country has become involved in sub-
marines and three times it has been pleased to get out of this
arm of the Navy.’3
It took more than three years, and the formal announcement
by the British in 1961 that they would be withdrawing their
submarines by the end of the decade, for Gorton to overcome
Townley and some members of the Naval Board. On 23 January
1963 he announced cabinet approval to order four Oberon class
submarines from Britain for delivery between 1966 and 1968.
Commander Henry Cook, a former Royal Navy submarine
commander who had transferred to the Australian navy, was
involved in the acquisition and recalls that talks with the British
began before 1961 about the possibility of buying Oberons. In
 AUSTRALIA’S OBERON CLASS SUBMARINES 13

1962 the Naval Board formally evaluated the Oberon and the
American Barbel. The Barbel was rejected partly on cost grounds
and partly because it was soon to be taken out of service.4 Tra-
dition, together with the fact that the Oberon was a tried and
successful design, meant that the decision to buy from Britain was
not questioned.
However, there was some controversy over the navy’s decision
to order four submarines from Britain without investigating the
possibility of building at least two of them in Australia. Even
before the official announcement, H. P. Weymouth, the chairman
of the Australian Shipbuilding Board, wrote to Hubert Opperman,
the Minister for Shipping and Transport:

Submarines are, of course, very special types of naval vessels,

but it is the design rather than the building which requires a
great deal of previous experience and experiment. The inner
‘pressure hull’ requires a high standard of welding, but apart
from this there is no part of the submarine hull which is more
difficult to construct than a naval surface ship.
. . . it seems that the submarine is to be the most
important naval vessel of the future, and the sooner we
commence constructing our own the better for our long-term
defence considerations and for our national development and
employment.5

For political reasons Opperman and Townley supported the

idea of at least ‘obtaining some indication from Australian yards
as to the possibility of building in Australia’, but Gorton and the
navy were adamantly opposed to this.6 They saw no possibility of
building in Australian shipyards and Gorton argued that it would
inevitably be slower and more costly than building in Britain.
Australia had no experience, while in Britain several yards were
building Oberons ‘on what could be described as something like
a production line’.7 When these predictable arguments failed to
quell the calls for work to be given to Australian shipyards, Gorton
let loose:

Defence funds were intended to provide defence for Australia,

not to meet the needs of some Australian shipyard owners.
What the shipbuilding industry means when it talks of
building submarines and guided missile destroyers in
14 THE COLLINS CLASS SUBMARINE STORY

Australia is building the hulls in Australia and assembling

inside those hulls the costly specialist equipment, electronic
devices, missiles and other weapons imported from abroad.
The only significant employment provided would, therefore,
be in ship assembly work in shipyards, which would employ
not thousands but at the most a few hundred.
. . . I will never agree that the object of maintaining less
competition for privately owned civil shipyards is more
important than the object of providing naval defence from
the money voted for defence . . .
Nor will I agree that using defence funds to provide
employment for skilled tradesmen at a particular place or
profits for a particular company is as important as using
these funds to provide employment of trained fighting men in
an expanded navy.
And if this is unsatisfactory to some Australian shipyard
owners and does not meet their needs, all I can say is that it is
not meant to. It is meant to meet the needs of providing
defence for Australia.8

This outburst drew a response from J. B. Pomeroy, the Victorian

secretary of the Association of Architects, Engineers, Surveyors
and Draftsmen, who argued that Gorton had ignored the impact of
sub-contracting in creating employment in Australia and ‘building
up the necessary skills and know-how so necessary to any coun-
try which intends to be self-sufficient’.9 R. W. C. Anderson, the
director of the Associated Chambers of Manufactures, argued that
Australian shipyards were capable of building and installing intri-
cate weapons systems and ‘[b]y this method a reservoir of skilled
and knowledgeable technicians is created which have the ability
to repair and maintain the weapons they instal’.10 From the left
of the Labor Party, Dr Jim Cairns commented: ‘From a defence
point of view, the economic development of Australia was likely
to be more valuable than [naval vessels] bought overseas because
they involved a few millions less immediate outlay.’11
The political pressure led Townley to insist that Gorton and
the navy investigate the possibility of at least allowing Aus-
tralian yards to tender for the Oberons, and a report was hur-
riedly prepared in February 1963. Its central arguments were
that Australian-built submarines could not be ready before the
 AUSTRALIA’S OBERON CLASS SUBMARINES 15

British flotilla departed, and they would cost too much. The report
analysed in some detail what would be involved in Australian
construction:

In the studies and analyses of submarine construction in

Australia, the phrase submarine construction has meant
assembly, inside a hull constructed in Australia, of propulsion
machinery, armaments and specialised equipment of all kinds,
supplied through the Admiralty from the United Kingdom.12

The navy expected that all components would have to be imported

except for a few things such as hull fittings, pipes and valves that
could be made at Cockatoo Island, and standard naval supply
items such as galley equipment.
The report then examined the possibility of building subma-
rine hulls in Australia, concluding that ‘leaving aside the question
of time and cost there is . . . no technical reason why the hull could
not be fabricated in Australia’, although it expressed uncertainty
whether BHP would be prepared to make the special semi–high
tensile steel at an acceptable price. Furthermore, while fabrica-
tion by Cockatoo Island Dockyard could be done with sufficient
technical training of the workforce, the navy’s technical depart-
ment thought the dished ends (that is, the pressure bulkheads)
would have to be imported from the United Kingdom. Assembly
of submarine components would be possible, although with delay,
if the Admiralty were prepared to assist. However, the dockyard
would not be capable of completely installing the armament and
electronic work and that would have to be done by the navy.
On finance the report noted:

The cost of fabricating in Australia can only be a guess, and

in [this] . . . case, that guess is liable greatly to understate the
actual cost . . . Any estimate of £5 million plus for submarine
construction [compared to £3.3 million for British-built
submarines] should therefore be regarded with reserve. In any
case the RAN, as the RN, should no longer build ships on the
basis of estimates and cost plus agreements but on the basis
of firm contract prices for fixed designs. [emphasis added]

