Australian Navy Launches Investigation Into Fire On Board Submarine

March 4, 2014 By David Pugliese  - Defence Watch
 

The Western Australian is reporting this:

The Australian Navy has launched an investigation after a fire broke out aboard a submarine off Rockingham this afternoon.

The Defence Department said there were no injuries, but four personnel who were involved in fighting the blaze had been put ashore under medical observation as a precaution.

It is understood the incident took place a short distance from the HMAS Stirling naval base.

The fire broke out aboard HMAS Waller, a Collins Class submarine that had only recently returned to sea after a long period of maintenance.

News.com.au has this:

A FIRE sparked an emergency aboard submarine HMAS Waller off the West Australian coast yesterday, the same day as a fire in an Indian vessel killed two and injured seven.

The fire broke out yesterday afternoon as the Australian vessel sailed on the surface.

“Emergency response actions were taken to extinguish the fire. There were no causalities,’’ Defence said in a statement.

However, as a precaution four members of the ship’s crew involved in responding to the fire were landed for observation.

Meanwhile, two officers of the Indian navy are missing — presumed dead — after a fire on-board Kilo-class submarine INS Sindhuratna yesterday.

The accident happened early in the morning about 50km offshore from Mumbai. The vessel had just completed a refit.

And this news release from Australian Ministry of Defence:

This afternoon HMAS Waller, one of the Royal Australian Navy’s submarines, experienced a fire whilst on the surface off the West Australian coast. Emergency response actions were taken to extinguish the fire.

There were no causalities. As a precaution four members of the ship’s crew who were involved in the response to the fire have been landed for observation.

HMAS Waller had recently completed a scheduled maintenance period and was at sea as part of her return to operations.

A full investigation into the incident will be held.

At this stage no further details are available.