Submarines

Association

Australia

4 (b) Nov 2025

Crest

SUBCON 2025 is Over

Images for the weekend event will be posted ASAP, however all will be supplied by Richard, BZ for a job well done for many years.

Chief of Navy Australia's Post

Today ( 29 Oct 2025) we welcomed the USS Vermont (SSN 792) to HMAS Stirling in WA for a scheduled submarine maintenance period — another tangible example of the strong partnership between the Royal Australian Navy, the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy under AUKUS.

This visit reflects the deep trust, technical cooperation, and shared commitment between our nations to maintaining a stable, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. Hosting USS Vermont at Fleet Base West provides valuable opportunities for our people to work side by side, strengthen interoperability, and build the skills and experience that will support Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarine capability.

This year's work will be carried out without a tender ship meaning #OurPeople both embedded in USS Vermont crew, our Fleet Support Unit and Clearance Divers will play an even greater role for executing complex maintenance activities on site. AUKUS NEWS

SUBCON 25 is now done and dusted and I would like to thank the SAANSW team for a great weekend in the Gong. It went off smoothly and all had a great time.

For the first time we were able to utilise Zoom for members to not only dial in but also they were able to vote during the AGM.
There were a number of motions voted on during the AGM but as we did not have enough members attending the AGM these will now be passed back to state branches to vote on, these will be out shortly for branches to action.

We now look towards next year, and as announced SUBCON 26 will be in Canberra, we are looking at late Oct or maybe first week in Nov as we try and de-conflict with school holidays, Floriade and government sitting times. This hopefully will help with the prices of flights and accommodation.
ACT SAA will work with our Web master and start the EOI information and continual updates as the plan matures.

Cheers
David Strangward, AM
SAA National

SUBMARINES ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA
NATIONAL AGM

Minutes for the AGM have been posted AGM MINUTES 2025

Lady and Gentlemen.

It is requested that the following actions be taken.

1. That the attached minutes of the 2025 SAA AGM be distributed to your respective members.

2. That each branch reviews the minutes and ratifies, or rejects, the decisions taken at the AGM by 26 January 2026 and advise me of your decision. This is important as we fell short of a Quorum at the meeting and we need the majority of the Branches to ratify the decisions within three months of the AGM i.a.w. the constitution. I cannot issue Revision 8 of the constitution until this happens.

I must put on record that I am extremely disappointed in the large numbers of members who attended on Saturday night but then failed to attend the AGM on Sunday morning. I acknowledge that a few people had to attend to urgent family issues, and other business, but if only three of those had attended, we would not have to go through the process of ratifying the minutes. Equally if just three more people had attended by zoom out of the 700+ who didn't attend SUBCON, it would have also obviated the need.

Regards

Tony Vine

National Secretary

DVA NEWS

There has been a bit of traffic about DVA acceptance of various cancers etc. The bottom line is if you have any form of malignant neoplasm (cancer) DVA will accept it for treatment only under their non-liability scheme NLHC. All you need to do is fill in a simple form with your GP add the histology report and submit to DVA. You can do that via your MyService account. Getting the cancer acceptance under the various acts is a different story with your main tool being the relevant SOP. See rma.gov.au

It is with great sadness that the SAA advises of the passing of Greg Pennicuik in Hospital in Victoria of the 19th of October 2025.

CPOUCSM GREGORY PENNICUIK

It is with great sadness that the Submarines Association of Australia (SAA) advises of the passing of Commander Ian Hill on the evening of Monday, 20 October 2025, after a long and courageous battle with cancer.

Commander Ian Hill

As we lose old submariners we now gain new ones below are the latest group to be awarded their dolphins

New history pages for the Oboats are under construction,

Please note crews members on Eternal patrol is going to be updated.

HMAS OXLEY
HMAS OTWAY
HMAS OVENS
HMAS ONSLOW
HMAS ORION
HMAS COLLINS

Submariners worldwide are a special breed, rarely understood by mere mortals and never understood by skimmers. Submariners of all nations understand this and show respect to each other, knowing the hardship and danger that each has faced to achieve membership to that elite club to which they belong.

The Association's aims and goals are:
•To keep alive the unique esprit de corps of the Submarine Service;
•To establish and maintain a charitable trust, being a welfare foundation;
•To assist one another as occasion may require and to encourage social activities;
•To liaise with kindred organisations, both nationally and internationally; and,
•To educate members about their entitlements and provide access to Department of Veterans' Affairs advocates

The Association maintains a close relationship with several overseas Submariners' Associations. Membership is open to all submariners, regardless of the Navy in which they served.

SAA National President Message

As the year comes to an end I would like to, on behalf of the National and State Committees, wish all SAA members and their families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
It has been a busy year for the SAA with a great SUBCON in QLD, our web site back up and running.
On the subject of SUBCON, NSW have stepped in to organise SUBCON 25 and there will be more news on the plans etc in the New Year.
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the National Committee for all the work they have done this year, much of it behind the scenes.
Our Vice Pres Tony Vine has also worked hard to update our constitution which has needed a lot of work as it has been many years between updates.
Tony has also been able to track down members details and update the Eternal Patrol details as a number of submariners details were incorrect.

Also a big year in the Navy with both senior positions now being filled by submariners, with Mark Hammond as CN and Matt Buckley as DCN so we know the Navy id in good hands.
I was also honoured to be invited to Matt Ritchie’s promotion to CDRE, in early December he has come a long way since his time as a baby greenie in HMAS Onslow.
Of course the AUKUS project is gathering momentum and hopefully in the not too distant future we may have some USN submariners join the association as they move to the West.
Just a reminder that next year is an election year for the National Executive, so please have a think about stepping up and putting your name forward for a position if not for one of the National positions then maybe on your state committees as I see the same names year after year doing a great job in their respective states.

So in closing please keep safe and I look forward to catching up in 2025.

Cheers David Strangward, AM SAA National President

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