Significantly, this report appears to have been written without even

a pretence of discussions with Australian industry.
16 THE COLLINS CLASS SUBMARINE STORY

The report was probably correct in arguing that building the

Oberons would have stretched the capabilities of Australian indus-
try and it would certainly have been more expensive to build in
Australia than to buy from Britain. Nonetheless, it is clear that
in the early 1960s the navy had no interest in being involved in
‘nation-building’, expanding or even preserving the skill base of
Australian industry, or in the ability of Australian industry to
maintain ships and weapon systems. The only concern appears to
have been to buy the most new ships with the money available.
The political debate over whether the Oberons could be built in
Australia sputtered on throughout the first half of 1963. Although
the navy had already called for tenders for four submarines from
British yards and had no intention of building any of the sub-
marines in Australia, it could not admit this until the debate was
resolved. Thus, during the year it presented many further argu-
ments. One of the strongest of these was that Australia lacked
sufficient competent welders:
These vessels are of all-welded construction and the quality
of steel used is of such a nature that welding can only be
undertaken by extremely competent welders. The standard of
work required is high, . . . and the inspection requirements
are severe and rigid. Welders employed on this class of work
must be specially trained and . . . their workmanship
examined and passed . . . They must also periodically
requalify to ensure maintenance of the high standard
required . . .
It is unlikely that the number of welders with the required
degree of skill could be provided; present experience in the
repair of submarines at CODOCK [Cockatoo Island] shows
that while the current standards of welding operatives are
acceptable for repair work they would not be capable of nor
would there be sufficient numbers for submarine
construction. Therefore, unless a large scale and expensive
training programme is embarked on, submarine construction
would be impracticable.13

It was also suggested that the British Admiralty would not pro-
vide specifications to Australian tenderers or help assess tenders
submitted by Australian dockyards.14
The Joint Committee on War Production, which was also
attempting to assess the issue of Australia’s ability to build
 AUSTRALIA’S OBERON CLASS SUBMARINES 17

submarines, found itself hindered at every turn by the navy. It

could not, for example, investigate the possibility of making com-
ponents in Australia because the navy would not supply the spec-
ifications. The committee raised the possibility of ‘an Australian
shipbuilding firm collaborating with a United Kingdom shipbuild-
ing firm to build a submarine’. It noted that of the four major
Australian shipbuilders only Cockatoo Island was likely to be
interested because of its work in refitting submarines and because
it was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vickers Armstrong, which
had built Oberon class submarines. The committee’s report con-
cluded that ‘without investigation it cannot be excluded that the
parent firm might be willing to help its subsidiary, including in the
preparation and submission of a tender’.15
Cockatoo Island in fact was interested in building some of the
submarines, although it did not push its case with great energy
or enthusiasm. Nonetheless, in his monthly report to London on
31 January 1963, the managing director of Cockatoo, Captain
R. G. Parker, wrote:
You have probably read of our Government’s decision to
purchase another destroyer from the USA, also four Oberon
class submarines from the United Kingdom. This latter
decision, of course disappoints us, as we feel we could build
them (or some of them) at Cockatoo. We are still hopeful
that we may be asked to build two of them. The Navy
Minister, Senator Gorton, made the statement that Australian
costs were high – which of course is true, but it would help at
least keep Naval shipbuilding alive in Australia and most of
the money would be spent in this country. We would have to
import a considerable amount of specialised equipment, and
probably main engines, from Barrow, but it would save our
shipyard.16

The response from London does not appear to have been over-
enthusiastic and Cockatoo Island made little headway with its
lobbying in Australia.
However, the suggestion that Cockatoo might be interested in
building the submarines led the navy to introduce a new note of
warning into the debate, arguing that the Canadians were show-
ing interest in ordering Oberons from Britain, so Australia would
need to confirm its order immediately to ensure early delivery.
The issue was finally resolved when Gorton told the Minister for
18 THE COLLINS CLASS SUBMARINE STORY

Defence that he had telephoned the general manager of Cockatoo

Island Dockyard and been told that ‘that firm is not interested in
submitting tenders for the assembling of these submarines in their
yards’.17
The first four Oberons had all arrived in Australia by July 1970.
In 1971 two more Oberons were ordered from Britain (with only
a gentle cough from Cockatoo Island to suggest that they might be
built in Australia18 ) and these were delivered in 1977 and 1978.
In service the Oberons proved to be an excellent submarine and
their success broke down many (but far from all) of the entrenched
prejudices against submarines in the navy. Although acquired pri-
marily to provide anti-submarine training for surface warships, in
the hands of enthusiastic and capable officers and crews they soon
became the navy’s primary deterrent as well as having unmatched
ability to carry out surveillance and operate without support far
from their bases.
The refits carried out at Cockatoo Island Dockyard were vital
for the maintenance of the Oberons. Refits were intended to
restore the submarines to ‘as new’ condition, and this was an
extremely complex task. John Jeremy, the chief executive of the
dockyard from 1981 until it was closed in 1991, gave a detailed
account of the refit process in his history of Cockatoo Island. He
noted that:
An Oberon class submarine refit was a complex task
requiring some 1 300 000 man-hours over a period of
between two and two and a half years. The design of the
submarine, with many hard systems (piping systems exposed
to full diving depth pressure) and very limited access, made it
a very labour intensive task, and very sensitive to delays
caused through lapses in the supply of information, materials
and equipment [much of which had to come from Britain].19

