Sorry...I know this is getting a little off track....but here is an extract from a much later incident....."New Depths in Australian - US Relations - the Collins Class Submarine"...where they acknowledge that a quiet sub can breach US defences ....Derek
"viii. American Recognition
Horden Wiltshire, former Commanding Officer of HMAS Sheean, has recorded of the
Collins submarines that the ‘media smoke screen has disguised the full potential of
the platform which, in an uncertain strategic environment, remains one of the most
versatile and potent in the Australian Defence Force’.110 The US too were soon to
discover just how potent. More positively for those associated with the Collins
project, such was the lauded but little reported, success of HMAS Waller at Nthe
RIMPAC 2000 naval exercises off Hawaii in May, that the US interest was
heightened. Despite being restricted by some aspects of its noise performance and
limitations in the combat system, Waller, in these structured events, pursued and
'sunk' a Los Angeles class nuclear submarine and in taking periscope photographs of
the aircraft carrier, Abraham Lincoln, demonstrated that it could enter into torpedo
range of the carrier denying detection.111 Just why there was such a dearth of
publicity surrounding Waller’s success may indicate further, the strength of the
interest in securing US involvement.