$850,000,000 Australian Submarine ‘Sank’ $5,500,000,000 Navy Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier By Evading US, Japanese, Canadian, Chilean, Korean, and British Forces — 6 Navies — and Photographed the Supercarrier

Automatically curated summary from 19FortyFive.

In an article by journalist Caleb Larson, the Royal Australian Navy's Collins-class diesel-electric submarine HMAS Waller successfully penetrated protective screens and photographed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln within simulated torpedo range during early-2000s naval exercises. The submarine evaded forces from six nations under controlled exercise conditions, though naval sources cautioned that simulated successes do not reliably predict real-world combat performance. Australia subsequently canceled a submarine contract with France to pursue nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement, with Collins-class vessels undergoing life extensions to remain in service through the 2030s.

Context and limitations

Exercise conditions were controlled, and naval sources emphasized that simulated exercise achievements do not necessarily reflect real-world wartime capabilities.