As the Oberons aged, refits became more difficult as parts wore out
and corroded sections of the pressure hull required replacement.
About 30 000 individual items were needed for each refit and the
early refits depended heavily on spares from the UK, although
‘local industry gradually became qualified for the supply of some
parts, reducing this dependency’.20
The performance of the Oberons convinced Australian navy
planners of the need for submarines, but their maintenance
 AUSTRALIA’S OBERON CLASS SUBMARINES 19

provided subtle encouragement for building the next generation of

submarines in Australia. Reliance on Britain for spare parts, design
advice and approval often slowed maintenance,21 but the ability of
Cockatoo Island to refit submarines encouraged the thought that
Australian dockyards could take the next step and build them.
Most importantly, the success of a major program to replace the
sonar and weapons systems, carried out between 1972 and 1981,
gave the navy’s submariners enormous confidence in the ability of
the navy, the dockyards and Australian industry to carry out com-
plex and technically demanding projects. The ‘submarine weapons
update program’ was the overture to the Collins symphony.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 —Ah! é verdade! exclamou Cyrino. Ande, Tico: vá buscar café á
cozinha. Lave bem um pires ... percebeu?
O anão fitou o moço com altivez e não se mexeu.
—Você é surdo?
—Não, respondeu Innocencia. Tico ás vezes, por manha é que se
faz ansim de mouco.
Voltando-se então para o homunculo, insistiu com voz meiga e
carinhosa:
—Vai Tico; é para mim, ouviu?
Transformou-se repentinamente a physionomia do anão. Pairou-
lhe nos labios ineffavel sorriso, meneou a cabeça duas ou tres vezes
com a força de uma affirmação mas, colerico, enrugou a testa e
moveu olhos inquietos e duvidosos.
Innocencia teve que repetir o recado.
—Já lhe disse, Tico: vai buscar o café.
A esta quasi ordem não ousou elle resistir mas sahiu
devagarsinho, voltando-se várias vezes antes de entrar na cozinha,
onde muito pouco se demorou.
Neste entrementes tomara Cyrino o pulso de Innocencia e, sem
pensar no que fazia, quebrando a debil resistencia da menina,
cobrira-lhe de beijos o braço e a mãosinha que havia segurado.
—Meu Deus! balbuciou ella, que é isto?... Olhe ahi vem o Tico.
Recuou então o mancebo e, para melhor disfarçar a commoção
adeantou-se para o anão que vinha trazendo na mão direita uma
vasilha de folha de Flandres, e na outra um pires com colher.
—Muito bem, disse elle, ponha tudo em cima da mesa.
E preparando rapidamente o medicamento, apresentou-o a
Innocencia, que sem hesitação o sorveu todo.
—Deixe-me um pouco, exorou com ternura Cyrino, um pouco só ...
Se é tão mau ... soffra eu tambem.
 —Não, respondeu ella com alguma energia, porque havéra de
mecê soffrer?
E, ou por effeito do inexprimivel e desconhecido abalo que
experimentara no estado de debilidade a que chegara, ou por ser
aquella a hora em que costumava a febre salteal-a, o certo é que teve
de encostar-se ou melhor, agarrar-se ao umbral para não cahir a fio
comprido no chão.
—Oh! exclamou com angustia Cyrino, a senhora vae desmaiar.
Transpondo então o limiar da porta, tomou nos braços a pallida
donzella, sem reluctancia encostou a desfallecida cabeça ao seu
hombro e, com o hálito offegante, aos poucos lhe foi fazendo voltar ás
faces o precioso sangue.
—Estou melhor, balbuciou ella procurando afastar a cabeça de
Cyrino.
—Não faça de forte á toa, acudiu este. Vamos até aquella cadeira.
E, com toda a lentidão e cuidado, foi levando a convalescente até
sental-a, desembaraçando-a depois dos muitos cabellos que, todos
revoltos, lhe haviam invadido o collo e se esparziam sobre o rosto.
—Quanto cabello! exclamou Cyrino meio risonho.
Com muita attenção seguira Tico as peripecias de toda aquella
scena. Ao ver Innocencia perder quasi os sentidos, soltou um grito
surdo de desespero; depois, foi seguindo-a até a cadeira e, ajoelhado
deante della, contemplou-a com inquietação.
Cyrino quiz aproveitar a occasião para um congraçamento.
—Então está com cuidado, Sr. Tico?... Não é nada ... sua ama fica
boa logo... Não é o que você quer?
Ao ouvir esta interpellação, levantou-se o anão e correspondeu ao
sympathico annuncio do moço com um olhar de desprezo e pouco
caso, como que a dizer:
—Não se metta commigo, que não quero graças com você,
medico de arribação!
 —Agora, disse Cyrino voltando-se para Innocencia, vae mecê
beber dois goles deste vinho... Verá logo, que sustancia hade sentir
dentro do corpo.
Desarrolhou, então, com a ponta da comprida faca que tirou do
cinto, a garrafa de vinho offerecida por Meyer, e num caneco de louça
branca apresentou á moça um pouco do roborante liquido.
Molhou a doentinha os labios e gratificou o obsequioso mancebo
com um sorriso encantador.
Decididamente lhe agradava aquelle medico: curava do seu corpo
enfermo e entendia-lhe com a alma. Raros homens que não seu pae
e Manecão, além de pretos velhos, tinha até então visto; mas a ella,
tão ignorante das cousas e do mundo, parecia-lhe que ente algum
nem de longe poderia ser comparado em elegancia e belleza a esse
que lhe ficava agora em frente. Depois, que cadeia mysteriosa de
sympathia a ia prendendo aquelle estranho, simples viajante que via
hoje, para sem duvida, nunca mais tornar a vel-o?
Quem sabe, se a meiguice e bondade que lhe dispensava Cyrino
não eram a causa unica, desse sentimento novo, desconhecido, que
de chofre nascia em seu peito, como depois da chuva brota a
florsinha do campo?
A muito obriga a gratidão.
Rapidos correram esses pensamentos pela mente de Innocencia,
ao passo que as suas pupillas se iam erguendo até se fixarem em
Cyrino, limpidas, grandes, abertas, como que dando entrada para elle
ler claro o que se lhe passava na alma.
—Sinto-me tão bem disse ella com metal de voz muito suave, tão
leve de corpo, que parece nunca mais hei-de ficar mofina.
—Não, não, de certo! exclamou Cyrino, nunca mais. Alem disso,
aqui estou e...
Com a sua chegada, interrompeu Maria Conga, a velha negra,
aquelle começo de dialogo. Vinha da fonte com volumosa trouxa de
roupa que entrou a estender em compridos bambús, assentes
horizontalmente sobre forquilhas fincadas no chão.
 Despedindo-se então Cyrino de Innocencia:
—Agora, lhe disse elle risonho e pegando-lhe na mão, socegue um
pouco: depois tome um caldo e ... queira-me bem.
—Gentes! Porque lhe não havéra de querer? perguntou ella com
ingenuidade. Mecê nunca me fez mal...
—Eu, retrucou Cyrino com fogo, fazer-lhe mal? Antes morrer... Sim
... dona ... da minha alma, eu...
E, sem concluir, disse repentinamente:
—Adeus!
Depois, com passo lento, foi se retirando e passou deante da
janella junto á qual ficara Innocencia sentada.
—Olhe! recommendou elle recostando-se ao peitoril, cuidado com
o sereno...
—Nhor-sim...
—Não beba leite...
—Mecê já disse.
—Coma só carne de sol...
—Já sei...
—Então, adeus ... adeus, menina bonita!
E, a custo, despegou-se daquelle lugar, onde quizera ficar, até que
de velhice lhe fraqueassem as pernas.

