Female Submariner lights flare inside Aussie sub

M.E. is saddened to hear of any submarine incident with injury, and our hopes for a full and speedy recovery go out to this young sailor and the HMAS Waller's entire crew. UPDATES will be posted when available.


A female sailor is in a Perth hospital after she sustained burns when a flare was accidentally ignited on board a submerged RAN submarine HMAS Waller.

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Submerged submarines routinely use flares to communicate with surface ships during emergencies or when simulating a torpedo attack, as occurred during an exercise off Fremantle Wednesday night.

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HMAS Waller received no serious damage in the incident per intial reports, and the sailor was given first aid on board before helicopter evacuation around 11:30 PM. An initial report

indicates the incident resulted in serious burns to her arms.

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The navy has launched a formal investigation of the flare incident, and notified the sailor's family.

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In 2010, HMAS Waller had received the Platypus Cup, an annual award to the Collins Class submarine demonstrating the best fleet, submarine and individual training performance for the preceding 12 months.

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Submarines are always silent and strange.