This week, 4-7 December 2007, ten Royal Navy submariners from the UK's Submarine Parachute Assistance Group (SPAG) are taking part in the international rescue exercise "PACIFIC REACH 07" in Australia.

The submariners, normally based in Gosport, Hampshire, are working together with units from the armed forces of 15 other nations. Their role within the Royal Navy involves them parachuting into the sea, providing emergency assistance to submarines, as Lieutenant Commander Bob Mannion explains:

"The role of the Submarine Parachute Assistance Group involves using a C-130 aircraft to parachute onto a disabled submarine. It could be a submarine that's sunk and people then had to escape, or a submarine which is disabled on the surface and people are forced to abandon that submarine.

"We then have a specialist team of medics, medical officers and medical ratings, a team of specialists from my training team who can jump into the situation with medium inflatable boats, 25-man life rafts, oxygen, and other medical equipment, so we can recover the survivors from the situation into the boats and the life rafts to look after them, provide medical care and keep them alive principally until other surface forces arrive.

"Exercise Pacific Reach offers the Group an opportunity to operate on the other side of the world from our normal operating areas, to work in close co-operation with our Australian friends and colleagues and also to operate with other nations including Japan  and Korea. The Singaporeans are particularly interested in the SPAG concept as they could develop something of their own along similar lines, so it's a shop window opportunity for how we do business.

"There's an interoperability and exercise participation opportunity as well, so we can see how each other works, building on our current expertise, learning from other people and developing our skill sets as we get involved in the exercise."

See Related Links >>> to watch video clips and interviews from Exercise Pacific Reach

Submarine escape is achieved using a special suit and a unique airlock chamber called an escape tower. Once the escaper is inside the escape tower and the lower hatch is shut, it is flooded and the suited escaper floats clear of the submarine for a rapid ascent to the surface and safety. This method of escape can work down to 180m.

Early yesterday, Tuesday 4 December 2007, Australian submariners successfully "escaped" from a submarine while it sat on the seabed in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia.

After the escapers arrived on the surface, members of the Royal Navy SPAG deployed from an Australian Navy helicopter, immediately setting up a floating casualty reception centre with specialist hyperbaric medical expertise on hand to provide simulated medical treatment prior to the arrival of the Australian rescue ship, Seahorse Standard, which was carrying specialist Royal Australian Navy medical teams and equipment

"Being able to get out on to the water and render medical assistance ensures the best means of survival to escaping personnel," Lieutenant Andy Sharpe from the Royal Navy SPAG team explained.

Submarine escape is just one part of Pacific Reach 07, a triennial Asia-Pacific submarine rescue exercise designed to promote regional co-operation on submarine rescue. The exercise this year is the fourth in the series and involves six ships, three submarines, two submarine rescue systems, a multi-national dive team and the UK SPAG - up 1,000 personnel from 15 nations will be directly involved in the exercise.

Lieutenant Commander Peter Richards, Submarine Escape and Rescue Manager with the Royal Australian Navy, said:

"We've been running tours for all the multi-national participants in the exercise. We've put on a VIP tour, where we actually have people in the water column, so it's quite a fair effort on the staff's behalf to make that happen. We've been running up to four tours a day this week and it's been very well received by the international guests we've got with us.

"The training is fairly realistic, obviously in a controlled environment, we try and make it as safe as possible - we do it in fresh water, rather than sea water, which we heat to 34 degrees, so it's nice and comfortable for the students."

Pacific Reach is a truly international exercise, with units and equipment from the following countries participating: Canada, China, Republic of Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom. In addition, military observers from Chile, India, Indonesia, NATO, Pakistan, Peru, Russia and South Africa have also attended.