CAPITULO XV

HISTORIAS DE MEYER
 Grande felicidade é ter um filho prudente e instruido; mas, quanto
a filhas, é para todo pae carga bem pesada.
MENANDRO.—Os Primos.

Com a tarde voltaram Meyer, José Pinho e Pereira e, pouco depois

d'elles, tres avelhentados escravos; estes dos trabalhos agricolas,
aquelles de grandes excursões entomologicas.
Vinha o mineiro meio risonho e em altos gritos acordou Cyrino que
deitando-se a dormir, sonhara todo o tempo com a graciosa doente.
—Olá, amigo! olá, doutor! chamou Pereira com voz retumbante,
isso é que é vida, hen? Emquanto nós trabalhamos, eu e o Mochú do
José, você está nessa cama de velludo!...
—É verdade, concordou o moço, apenas os Srs. se foram, estendi
as pernas e até agora enfiei um somno só...
—E o remedio da menina? perguntou Pereira abaixando a voz.
—Ora, Sr., e eu que me esqueci!... Não faz mal... se ella não teve
febre... Ah! espere ... agora me lembro!... Eu lh'o dei ... estou ainda
tonto de somno.
Riu-se Pereira.
—Estes doutores matam a gente, como se fosse cachorro sem
dono.... Num momento lhes passa da cachola se deram ou não
mézinhas e venenos a christãos...
Vendo que Meyer sahira da sala, mudou repentinamente de tom,
proseguindo em voz baixa e muito rapidamente:
—Então, sabe que o tal allamão levou todo o dia, só querendo
puxar conversa sobre a menina?
—Devéras?
—É o que lhe digo... E ... eu com as mãos atadas por aquelle
offerecimento de leval-o a comer lá dentro!... Nada, nem que
desconfie e se arrenegue dos meus modos ... não me pisa em quarto
de familia... Deus te livre!...
Com effeito á hora da ceia, Meyer manifestou surpresa de comer
na mesma sala; não, que tivesse motivo para desejar outro qualquer
local; mas, methodico como era, gravara na mente a promessa de
Pereira e, por delicadeza, suppunha dever lembrar-lhe.
As desculpas que o mineiro apresentou foram arranjadas de
momento e ajudadas victoriosamente por Cyrino, carregando este
com a responsabilidade de haver recommendado á enferma muito
socego, quasi completa solidão.
De modo muito expansivo se manifestou tambem o
reconhecimento de Pereira.
—Estou conhecendo, disse elle em aparte e apertando a mão de
Cyrino, que o doutor é homem serio e com quem se póde contar...
Deixe estar ... o Manecão hade ser amigo seu... Isso hade sel-o...
Pessoas de bem devem conhecer-se e estimar-se... Ora, veja o tal
cujo ... que temivel, hen?...—Não faz mal, hade ter o pago.
Se Pereira se mostrava contrariado e inquieto, muito pelo contrario
parecia o naturalista nadar em mar de rosas.
—Sr. doutor, declarou elle a Cyrino á mesa da ceia, por muitos
motivos, estou em extremo contente com a minha estada aqui... Hoje
achei mais bichinhos curiosos do que em todas as zonas porque
tenho andado.
—Vosmecê nem imagina, interrompeu Pereira dirigindo-se para
Cyrino, o que faz este senhor quando está dentro do matto. Ainda
hade quebrar o pescoço n'algum barranco a que se atire, pois
caminha com as ventas para o ar... Não sei como não tem ambos os
olhos furados ... não repara em galhos nem em nada ... só o que quer
é agarrar anicetos... Já o avisei umas poucas de vezes; agora, sua
alma, sua palma...
Judiciosas eram as advertencias do mineiro e bem cabidas; tanto
assim que numa das tardes seguintes voltou Meyer todo arranhado e
com um gilvaz tão grande, que immediatamente deu nas vistas de
Cyrino.
 —Que foi isso, Sr. Meyer? perguntou elle com admiração. O Sr.
andou por ahi fora aos trambolhões com alguma onça?
—Oh! não é nada, respondeu fleugmaticamente o allemão.
—E a sua roupa vem suja de barro ... toda rota...
Desatou Pereira a rir.
—Isto são historias deste homem... Bem lhe dizia eu que mais dias
menos dias isso havia de acontecer. Meu amigo não sabe do
dictado:... Fia-te na Virgem e não corras, verás o tombo que levas!...
Tambem foi um dia em que me ri a mais não poder. Tomei um fartão...
Imagine vosmecê que o tal Sr. Meyer, como ja lhe contei, anda
pulando dentro da matta como se fosse veado mateiro... O José
Pinho, que é mitrado, vae sempre pela estrada limpa...
—Preguiçoso, atalhou Meyer a modo de observação.
—Juizo tem elle, proseguiu o mineiro: mas, como ia dizendo cá, o
Sr. com seus arrancos e saltos parece anta disparada. Em
apparecendo bichinho voador, zás trás que darás, lá vae elle logo
sem olhar para os paus, podendo pisar em cobras e espinhos, com
aquella rede na mão, e tanto faz que engalfinha sempre algum
animalejo... Hoje fui para a roça, e o homem furou o matto, emquanto
José buscou uma sombrinha e entrou logo a roncar como um
perdido...
—Eu, não Sr., protestou José Pinho que queria ouvir a historia.
—Vóce sim, corroborou Meyer com severidade, preguiçoso!...
Ande ... dê cá a pita.
—Pois bem, continuou Pereira, dahi a duas horas voltou Mochú
neste estado pouco mais ou menos; mas trazia uma caixa cheia de
bichos do matto...
—Oh! perguntou Cyrino, e são bonitos?
—Não ha mais nada, suspirou Meyer com tom dolente, o trabalho
ficou perdido!... Eu tinha apanhado cinco especies novas... Uma
queda...
—Deixe-me contar o caso, atalhou Pereira. Oh! eu ri-me ... ri-me...
 E, para confirmar a asserção, pôz-se novamente a dar
gargalhadas, que foram acompanhadas por José Pinho e até por
Meyer, da parte deste com menos expansão comtudo.
—Appareceu-me o Mochú muito contente com a sua caixa, como
se tivesse o rei na barriga. Era uma immundicie de besouros,
cascudos e cigarras, que o Sr. nem póde imaginar... Havia de tudo;
