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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Narelle Towie

Lobster dinners, no sex and a huge clothes dryer: US gives glimpse of life on board nuclear submarine docked in Perth

USS Minnesota commanding officer, Jeffrey Corneille, at HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia.
USS Minnesota commanding officer Jeffrey Corneille at HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia. Photograph: Colin Murty/Reuters

There was a lot of sound and fury about China’s recent live-fire exercises off Australia’s coast. But in the backwash of that diplomatic incident, a US nuclear submarine has slid silently into port on the other side of the country and offered up a glimpse of life below the waves for Australia’s key strategic ally.

It is the seventh nuclear-powered submarine to arrive at HMAS Stirling naval base, about an hour south of Perth, since the Aukus defence pact was struck in September 2021.

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