depois, quando voltamos da roça, enxergou elle num pau podre um
aniceto vermelho e foi correndo a apanhal-o. Eu bradei-lhe:—Olhe,
que ahi tem barranco: a arvore é podre e oca, e vosmecê rola pelo
despenhadeiro, que nem a sua alma se salva.—Qual! O homem é
teimoso, como um cargueiro empacador... Eu gritava-lhe:—Tome
tento, Mochú!—Sem attender a nada, começou a caminhar em cima
da cipoada que cobria a boca de um percipicio, fundo como tudo
neste mundo... Quando ia botar a mão no tal bicho encarnado,
encostou-se ao pau e ... zás! ... afundou-se, dando um grito
esganiçado que parecia de cotia. Mal teve tempo de agarrar-se aos
cipós e lá ficou entre a vida e a morte, chamando Júque, Júque!... Eu
quando vi isso, mandei a toda a pressa buscar á roça uma vara
comprida e, se ella não chega logo, o Sr. Meyer e toda a sua
bicharada rolavam de uma vez por aquelles fundões.
—Não, rectificou o allemão, bicho rolou; caixa abriu e tudo lá se foi
no fundão...
—Pois bem, o Mochú segurou-se com unhas e dentes ao páo e
nós puxámos devagarinho, devagarinho, com um medo, um medo!...
Maria Santissima!...
Fazendo breve pausa:
—O mais engraçado ainda não chegou, avisou o mineiro: Ah!
vosmecê vae tomar uma boa data[83] de riso. Quando o Mochú
ganhou pé em terra, pôz-se a pular como um cabrito doido, por aqui,
por acolá, pulo e mais pulo, e gritando como se o estivessem
esfolando... Estava ... ah! meus Deus! ... estava cheio de formigas
novatas![84]
—Sim, exclamou Meyer com desespero, formiga de pau podre! ...
mein Gott... Eu rasgo a roupa ... eu pulo ... eu gemo ... fico nú como
quando minha mãe me botou no mundo!... Horrivel... Formiga do
diabo!... Faz calombo em todo o meu corpo... Muita dor!...
Com reiteradas e estrondosas gargalhadas acolheram Pereira,
Cyrino e José Pinho essas energicas imprecações.
—Poderá isso, observou o mineiro, cural-o da mania de não ouvir
os outros que conhecem as coisas.
E voltando-se para Cyrino:
—Verdade é que o corpo delle... Que corpo. Sr. doutor, tão arco! ...
ficou todo empolado que foi preciso esfregal-o com folhas de fumo.
Depois, tomou um banho no ribeirão...
—Tudo estava muito bom, observou Meyer, se caixa não abre e
atira no buraco meu trabalho...
—Ora, ficará para amanhã, consolou philosophicamente o
camarada.
Pereira, acalmado o frouxo de riso, approximara-se de Cyrino e lhe
falava a meia voz:
—Ah! doutor, tive uma vontade de deixar este allamão sumir-se no
socavão!...
Se não fosse meu hospede, emfim, e recommendado de meu
mano, palavra de honra pinchava-o de uma vez no inferno...
Não sou nenhum pinoia[85]...
—Mas porque? indagou Cyrino simulando admiração...
—O Sr. ainda me pergunta?... Porque o homem não me faz senão
falar em Nocencia... Outra vez me disse que ella era muito bonita e
mil cousas ... perguntou se estava casada, se não; que era preciso
casar as mulheres para bem dellas... Eu lá sei o que mais?... Isto é
um bruto perdido ... um namorador!...
—Qual, Sr. Pereira!...
—É o que lhe digo!... Por acaso sou cobra de duas cabeças[86]
que não veja?!... Ah! que peso uma filha! Ah! E então uma menina
que já está apalavrada... Isto é uma anarchia[87]! Que diria meu
genro, o Manecão?...
—Não poderá dizer nada, retrucou o moço. E que diga, não faltará
quem queira sua filha...
—Louvado Deus, não de certo! Eu é que não quero que ella ande
de mão em mão... Ou casa com o Dóca ou...
—Ou ... o que? perguntou Cyrino com inquietação mas fingindo
pouca curiosidade.
—Ou mato a quem lhe vier transtornar a cabeça... Commigo
ninguem hade tirar farofa!... E não hei de ter mil cuidados, quando
vejo este estranja estar com suas macaquices a dar no fraco das
mulheres?
Por ora, nada fez elle...
Por ora ... só leva a falar na pobre menina, que a Sra. Sant'Anna
guarde de todo o mal!... Podesse eu advinhar e macacos me
mordam, se punha os olhos em cima de Nocencia. Nem que viesse
com cartas e ordens do Sr D. Pedro II....
Chamei o José Pinho, proseguiu elle em voz baixa, e dei-lhe uns
toques.—Então, disse-lhe eu, seu amo é o diabo com mulheres hen?
Elle que é muito ladino[88] respondeu-me logo.—Nhôr não.—
Assumptei a embromação[89],—Qual, você, carioca, tem levado areia
nos olhos.—Eu? ... não é capaz... Então você não tem visto o que faz
seu amo?—Tem sido um santo, retrucou o espertalhão. No Rio, sim—
Na Côrte?—Nhôr-sim, na Côrte. Ia todas as noites a uma casa de
bebidas, assim uma especie de venda de muito luxo e lá estava horas
perdidas petiscando e conversando com senhoras damas, muito
bonitas, bem limpas ... algumas com o pescoço e os braços todos á
mostra...
—Contou-lhe isso? atalhou Cyrino com alguma duvida e
sobresalto.
—Contou, affirmou Pereira com furor.
Vejam só que homem, hen? É um mequetrefe!... Esta noite e d'ora
em deante, venho dormir nesta sala a ver se elle se mexe da cama.
Ah! se eu pudesse! ... cahia-lhe de cala-bocca[90] em cima, que lhe
deixava as costellas em lascas.
Acabavam as imprudentes historias de José Pinho de por a ultima
pedra ao edificio da desconfiança que tão depressa erigira a
imaginação de Pereira em desconceito de Meyer. O que nellas havia
de verdade, eram apenas algumas horas de lazer, consagradas,
durante a estada no Rio de Janeiro, pelo naturalista ao consumo de
grandes copazios de cerveja no café Stadt Coblenz, e nas quaes
entretivera risonhos, bem que innocentes colloquios, com pessoas do
sexo amavel, frequentadoras daquelle estabelecimento e de
costumes não lá muito rigorosos.

[83]Porção, quantidade.
[84]A dentada dessas formigas é em extremo dolorosa. Provêm o
seu nome, de que novatos são os que se deixam morder por ellas.
[85]Homen fraco.
[86]É crença popular que umas cobrinhas que vivem dentro de
terra fofa tem duas cabeças e não tem olhos.
[87]Desmoralisação.
[88]Qualificativo muito usado em todo o interior do Brasil.
[89]A mentira, o engano.
[90]Em Minas assim chamam um cacete curto e grosso.

CAPITULO XVI

O EMPALAMADO

Ao homem não faltam importunações; quanto à vossa capacidade,

nem a conhecemos.
 MOLIÈRE.—O medico á força.

Conforme o promettido, trouxe Pereira a rede para a sala dos

hospedes e, encetando um modo de vigilancia muito especial, ainda
que perfeitamente inutil em relação á pessoa suspeitada, associou os
sonoros roncos do valente peito á ruidosa respiração de Meyer.
Se, comtudo não tivessem seus olhos a venda da confiança ou,
melhor, se o somno não os acommettesse sempre com tamanha
imposição, de certo em breve houvera estranhado a cruel agitação
em que vivia Cyrino e que este não podia mais encobrir.
Na verdade, o modo porque o infeliz mancebo passava as noites
era de fazer nascer suspeitas no espirito mais indifferente e
desprevenido. Ou se revolvia na cama, dando mal abafados suspiros,
ou então sahia para o terreiro, onde se punha a passear e a fumar
cigarros de palha uns após outros, até que os gallos, alcandorados na
cumieira da casa e nas arvores mais proximas, annunciassem as
primeiras barras do dia.
Desabrida paixão enchia o peito daquelle malsinado; dessas
paixões repentinas, explosivas, irresistiveis, que se apoderam de uma
alma, a enleiam por toda a parte, a prendem de mil modos, a
suffocam como as serpentes de Neptuno a Laocoonte. Conhecedor,
como era, dos habitos do sertão, do jugo absoluto dos preconceitos,
do respeito fatal á palavra dada, antevia tantas difficuldades,
tamanhos obstaculos deante de si, que, se de um lado desanimava,
do outro mais sentia revoltado o nascente e já tão violento affecto.
—Deus me ajudará, pensava comsigo mesmo: o que só quero é a
amizade de Innocencia... Ha dias que não a vejo ... se não puder
mais vel-a ... dou cabo da vida...
Sublevava-se o seu coração, gyrava-lhe o sangue com vertiginosa
rapidez nas veias e vinha toldar-lhe a vista, trazendo ondas de rubro
calor ao descorado rosto.
—Nossa Senhora da Abbadia, implorava elle puxando os cabellos
com desespero, valei-me neste apuro em que me acho! Dae-me pelo
menos esperanças de que aquella menina poderá um dia querer-me
bem... Nada mais desejo... Possa o fogo que me consome abrazar
tambem o seu peito...
Costumava a fervorosa prece dirigida á Santa da especial devoção
de toda a provincia de Goyaz acalmar um pouco o mancebo, que
alquebrado de forças pegava no somno para, instantes depois,
acordar sobresaltado e cada vez mais abatido.
Tambem estava sempre de pé, quando Pereira costumava saltar
da rede.
—Oh! observou elle da primeira vez, isso é que se chama
madrugar.
—Pois é contra o meu costume, replicou Cyrino, todas estas noites
tenho passado mal...
—Na verdade vosmecê não está com boa cara...
—Creio que me entraram no corpo as maleitas.
—Essa é que é boa! Então o doutor foi emprestar[91] da doente a
molestia?...
Olhe, é preciso pôr-se forte, porque hoje mesmo ha-de lhe chegar
uma boa machina de doentes...
—Melhor...
—Já está tudo espalhado por ahi da sua chegada e a romaria não
ha de tardar.
—Cá a espero...
—Naturalmente virá primeiro o Coelho... É boa occasião de pagar
a sua divida... Não tenha receio de puxar mais no preço...
—Daqui mesmo pretendo despachar um proprio para me ver livre
dessa obrigação...
—Isso mostra que o Sr. é pessoa de brio... Não é como certa
gente que conheço...
Ao dizer estas palavras, voltara-se Pereira para Meyer a
contemplal-o attentamente.
 Estava na verdade o allemão digno de exame, posto ainda de
parte outro qualquer motivo que não o de simples curiosidade.
Dormia com as pernas e braços abertos e cahidos para fóra do
estreito leito das canastras: tinha o queixo muito levantado pela
posição incommoda da cabeça, deixando a boca meio aberta ver uma
fieira de magnificos dentes.
—Está roncando, hen? murmurou o mineiro. Cavouqueiro ... a mim
você não engana ... mas é o mesmo!
Iam as prevenções de Pereira tomando proporções de idéa fixa, e
Meyer, na simplicidade da ignorancia, como que de proposito
ministrava elementos para que ellas mais e mais se fossem
arraigando.
Assim, ao almoço, lembrou-se de perguntar entre duas enormes
colheradas de feijão:
—Sua filha, Sr. Pereira? Como vae? É melhor?
—É melhor o que, Mochú? exclamou o pae com modo esquivo.
—A saude della é melhor?
—Está melhor; está, está, respondeu Pereira muito seccamente.
Está boa ... vae fazer uma viagem...
—Viagem; para onde?... Até á villa?
—Homem, Mochú, observou o mineiro um tanto desabrido,
vosmecê está que nem mulher velha, tudo quer saber...
Meyer, nessa reprehensão que lhe causou vexame e alguma
admiração, só enxergou censura justa à sua curiosidade, falta que
confessou com toda a nobreza, bem que aggravando a situação.
—É verdade, Sr. Pereira, concordou elle. A boa educação não
manda o que eu fiz ... mereço porém desculpa, mereço... Sua filha é
tão interessante ... que me lembro sempre della... Tenho commigo
uns presentesinhos...
—Guarde-os, rosnou Pereira abafando a reflexão num accesso de
tosse.
 E para evitar o proseguimento de semelhante assumpto, deu por
finda a refeição, levantando-se da mesa.
—Ahi vem o Coelho, doutor, exclamou elle olhando para fóra. Chi!
como esta amarello!... Ha tempos que o não via ... já parece alma do
outro mundo... É do tal em quem falamos... Aperte-o, porque é mofino
como tudo...
E, interpellando a quem chegava gritou:
—Bons olhos o vejam!... Se não fosse, amigo Sr. Coelho, ter
medico em casa, nunca havéra de vel-o por cá; não é verdade?
—Ora, respondeu o outro com um gemido, ando sempre tão
doente. Nem faz gosto viver assim... Mas qu'é delle, o homem?
—Está aqui...
—Já me disseram que faz milagres. Deixou nome para lá das
Parnahybas...
Sabia?
—Lá que tivesse deixado nome, não; mas que é cirurgião de
patente, tenho certeza, porque, num abrir e fechar de olhos, me pôz
de pé uma pessoa cá de casa.
—Se elle me curar ... não sei mesmo como lhe agradecer.
—É pagar-lhe, concluiu Pereira tratando logo de advogar os
interesses do hospede.
—Sim, hei-de ... pagar-lhe, confirmou o outro com alguma
hesitação.
—Em todo o caso, desça do animal.
Pouco depois, entrava na sala e comprimentava a Cyrino e a
Meyer a pessoa a quem o mineiro chamara Coelho. Era homem já de
edade, muito mais quebrantado por enfermidades que pelos annos;
tinha a testa enrugada, as bochechas meio inchadas e balofas, os
labios quasi brancos e os olhos empapuçados.
—Qual dos senhores é o doutor? perguntou elle.
 —Sou eu, respondeu Cyrino revestindo-se de convicto ar de
importancia, emquanto Meyer apontava para elle, cedendo direitos
que talvez pudesse contestar.
Interveio Pereira com amabilidade:
—Sente-se, Sr. Coelho, sente-se. Não se ponha logo a falar de
molestias... Isto não vae de afogadilho... Descance um pouco... Olhe,
já almoçou?
—O pouco que como, retrucou o outro, já está comido.
—Pois bem, ponha-se primeiro a gosto: depois então, converse
com o doutor... Diga-me: que ha de novo pela villa?
—Que eu saiba, nada.... Tambem ha mais de anno, que de lá
nenhuma noticia tenho... Já não se me dá do que vae pelo mundo...
Quem não goza saúde, perde o gosto de tudo... É mesmo uma
calamidade...
Emquanto Coelho, em toada monotona, desfiava outras queixas
no mesmo sentido, tirara Cyrino da canastra o seu Chernoviz e
algumas hervas seccas que depoz em cima da mesa.
—O senhor, declarou elle voltando-se para o doente, está
empalamado.
—É verdade, Sr. doutor.
—Eu, que não sou physico, observou Pereira, diria logo isso...
—Chi, compadre! atalhou Coelho com impaciencia e pedindo
silencio.
—O senhor, continuou Cyrino com entono, teve maleitas muitos
annos afios[92] depois, começou a sentir fastio e o estomago
embrulhado; inchou todo e em seguida definhou... Aos poucos, foi
perdendo a sustancia e o talento[93].
—Tal qual! murmurou Coelho seguindo com cautelosa attenção a
marcha do diagnostico.
—Agora, o Sr. não póde comer que não sinta affrontação, não é?
—Muita, Snr. doutor.
 —Este homem, disse Pereira para Meyer, leu bastante nos
livros....
—Veio-lhe depois uma canseira, e, quando o Sr. anda, dão-lhe uns
suores e tremuras por todo o corpo... O baço está engorgitado e o
figado tambem... De noite fica o Sr. sem poder tomar respiração, mais
sentado que deitado... Ás vezes tosse muito, uma tosse sem escarrar,
como quem tem um pigarro secco...
—Tal qual! repetiu o enfermo com uncção e quasi enthusiasmo.
—Pois bem, terminou Cyrino, como já lhe disse, o Sr. está
empalamado.
—E não ha cura? perguntou Coelho meio duvidoso.
—Ha, mas o remedio é forte.
—Comtanto que faça bem...
—Muita gente, replicou Cyrino, tenho já curado em estado peior
que o Sr.; mas, repito, o remedio é violento...
—Tomarei tudo, affirmou Coelho: ha annos que faço um horror de
mézinhas e de nenhuma dellas tiro proveito. Vamos ver.
Cyrino neste ponto mudou o tom de voz e olhando para Pereira:
—O Sr. sabe, observou elle que o meu modo de vida é este...
Com um movimento de cabeça applaudiu o mineiro aquella
estrada em materia.
O mesmo não pensou Coelho, que tartamudeou:
—Ah!... Estou prompto... Sou pobre muito pobre...
Piscou Pereira um olho com malicia.
—Costumo, continuou Cyrino, receber o pagamento em duas
ametades...
Depois accrescentou, um tanto vexado:
Si falo nisto agora com esta pressa, é porque tambem tenho
precisão urgente de dinheiro... Não acha, Sr. Meyer?
—Pois não, pois não, concordou o allemão: tem todo o direito.
 —Meu amigo, corroborou Pereira, o doutor não trabalha para o
bispo; tem que ganhar honradamente a vida.
—Então como lhe dizia, proseguiu o outro dirigindo-se para
Coelho, o senhor pagar-me-ha no principio da applicação e no fim.
Assim, não ha enganos... Serve-lhe?
—Que remedio! suspirou Coelho. Eu lhe darei ... até trinta mil réis
... ou ... quarenta...
—Qual! retorquiu Cyrino. O meu preço é um só.
—E a quanto monta?
—A cem mil réis[94].
—Cem mim réis! exclamou Coelho aterrado.
—Cincoenta no principio, cincoenta no fim.
Gemeu o doente lá comsigo.
—Ora o que é isto para você, compadre? interveio Pereira. Um
atilho de milho para quem tem tulhas cheias a valer[95]!...
—Nem tanto, nem tanto assim, objectou Coelho.
—Deixe-se de historias, continuou Pereira. Se vosmecê não
tivesse bons patacos, eu diria logo ao nosso amigo:—Olhe que este é
dos nossos, não tem onde cair morto—e elle o havéra de curar de
graça ... não é?
—De certo, de certo, declarou Cyrino com muita promptidão.
—Mas com vosmecê o caso é defronte[96]. Doutra maneira, por
que razão havia um cirurgião de andar por estes socavões? Tambem
quer bichar um pouco... É muito justo...
—Cincoenta ... mil ... réis balbuciava Coelho; assim de pancada...
—Se o medico o cura, disse Meyer intromettendo-se, é negocio da
China.
Nada dizia Cyrino por dignidade propria. Estava folheando o
Chernoviz, cujas paginas mostravam continuo manusear, algumas até
enriquecidas de notas e observações á margem.
 Assim no artigo oppilação ou hypoemia intertropical havia elle
escripto ao lado: «É o que se chama no sertão molestia de
empalamado.» E, no fim, abrira grande chave para encerrar esta
ousada e peremptoria sentença: «Todos estes remedios de nada
servem. Sei de um muito violento, mas seguro. Foi-me, ha annos,
ensinado por Mathias Pedroso, curandeiro da villa do Prata, no sertão
da Farinha Podre, velho de muita pratica e que conhecia todas as
raizes e hervas do campo.»
—Pois bem, disse Coelho depois de grande hesitação, está o
negocio fechado. Mas, olhe que entrará no pagamento o preço das
mézinhas, e as visitas hão de ser feitas em minha casa...
—Não ha duvida, concordou Cyrino; irei á sua fazenda todos os
dias... Não é longe daqui?
—Nhôr-não ... duas leguas pequenas, pela estrada.
—Bem. O senhor, em voltando á casa, metta-se logo na cama.
Coelho fez signal que sim.
—Amanhã, continuou o moço, deve tomar estes pós que lhe estou
mostrando. Divida isto em duas porções; hade fazer-lhe muito effeito;
depois descanse dois ou tres dias, se acaso se sentir muito fraco; em
seguida...
E parando de repente, encarou Coelho alguns instantes:
—O Senhor quer mesmo curar-se?
—Oh! se quero!
—E tem confiança em mim!
—Abaixo de Deus só mecê póde salvar-me.
—Então, tomará ás cegas o que eu lhe receitar?
—Até carvão em braza.
—Olhe bem o que diz... Não gosto de começar a tratar para depois
parar...
—Não tenha esse medo commigo... Viver como vivo, antes
morrer...
 —Então, continuou Cyrino com pausa, acabados os dias de
socego, hade o senhor engulir uma boa data de leite de jaracatiá.
—Jaracatiá?! exclamaram com assombro o doente e Pereira.
—Jarracatiá?! gaguejou por seu turno Meyer arregalando os olhos,
que é Jarracatiá?
—Mas isso vae queimar as tripas do homem, observou o mineiro.
Cyrino replicou um tanto offendido:
—Não sou nenhum creançola, Sr. Pereira. Sei bem o que estou
dizendo. Este remedio é segredo meu, muito forte, muito damninho;
mas não é nem uma, nem duas vezes, que com elle tenho curado
empalamados. A coisa está no modo de dar o leite e na quantidade:
por isso, é que não faço mysterio, avisando comtudo que com uma
porçãosinha mais do que o preciso, o doente está na cova...
—Salta! atalhou Pereira, tal mézinha não quero eu ... antes ficar
empalamado...
—Que é jarracatiá? tornou a perguntar Meyer.
Coelho abaixou a cabeça e parecia estar reflectindo na resolução
que havia de abraçar.
Depois, com voz melancolica:
—O dito, dito, declarou, aceito tudo o que vosmecê me der. Agora,
quanto fizer está bem feito... Como é que devo tomar o jaracatiá?
—Em tempo lhe direi, replicou Cyrino. Fazem-se tres cortes no pé
da arvore e deixa-se correr o primeiro leite: eu mesmo hei de recolher
o que for bom. Tenha toda a confiança em que o senhor ficará são...
Bem sabe, ninguem em negocio de doença, mais do que outro
qualquer, póde nunca dizer: isto hade ser assim ou assado... Todos
estamos nas mãos de Deus. Só Elle póde saber se a molestia nos
sahirá do corpo ou nos hade atirar á sepultura. Todo o bom christão
conhece isso e deve conformar-se com a vontade divina... O que o
medico faz é ajudar a natureza e dar a mão ao corpo quando elle
póde ainda levantar-se...
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